Me, Hookers, and Gravehill: Part 5

Well, again I'm late to this thing. In fact it's now 2012 and I said I would be kicking these things out weekly didn't I? That goal was a bit too ambitious. I'm not really a person who likes to set a routine. I mix shit up and if I realize I've looped myself into a routine, I break it up. That and I'm REALLY fucking lazy.

So let's get this sucker started...

RotP was recorded in or around February of 2009 at Trench Studios in Corona, CA with John Haddad as the recording engineer and producer as well. Not that anything has changed, but Gravehill in 2009 was pretty fucking broke. Recording and creating the final mix at Trench Studios was the only financially viable thing to do at the time. Haddad did a great job of keeping the sound we wanted. Gritty with just a little shine.

The recording itself was spent mostly in a drunken stupor. Barring Thorgrimm and Zyklon who recorded their parts relatively sober, Abominator, Bodybag, and myself showed no professionalism whatsoever. That's not to say Thorgrimm and Zyklon didn't partake in the alcoholic festivities, just not while recording.

Thorgrimm attempts to drum.
ATTEMPTS!! He only has one stick!

Bodybag pleased with his one-take performance.
That's a wrap!

Zyklon practiced solos before recording.
Who does that??

We had all sorts of visitors come over and you could tell that, after finishing tracks on certain nights, Haddad was getting annoyed that we hadn't left and continued to fill his recycle bin with empty beer cans. Gravehill really knows how to wear out their welcome! But we somehow stayed on target and finished the recording on time.

Me with short hair, listening to how shitty I've played.

We put the microphone in the bathroom
so Abominator could shit and sing at the same time.

And now with his own retrospective, here is Abominator with his thoughts on the recording of Rites...

In Russia, blogs stare at you!

Holy fucking shit. Trying to go back to the “Rites....” sessions is a hard thing at this point. I don't think it is possible to drink as many beers as we did during this time. And since the brain cells were killed at a historic rate, trying to piece this story together is a tough thing. It was an interesting time with the band. It was to be our debut album. We had done the “Metal of Death” EP and started to make some noise in the underground. That release was recorded by our old guitarist at the time in our own Hellheim Studio jam space. We wanted to get a better production, but we were racking our brains trying to figure out who to go with. We didn't have a lot of money to work with, so it was hard to find someone that was good and also cheap. I think at one point, Thorgrimm and I remembered our old friend John Haddad. John had a home studio out in Corona, California. So once we met up with John and explained our situation, he was on board and we scheduled our sessions. Since time and money were of the essence, he agreed to our crazy schedule of attack and we got set to record this beast. I remember we practiced the SHIT out of these songs to make sure we were tight for the studio. Then as the first day approached, we were all set to start the madness. Once all of the gear was loaded up and ready to go, the caravan of death made its way to John's Trench Studios.

Now, the 91 freeway east is a fucking nightmare. Just imagine a million cars trying to get through a freeway that only fits a few thousand. The traffic situation there gets REALLY BAD. I wanted to make sure I got out there before it got too crazy. So I would end up getting to John's house around 11am. Of course this would be after I got the 36 pack of beer from the local AM/PM market, hahaha. To John's absolute horror, I would be banging on his door, ready to rock, bright and early. Most of the time, the front door would be open, so I could then go into his room and yell at him to get in the booth and get going! Hahaha. John hated me by this time I'm sure. But it was a good time. The drum tracks were banged out pretty quickly. The guitar tracks took a bit, but once the guys were done with them, the bass was done quickly. It was my turn to do the vocals. To be honest, I'm disappointed with my performance on “Rites....” I was smoking way too many cigarettes and I tried to go for a Cronos/Venom type vibe to where you could hear each and every word and line that I was saying. I tried my best to get the phlegm down and get the growls done. But I think everyone has negative opinions about past performances when they go back and listen to them.

At this same time we were at John's recording, we were also getting ready for the big California Metal Fest that would be going on the next month. We had to sell presale tickets and many times had friends and other people show up to John's house to get those tickets. And they pretty much became part of the party! More beer was consumed during these sessions than an Oktoberfest in fucking Germany. Going back and listening to the songs in John's booth was killer. Just listening to this album come together was quite an experience. John would burn us copies of the recording and we would play those copies in our vehicles and other various players that we had around to get the feel of how it would sound in different players for people. But we were proud of what we had accomplished. And believe it or not, in the beer infused haze that we were in, we sure did some good stuff and worked pretty quickly and efficiently to get this album done. In all of our drinking madness during that time, we actually were also “working” in a sense. This was early 2009. And we got the debut full length under our beer bellied belts. The death metal was raging and the trash bags were full and ready to be recycled. John was happy about that aspect since he got the cans! Hahaha. But it was an awesome time and I had a total blast. And as I say when we play the title track live: “RITES OF THE FUCKING PENTAGRAM!”

And with that, enjoy more sexy recording pics!

Del Taco almost everyday. I classed the place up
with Chick Fil A.

This is how they spent their downtime. For SHAME!

Fuel for inspirational moments.