Hey hey,
Albums and recordings are interesting creatures. They usually start off as the end of a long writing process and rehearsal period. Every detail twisted and turned. A well layed out plan to follow. With certain bands the creative process ends with the recording. The album is a documentation of the music that has been written before entering the studio. If everything is arranged properly we will be fine right ?
Necromonkeys debut album Necroplex is the exact opposite of that. Everything was written and created in the studio. Necroplex is a loud conversation between two good friends in a studio filled with sounds, atmospheres and lethal electrical wiring.
I first met David Lundberg while working on his band Gösta berlings sagas album Detta har hänt. It was a great couple of days filled with wild and free experimentation. A lot of coffee and a lot of laughs…We immediately connected on a personal level about music and a general way of viewing things. A couple of years later I was roped in to produce the follow up album Glue Works. I sat in on a couple liveshows and toured now and then with the band as a guest. Since those first sessions David has become a big part of the Roth Händle studio working on countless sessions with artists such as Vera Vinter, Staphan O Bell, Ketil from Jaga Jazzist and many many more…and when Änglagård reunited to play some shows again David was the natural person to bring in to play the keyboards live.
Very early on me and David started talking about recording an album together. We had a lot of discussions what it should be. We didn’t want to make a clean progressive rock Änglagård meets Gösta Berlings saga (even though reading it back now it sounds quite interesting). We wanted it to be a mix of all the things we love, not just progessive rock. Mellotrons, quirky rhythms, Italian women counting to 20, LOUD, drummachines, synth arpeggios, Optigans, Sonic hiccups, Modular synths, Casio keyboards with Pink Panther stickers on them and Tubas. We love Magma and Les Baxter. James Joyce and Spiderman.
So how do you embark on a project like this ? The solution is very simple and complex at the same time. You put on some coffee, you aim the microphones sort of in the direction of an instrument and then you start. Very small. And then you add something. And then you add another thing. Talk about it for a little while…and then continue in that fashion. When you have some sort of foundation you invite some of the most talented people you know to hang out and record…and then its probably time to put on some more coffee.
We have recorded this album because it made us very very happy doing it. We were also very curious about what “we” would sound like.
One of the main ideas was to do it fast. So we did. And apparently we are very fast at recording but very very very slow at making album covers….but now its finally done.
Listening back on Necroplex now…We both realize it is a weird one.
Its dark and brooding, quirky and twitchy, funny and melancholic, atmospheric and abrasive, electronic and acoustic.
It is quite simply the complex sound of two very good friends having a lot of fun in a studio together.
So if you release an album in 2013 how do you actually do it ? Get a big label ? Get a cool indie label ? Release it digitally ? Are blogs important ? Maybe I can write something enthusiastic and uplifting about the album on Facebook ?
We really don’t have a clue. If we could have a lemonade stand but with Necroplex instead we would. If life hands you Justin Bieber make Necroplex or something like that.
So we came up with this weird Idea. Drop us a line at Necromonkeyness@gmail.com if you want to buy a copy of the album and we will send it to you.
We are really sorry…that was the best we could come up with.
Have a great weekend,
David & Mattias (Necromonkey)
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