Ragweed has answered some more questions about the upcoming album, Happiness and All The Other Things.
Cody:
Q: Do you tend to listen to a lot of new music for influences before you go into the studio? If so, what was some that you were listening to?
C: Yes, on this record we did. Lots of Jakob Dylan, Les Claypool, Frank Sinatra.
Grady:
Q: How was this recording experience different from others in the past?
G: It was the biggest studio we've ever been in. It had an A and B room, so we could record in one and practice in the other. We tabbed out all the songs and got to chart them out before we went in to record...we were able to be in the room charting it while others were laying down tracks. We were also so close to LA that we had access to all sorts of gear. We rented some amps and stuff.
Jeremy:
Q: How would you describe the vibe of this album? Any new sounds we can expect to hear?
J: We really tried to focus on letting things come naturally and not trying to force anything. Let it all happen naturally. There's some piano which is different, but I think it adds to a little more of a laid-back feel. We did an interlude that was kind of an experiment to try something different. We strung together 3 songs with no breaks in between.
Randy:
Q: How does the recording process go for you guys? Do you drums first and then everyone else, or does it vary?
R: It varies. In most cases, Cody would record with an acoustic and sing first. Then Plato would lay down the bass track and then I’d do mine. After that, we’d take out Cody’s scratch track and use the bass and drum tracks as the base for the song to build off of. Grady and Cody would do guitars, and after that we’d do vocals. Percussion is always the last thing. There were a few times on this one that we actually kept some of Cody’s scratch guitar and would build from there. We had a little different process than in the past since we had two rooms to work with. A lot of times, two things were happening at once; Cody could be laying down some acoustic tracks while we were in the other room doing some of our parts.
Stay tuned for more Happiness Q&A with Ragweed. Please check out the Happiness pre-sale items currently available on our website.
