Studio blog

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Friday, 13th July

the last day. unofficially of course, there’ll be plenty of things to wander back to in the coming days and nights. we think the Wild Hunt is sorted, though we haven’t ticked it on the board which might be alarming, we’ll see. last night was more vocals for Wolvesland, The Barbarians Move In and The First Time/The Last Time (imagine a future drunkard in a Father Christmas suit). so today we write string lines for proper musicians to play when we return to the glass and steel and tonight i’ll have a crack at singing Sleeping Giants and This Year’s Man. also, the wolvesland choir are back in this afternoon for some shit kicking - be prepared. getting a bit fruity now which can only be a good thing, shows we’re heading in the right direction. back home tomorrow which is a little sad.

take the care

jon f

Thursday, 12th July

Today. Beer and pizza and some more guitars. Also some more backing vocals and a lot of wild hunt. Moderate amounts of football, including a lost ball and the finding of a new one. Skies like you’ve never seen, some metallica on you tube a very early morning drive to leeds airport. Some more football before sundown, vocals for barbarians, this blog then some television and bed i reckon…

James x

Wednesday, 11th July

Our football is flat and we don’t have a pump. This means we’ve got bruises on the top of feet and one less excuse to keep us away from The Work. As a result recording is very nearly complete now, it will be by the weekend, which is good news cos I’m off to visit Monkey World next week, and those guys are not the sort of chaps you keep waiting, kapeesh?

The last two stragglers are “The Wild Hunt”, a beautiful song (performed with Laura Groves at BD1:Live) which, unusually is both one of the warmest and coldest tracks of the album. As I type it is being pulled through the mangle, the other is “The Barbarians Move In” which would probably be Satan’s favourite Duels track. Both tracks are, thematically speaking, the album’s core so it’s important they’re dealt with correctly, otherwise the album would be like the Lion from The Wizard of Oz, all heartless whimpering “puddemup, puddemup”.

JonathanBassistTheDuels
x

Tuesday, 10th July

..the barbarians did not live in cities, making their abodes in the fields like wild animals…

last few days now hence the lack of updates. furrowed brows, beads of concentrated musical sweat and retched guitar amps. we found something lovely to do with the piano today that made us want to dance and get drunk, but the nightlife round here leaves a little something to be desired so we’ll probably just go down to the beach when the moon’s out. the whole thing is coming together now, will be nice to have it finished so that we can show it off to everyone. take it around on the back of a wagon and sell it for couple of quid with a free handshake….

trying to work out the Wild Hunt, can you use a nylon string guitar and not sound like you’re in a a spanish restaurant?

jon f

Thursday, 5th July

The “to do” board is definitely starting to fill up. The band have just set off back to leeds today to prepare for Battle Royale on Saturday. It’s lonely here in the studio without them… hopefully they’ll be back next week to finish off the album.

Shrek

Wednesday, 4th July

I’m feeling pretty confused at the moment… i’m still on New York time but i’m definitely enjoying the sounds that are coming out of the studio speakers. The album is definitely starting to take shape. Today we’ve been working on Barbarians Move In and tonight we start backing vocals (a pretty important part of the album i reckon - you’ll understand when you hear it!)

The good news is that Jim has just gone to make the tea which is pretty welcome. I hope he brings biscuits too. Unfortunately, my car died today. Mr Jon Bass Duels broke it this weekend joy riding round leeds and now it’s declared ‘unroadworthy’ so it’s been locked away in the garage for a while. Oh well.

Ah, the teas here…. biscuits too! Time for some sleep soon i reckon.

James x

Tuesday, 3rd July

When God made the Earth he needed one day of rest. We Duels also need one day of rest as we work on our creation. This weeks day of rest was Thursday and Friday.

I spent my time off moving out of my flat in Leeds, which was quite a moving experience in more ways than one. I must confess to getting quite emotional as the rooms got barer, and the memories were packed away. Maybe I was just under the influence of Mr Muscle All Surface Cleaner, or maybe, as I have feared for a while now, I am a softlad.

