Documentary: Weaponry “Forever Nothing” Studio Diary Day #3!

It’s fast approaching the end of September and amazingly for this green and pleasant land, the sun is still shining at The Ranch Production House for day #3 of recording the new Weaponry EP “Forever Nothing” with Producer Daly George (Creeper, Milk Teeth, Boston Manor). The first two days saw drum tracking completed with Tim Doyle behind the kit and so after some editing and talk about the music industry in general, it’s time for guitar tracking. Both vocalist Al Bristow and lead guitarist Max Ashworth will be tracking guitars over the next few days and spend a bit of time warming up with riffs and scales on their Ibanez Gio models while Daly sets up a Joe Satriani signature JSX Peavey amp, kemper profiler and Ibanez Tube Screamer pedal. He spends a decent amount of time with his engineering hat on, playing riffs and adjusting the amp to get the tone the band are looking for and as with the drums, getting it right and taking your time ahead of the recording saves time later.

The guitar tone sounds incredible, a nice chunky mid range that gives the riffage an extra bite. The first song to be tracked is “Please Enjoy The Show” which has a “White Pony” era Deftones chorus section of bar chords preceded by a diving riff and hammer on that is a classic earworm. It’s all down strokes as Daly and Al take it in turn to riff against the previously tracked drums while Max watches on with a hint of jealousy as he has yet to be able to get his moment. Once the setup is complete, it takes Al a few attempts to get to the click and drums having nailed the track without but once he does their pair work together pushing back and forth ideas on how to play the riffs better, for example not hitting the fret as hard in certain moments to avoid pitching. “Please Enjoy The Show” has a monsterous ending with a stabbing riff section that uses a decent bit of sustain but due to the gain on the amp, Al has to change the way he plays the riff to use his pinky finger to prevent a dragging sound. By the end of the session that ending has been reworked into something that has a distinctive Glassjaw vibe.

After a late lunch Al and Daly begin the rhythm guitar tracking for another one of the new tracks in “Mine” and to quote bassist Jay, it’s the song that’s going to make them rich because it’s been the biggest pain in the ass. They explain that the tune actually goes back to the beginning and has been reworked many, many times and was actually tweaked a week before the studio. Little things make all the difference and Al switches from a chair with arms to a drum stool and puts a strap on the guitar to stand up at various parts of the recording. Next is “My Name Is Glory“, a track that was originally recorded by Max on his phone with programmed drums before being taken to a rehearsal. There it was torn apart and reconstructed by the band as a whole and has become a Frankenstein’s Monster of the original sans breakdown, which Max finds surreal as we listen to it being laid down.

…Blindly follow Weaponry…

http://www.instagram.com/weareweaponry

http://www.facebook.com/weareweaponry

http://www.youtube.com/c/weaponry