Studio Update: Johan Loves His Iphone

I went by Nico's studio the other day to check in on how everything was going with the vocal tracks. Johan has been putting in the hours when he's been able to find them, juggling work with the studio. It's not easy and it means that the record is taking longer than hoped for, but it's coming along nonetheless...

Nico wasn't joking when he said that his studio is compact. I meet him at the cafeteria in Fryshuset, where we share a coffee and have a chat. Johan and Jon turn up a short while later and we descend into the labyrinth of corridors that is Fryshuset. I haven't been here for ages. We played here a few times with Speedhorn back in the day. Right now, Helloween are sound-checking in the big hall beside the café. Didn't even know those guys were still around. Jon assures me that everything since Pink Bubbles Go Ape has sucked...

Like I said, Nico wasn't joking about the size of his studio. It's not much bigger than a broom cupboard, with a small vocal booth inside. Nico said there would be no point in the rest of us being there when Johan is putting vocals down. I now see what he means. Before we get to listening, Andy turns up. The four of us cram in around Nico and his desk and we listen through what Johan has laid down so far.

It's a little hard to gain a true impression, since the music is set way in the background. I'm sure though, that when the vocals are bedded in in the mix, it's going to sound really great. Johan is a very solid, very controlled vocalist. He really doesn't need us to be there with him through the recording process, only for us to be able to come by and listen in now and again, and give some ideas, which I guess is what today is about.

I've already worked through the lyrics with Johan, since I'm the so called "English expert" in the band. He seems to be comfortably rolling along now. He's put down six songs. Hopefully he'll be done and the record will be mixed before Christmas. Is it really that time of year again? 

We're talking with the labels about a release in early April, so we need everything finished by the end of January to have a realistic chance of making that happen.  I don't think that's going to be a problem though.

Otherwise, Johan has been playing with his Iphone and has been sending me some pictures documenting his perspective from the vocal booth.

Anyway, we hang out for about an hour in the studio, after which time I'm completely hot and bothered and feel the need to leave. It's very claustrophobic in there with five people. We leave Nico and Johan to their work.

I take the tram home with Andy and Jon. As we're sat on the train, somebody else, in another part of town is blowing themselves up with a backpack bomb.

Thankfully, he only manages to kill himself...