Day Ten

I felt like fucking shit when I woke up this morning. How could I feel this bad?  Am I really getting that old? Maybe those days of being able to stay out until four in the morning, drinking beer and being able to shake it off enough the next day to function half way feasibly, are truly behind me.

I didn't even feel that drunk last night. A hangover like this normally comes after a night where I've been so drunk that I have lost large chunks of memory from the night before. Last night was nowhere near that. This truly fucking sucks.

I'd woken briefly this morning, on the couch, with an episode of Family Guy running on the tv. It was eight-thirty. I went straight to bed. Jen didn't even notice. When I woke up five hours later, I felt like dog shit. I've said it a hundred times before, but I'm really starting to wonder if worth drinking any more? Maybe not, if the hangover far outweighs the piss up.

We're meeting at the studio at one pm. I get up, shower, throw a cup of tea down my neck, get dressed and get out. One good thing about being in the studio, or at least having a booked schedule is that you're forced out of the door. That is why hangovers are always at the worst when you're home with nothing to do. It's too easy to lie on the couch and do fuck all all day except feel sorry for yourself.

I call Jon on the way down to Sundbyberg station. He's in the same boat as me. He tells me the works party got out of hand last night. Shocking. We arrange to meet on the train in.  It's freezing out, which actually helps a little bit.

When we get to the studio, Johan is already there. He's looking pretty tired too. We listen through some of the bass tracks from yesterday and Nico has discovered that Johan's bass is quite badly intonated. His bottom string, the big one, is way out apparently. Nico quips, “It's ok, I guess there aren't that many songs where you use that sting so much...” and winks at me as he's tuning Johan's bass up.

I wish Nico had been here with us in the studio, more day to day, throughout this week. He's really into it, and he creates a good atmosphere with his constant piss taking. I guess the way we've been doing it though has saved a lot of time in the long run.

With Johan's bass newly intonated, we listen through the fifteen songs we've recorded for the album. I think Johan picks out five that he wants to re-do. I spend the afternoon watching Johan do just that, from my view on the sofa, where I lie feeling sick. Andy comes by for a while too. It's the first time we've all been together in the studio since the first few days. When Andy was done with his drums, he got the fuck out. Typical drummer haha. Seriously though, he's got a daughter and a day job so it's hard for him to be away too much. He needs to save that free time for when we go on tour. We all do I guess...

Johan gets done with the bass for good, after dubbing some tracks with an Octave Divider pedal, which gives the bass sound a huge, fat tone, kinda like Jared's from Big Business. Again, this pleases me. When we're done, Johan, Jon, Linus and I go to Verona for one last pizza. Tomorrow, we're moving things over to Nico's studio in Fryshuset. Johan and Nico feel it will be more suited to recording the vocals there, and that is where Nico wants to mix the record. We've left Linus a bit short, since we had booked fourteen days with him and his studio. Johan had told Linus about the situation yesterday and Linus was fine with it, and they said we'd work out a fair price for his time. I feel really awkward as we sit around, eating pizza, discussing how much we're going to pay Linus. It's hard for me since Linus is a good friend of mine, and also I know that the guys haven't been totally satisfied with how the sessions have gone. There has been a lot of technical difficulties along the way. Although nothing that one could class as major.

Johan, as usual, steps up to the plate for the band, and barters a price with Linus. I really respect Johan and the way he leads this band. He's definitely the pappa in the band, much like I felt with Speedhorn a lot of the time. He has no problem talking straight and laying things out in a fair way with people. I find that hard when I'm dealing with friends. In the end though, everyone is satisfied. The recording we've laid down sounds great after all, even if the road along the way hasn't always been the smoothest, we've still managed to get where we are now right on schedule. I'm glad Linus is happy with what we can pay him and I'm glad that everyone is friends. Linus is one of the nicest guys around and I wouldn't want him to feel bad in any way about working with us. Gladly, he doesn't and everyone is pleased with the outcome.

We go back to the studio for a listen to the leads I put down yesterday. I was sure the food was going to help, but I'm feeling worse by the minute. When everything is checked off, we decide we're going to get Linus to put up a real rough mix and listen through all of the songs. I can't hold on though. I'm feeling worse and worse and I have to go home. I hug everyone goodbye and leave. I need to get home to my flat and my wife.

I get home after a train journey that feels like forever, get into cosy clothes and get under a blanket on the couch. Within thirty minutes I have to go to bed. It's eight-thirty pm. By the time I get into bed, I'm shaking with a fever. As I lie there under the covers, shaking, despite the fact that I've got a bathrobe and slippers on, I realise that this has to be more than a hangover.

Of course, the hangover hasn't helped, but it's most likely a cocktail of an intense week, sleep deprivation, work, too much coffee, not enough exercise, too much beer, not enough fresh air and too much shit food. I've been categorically weakening my own body during the course of the previous ten days.

The hardest part is over for me now though. Nico's studio is way too small for the whole band to hang out in anyway, so there's no point in us all trying to hang out there. I'm working forty five hours this week anyway. Johan and Jon have vocals to do, and then Andy and I will pop by from time to time to check on how the mixing is going. Johan has sung on five Victims lp's in the past, I'm sure he doesn't need me there the whole time, checking on him. I'll pop by when I get the chance though.

Quote of the day:  Nico - on discussing the drummer from Korn being paid nine thousand dollars a week to play in the band before he was officially a member:

" If I got nine thousand dollars a week to play in Entombed, I would look like Elvis within a minute!"