As I scanned the room for a final check, there sat a-top the freshly polished table, and at the other side of the room ‘cross pristine wood panel floor was ELO’s Greatest Hits. Should I walk across the recently scrubbed canvas to retrieve said double-cd box of gems, or should I abandon it and leave the mop where it rest, in the little cupboard near the loo? I stood. I pondered.

I was sure that “Mr. Blue Sky” would crop up on the various compilation cd’s that were already safely packed, so maybe it wasn’t worth the stroll and soiling and jeopardising of the bond. I turned to leave, even got the key in the door, but then I recalled the brilliant vocoder usage on the infectious “Confusion”, a song that resonated with me now more than ever, the incendiary “Wild West Hero” suddenly sprang to mind, not to mention the eternal longing of the jilted lover so eloquently captured on “Telephone Line”, and the male/female (Olivia Newton John) vocal interplay on “Xanadu”, ELO’s only UK#1. I recoiled from the postern and bold as brass strided the bredth of the lounge leaving, by the time of my return to the door, eight footprints in either direction. And did I remop? No, I wanted to leave that trail for all to see, it represented a liberation, a celebration of the moment, and the music of, primarily, Jeff Lynne. I realised that the floor would inevitably be dirty again in the future, but also it would be clean again too, and that life is what goes on in between those two states.

I put on said cd on the drive back to the Coast on Saturday morning. There truly is some unspeakable shite on disc two.

Duels were down to two first team members over the weekend, yours truly and Jim “Jim” Foulger. Jon lay in his sickbed back in Leeds, James was revelling in NYC on a stag do (hence the lack of blog update as it is James who does the cyber hocus pocus), and KB was in Poland, enjoying Bjork in concert. This gave Jim and myself the opportunity of “Guitar Weekend”. The portfolio was wide, encompassing all from droney acoutic riffs, to spikey guitars, tremolo guitars, backwards guitars, forwards guitars, diagonal guitars, Spaghetti Western guitars, and two of the most outrageous guitar solos you haven’t heard yet. It was fun. And quick. This gave us time to watch Status Quo and Take That outperform people at the Diana concert, and then return to our quarters with a bottle of Bombay Sapphire to watch Queen’s Live Aid performance and Police Squad on YouTube. We also watched George W. Bush’s most emabarrasing moments, you’ll find them here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa3J-L29iT8 I don’t want to get political but dear me this guy is poor.

This morning, a recovered Jon F returned and set about work on vocals in earnest. By dinner, 8 of the 12 vocals were complete and sounded fantastic. So the afternoon was spent carrying buckets of water from a flooded vehicle inspection pit (the bit where mechanics go under cars) and throwing the 400 gallons or so, into the adjacent field. As you do. James returned at tea-time and told us stories of The Big Apple, and the various “titty bars” he didn’t go in. After a pizza and Derren Brown poking Robbie Williams, we retired for the evening. As I type, the effects of today’s manual labour are all too obvious, as Jim is in the next room and is snoring like a good ‘un, sounds like a C# to me which would go well over the start of Regeneration, might have to slide a mic under the door…..

jonbassduels
xxx

Wednesday, 27th June

Today we did some more piano, some hitting of one drum and one cymbal and shaking of an egg feverishly at a microphone. Jon F has been trying to get the football down from the roof since last night and has caught a cold as a result. The rain has stopped forcing more urgency upon us all to retrieve the football and have a kick about. I prefer being in goal. Working on This Year’s Man today and added some gothic elements to the pie with some Phantom style grand piano. Earlier I contemplated whether or not I should see if I could fit in the piano but decided the hammers in the head would be too much to take.

