THE RECORDING OF "LOVE YOUR SELF ABUSE"

In the beginning…..

In the beginning there was Zmago Smon, a Slovenian export in possession of knowledge which belied his junior years. We first encountered Mr. Smon when he was a lowly assistant engineer on the mix of "Safe Sex, Designer Drugs and the Death… etc.". He seemed to know his way around a mixing desk (which to those of you not in the know is only slightly more complicated than the flight deck of a Boeing 747) and when we chanced upon him again we asked him to help out with some demos we were going to record. And so began the recording of our Second Album.

In three days at a cheap little studio in Glasgow we recorded six new songs and came away with what in the future may well be regarded as the "best demos in the world ever". We were all truly astonished at how well they had turned out and duly dispatched word to London that we had found our man and should commence recording immediately. Of course in the haste to which our eagerness had given birth, we forgot that six songs wasn't really enough for an album and perhaps a few more would need to be penned before work could proceed. And so it was that work (and I mean fucking work the likes of which you thought only Junior Doctors had to endure) was finally started early in April '95.

From the searing highs to the crushing lows……

Since the recent demos had seemed to put all the fun back into recording we decided to do the real thing at the very same studio with the aid of some very fashionable valve outboard gear ( non techno heads are at liberty to ignore anything they don't understand without the need to feel even remotely embarrassed or inadequate). Recording began with everyone in good spirits and in no doubt about their own musical abilities.

Then ended six weeks later, with Davy insisting we use a drum machine for any future ventures, Bobby freely confessing to anyone who would listen that he couldn't in fact play the bass and had no idea how he had managed to fool himself all these years never mind anyone else. Myself in absolute mental turmoil, deep depression and alcoholism and Grant an accomplished master of Micro Machines Three. Zmago, God bless his little heart, was working between fourteen and fifteen hour days and on the whole seemed unruffled while he witnessed us wilting all around him. This was meant to be fun, I was really going to enjoy myself here. When I left the studio for the last time I hoped I would never have to cross it's cursed threshold again and even though much of the work was finished, I couldn't bring myself to listen to it until about two months later.

The finishing touches…..

Upon our return from America we spent a couple of weeks chilling out, catching up with all the goss and sleeping for Scotland, before getting back to the Album, which thankfully we had decided to finish somewhere other than Satan's own Brill Building. And so it was that with at least a little of our enthusiasm restored we entered the musical environment of Glasgow's Park Lane. A past haunt for such luminaries as Texas, Gun, Love and Money and most other Glasgow bands who achieved reasonable success in the late eighties. With Zmago once more at the helm and our hair colours now reversed there was a new resolve that what was started would now be finished. Our time here proved more fruitful as we did not only complete what we had to from our previous exploits but also found the inspiration to record two new tracks one of which would eventually become the Mighty Mighty weapon now known as "Mental Bruising for Beginners".

Let us mix……

Mixing was like the sweet smell of a red rose in bloom, compared to the freshly tread upon dog turd that was recording. We left Zmago to contemplate the sonics while we romped around London, a ligging here and a ligging there and occasionally popping back to make a few suggestions on the reverb, delay, phase, flange, compression type front. Two weeks later with all having gone well, it was over. Or so we thought.

Too much time to think……

By the time all this was finished we already knew it wouldn't be getting released until early '96. And so with three months in which we had nothing much to do but write new songs we…….wrote new songs……and they were great…….so we wanted to put them on the Album…….so we had to start recording again. With our partner in crime Mr.Z otherwise occupied we ventured into a world of the unknown and worked with a guy called Al Scott (previous credits include Hanoi Rocks, The Levelers and hundreds of other stuff from Dance to Disco to dat one that goes "Nice legs shame about the face").

A new year, a new studio…….

This time the venue was Parkgate studios near Hastings, as in The Battle of. A residential pad of considerable comfort, although bereft of a swimming pool unfortunately. Three new songs recorded and mixed in a week. Two of which are now going to be singles. What a simply charming way to start the new year.

And now, the end is near……….

All that was left to do was to turn an interesting little ditty of a song called "Through" into the aforementioned Mighty Mighty weapon "Mental Bruising for Beginners". Mission was accomplished after a couple more days in Park Lane and some other place in London for the mix, with Mr.Z once again twiddling nobs.

Yeeeeeeehaaaaaahh!

So was it all worth it? Did we learn anything from it? Is the Pope a catholic? Yes, Yes and Thrice Yes. What we got from it was one fuck of an experience. It was extremely hard work and although this can be very rewarding you have to know when to step back and chill out. I think at times we got too deeply into what we were doing and lost sight of the fact that above all we should have been enjoying ourselves. Some people reckon that good things never come easy. Although personally, I think that's a lot of shit. You don't have to suffer great pains to create something wonderful, it's not compulsory. Anyway, the most important thing we got out of all this is another great album and hopefully a lot of people will get a lot from it. Whether that's just through the raw energy of the "fuck you" factor or through the lyrics or the tunes or the whole Bish, Bash, Bosh I don't give a Fuck. I've done my bit and I'm content. So is it twice as good as the last one or what? I refer you back to question three above.

Cheers from Chris

So also Recording in October, which contributed 2 songs to the USA version of "LYSA"