Sunday, 22 June 2014

Inner Scum!

Apropos of mysterious circumstances (maybe playing live with PANIC, maybe running into Mark Jarrett at the show), I recently thought: why not put NO NO ZERO's "Inner Scum" record out there, even though it still hasn't been mastered? It sounds really good as is, and the money needed to master it isn't going to materialize any time soon, so why sit on it potentially forever?

I checked with Zak Hanna, who mixed the album literally years ago now, and he agreed. The creation of a Bandcamp page took all of a half hour. The hard part really is sorting out what to say about this record.


Simply put, back in 2010, I suggested to the ever shifting line up of the band (here, Zak Hanna and Chris Thief on guitars, Siânteuse and I singing, and Mark Jarrett on drums), that we record the songs we were playing live, a new album in other words. Former drummer and core member Johnny LaRue suggested he could record it in his basement. This we did, recording the bed tracks in a day or two, as I recall.

Unfortunately, my mental health took a nosedive that same year, and I spent a couple of months as an inpatient at CAMH. During part of my time there, I was allowed out to practise with the band, and in fact the AUX TV show footage (featuring the same line up who recorded "Inner Scum") and interview I did for Garageland was shot the same day I was released.


 
Anyways, things went awry and focus was difficult to maintain. We had some really amazing people lined up to do overdubs, but it wasn't until the following spring that we finally recorded them -- all in one fell swoop with Nyles Miszczyk in his basement studio at 159 Manning. We had Jeremy Strachan playing various saxophones, and both Jon Sharon and Michael Keith laying down tasty guitar licks.

Finally, people can hear all this goodness. It won't sound as loud or polished as "Rough Stuff" did, because -- and I emphasize this -- it's mixed but not mastered. Still, I think it sounds great and I hope you will too.

Just remember to TURN IT UP.

No No Zero - Inner Scum

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