Katherine

Tuesday, 26th June

“the sea came further still, moving with what seemed like human will”. the rain stopped today. to anyone reading this abroad - England’s underwater. our studio is a mile from the sea and one mile further than that there’s a village whose streets are now swimming with pollack and spider crab. packs of dogfish causing trouble down the back alleys. the chapel is yesterday’s photograph is relatively new, say one hundred years or so, built to replace what the sea took. heathen waves indeed.

so, the album’s got a title but I’m not telling yet because we’ve got a habit of changing our minds about these things, though iÔøΩm pretty sure it’s going to stick. i think it sums up what we’re trying to say. what did we do today? let’s see, i’ve got a bloody cold so no singing for me, though I did squeeze in a vocal last night before bed time for “The First Time/The Last Time”. so just guitar’s for “The Furies”, “Sleeping Giants” and “Forgotten Babies”. having said that, katy’s wonderful world of percussion has just opened for business…

jonathan f

Monday, 25th June

My nan is on her holidays this week. This might, at face value, mean nothing to you, but, in real terms, it equates to one thing: it’s gonna shit it down like it’s the end of the world. And sure enough, as I type, the rain is now hitting the studio window horizontally. It actually provides quite a nice backdrop to the recording of our aPOPolyptic songs, that is until the big bearded man upstairs sends a lightening bolt which kills the power in the studio, losing some of KB’s keyboard work in the process. But rest assured God, if you’re reading this, even you cannot stop Duels so don’t even try, and whilst I have your attention is it possible you could pass on a message to Elvis, tell him I did what he suggested and it’s working out fine.

I’m enjoying peering at the parallel world in Seattle, namely reading the Forward Russia studio blog everyday, HELLO GUYS, I’m excited about hearing the work of sombody else’s sophomore effort. Gotta go now though, we’re recording foot stomps in our homemade gravel pit. Keep your feet dry
Bass
xxx

Sunday, 24th June

Well, it’s day 8 in the studo and between recording drums, lots of birds (it’s hard to avoid in the live room), some bass and piano, a few thunder storms and some strange telephone reception noises you can create with a stomp box an overactive pickup and a mobile phone, we’ve generally been having a pretty great time.

‘Barbarians Move In’ is now officially on the album list, we’ve had our first weekend barbeque, the studio beard is on it’s way and we’ve already managed to lose two footballs to the farm over the back of the studio (though I think we’ve decided to blame jim for this). Right now we’re just in the middle of recording ‘The First Time And The Last Time’ and much to the credit of Ted (our piano tuner) and perhaps Jon (who’s playing) the piano is sounding great.

Also, just found today that if you type the word ‘officially’ in to Google and hit ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ the first page you get is “What Tolkien Officially Said About Elf Sex” . . . weird

Jaaams x

Saturday, 23rd June

ItÔøΩs a balmy evening. A massive downpour followed by thunder and lightning caused a power cut in the studio today which nearly lost us the backing tracks to Forgotten Babies. My lungs are reacting impertinently to the air. Imagine breathing weakly into an un-inflated balloon. Still, tracks to FB, The Healing, This Years Man and Regeneration are done since yesterday and the whole process is building good pace. We want the songs recorded as live as possible so now weÔøΩve hit a stride weÔøΩre really moving. Science will tell you, once youÔøΩve built up momentum only an opposite or negative force can stop you moving. Well, thanks to Science we may have caused distress to a shedful of cows last night playing well into the night. The first casualties of Duels II. Have you seen the bit of video of YouTube where the kids are welding down on the traintracks and the train comes etc etc?

jim f

Friday, 22nd June

Bad heads and aching limbs today didn’t stop us from getting the piano and drums done for The Healing and tracking the all new Forgotten Babies, though we raised a bit of a sweat. was nice to visit a rainy Leeds last night to drink and revel though after an impressive dj set at Wire jon was congratulated firstly by someone throwing up down his jacket and then by a rowdy character who wished to get all pugilistic and that. not ideal. anyway we’re back in the swing as they say so that’s good. we have to stop now for the night as it’s quiet round here and we don’t want an angry farmer on our tails (a herd of cows sleeps next door to our live room). so we’re going to watch the glastonbury footage - my missus is there, i’m jealous. tomorrow we start early on This Year’s Man. when i get a minute i’ll put up the lyrics to the new songs so you can guess how they go. okay?

jonathan f

Thursday, 21st June

Thunderstorms are a coming again, we hear rumbling from the skies and the desperate squeaks of Jane Seymour who has been trapped underneath JamesÔøΩ floor tom for three days now. Today we were visited by a blind piano tuner, luckily the piano was out of tune so it wasnÔøΩt a wasted visit. Now we have concert pitch and are on take thirteen of the Healing, itÔøΩs like the Albert Hall.

Jim drove up late afternoon with a return of some impressive facial hair and now everyone is getting dolled up for Wire tonight and the DJ talents of one Jonathan P Maher, heÔøΩs on at eleven if you want to go and shout support in his face or request some party classics by Whitney Houston.

Katie B

Wednesday, 20th June

After recording last night’s pretty impressive thunder storm (which sounded monstrous listening back through the speakers) we finally started on recording some drums and electric bass guitar today… ghosts in the machine, well, ghosts in the tape machine meant we lost the end section of what was a pretty damn good take of Wolvesland, but not to worry, we did it again. Other tracks of rhythmical delight we’ve tackled today include Regeneration, Sleeping Giants and after we’ve finished this tape transfer we’re going to go back in to the live room to battle it out with the furies… I can’t wait

james k

Tuesday, 19th June

“Tuesday” was invented in 1874 by Sir Richard Tues.

Today we put up all the fairy lights in the live room to create the “vibe”. We also have rekindled the “white board” from Album One, for organisational reasons. I like organisation.

We’ve made two new friends, The Stalker and Psycho. We’re pushing Psycho quite hard, but the smell of cigar smoke suggests he can deal with it.

I saw three dead mice today, the plural of mice is “More Mice”.

My favourite song from the new album is “The First Time/The Last Time”. It reminds me of The Slow Build in a way.

Gotta go now, to record some fuckin BASS. Laters
JBD
xxx

Monday, 18th June

Wherever you look in the studio, there is energy. Rule one: there are wires everywhere. The electricity in this room is pulsing with the rhythm of the drums. We are recording Perimeter Fence. James is making it up as he goes along, but give it time give it time. He’s good at that. In fact, this is the best take yet. This is sounding really great. It’s the first day of recording, 18th June. 59 years ago today, Columbia records boss Ted Wallerstein realised his dream. At the time, gramophone records only ran for about five minutes on each side so it was impossible to listen to an entire movement of a symphony without getting up and turning the record over. Wallenstein’s new disc turned at 33 and a third revolutions per minute, much slower. It’s true: today, nearly sixty years ago, the LP was born because some guy couldn’t face getting up out of his chair. Viva lazy boys! All of the best albums of the past fifty years have been released on LP. Have you all still got record players? I think it would be right to release this record as an old fashioned Long Player.

jim f

Friday 15th, June

Day one in the Duels studio. Jim’s already been kicked out for being a rascist. We’ve rearranged a couple of tunes, Forgotten Babies and This Year’s Man/Rubbernecking and put one, Lustre, in the ‘dustbin’. Here’s the album pool kids, make what you will.

The Furies
Sleeping Giants
Perimeter Fence
Regeneration
The Healing
The First Time And The Last Time
Wolvesland
This Year’s Man/Rubbernecking
The Wild Hunt
Five Suns
Forgotten Babies
If This Car Should Crash

and another one that’s not quite there called The Barbarians Move In

Down times are spent reading, walking the dog, debating or just getting hideously drunk like the old times.Our blind piano tuner doesn’t get here until next Thursday so we’ll have to hold off on the old ebony and ivories. It hasn’t stopped raining since we got here so we might have to swim back to Leeds if the ark’s not ready.

jonathan f

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