A look at Producers with Special Guests: Captain Soularcat & the Reverend Jeff Mosier
Phil Simon
2004-11-01
When I lived in Seattle about ten years ago, I remember sitting in an office working a crappy temp job and listening to the radio. For the first time I heard the album by the Wallflowers and there was an accompanying interview with Jakob Dylan and the band. They played the track that had an appearance by the Counting Crows' Adam Duritz. I had heard it several times on the radio, and was wondering why this band that had been a relative college rock obscurity was suddenly all over commercial radio. Dylan related in the interview that the producer had been with them in the studio as they were recording the track, 6th Avenue Heartache. Their producer felt that there was something lacking in the vocal tracks. He promptly sat down, opened his little black book, called up Duritz on the phone, and got him into the studio to record the backing track. This maneuver not only vastly improved the quality of the song, but because Counting Crows were huge at the time, it brought an enormous amount of attention to the band and their new album. This was a virtual coup by the producer, and certainly helped to project this album, Bringing Down the Horse¸ to its eventual multi-platinum status and cemented the future of the Wallflowers. This led me to think over the years of the effect that a producer has on an album and how it relates to our scene. Many of us will remember the departure of the Dave Matthews band from their long production relationship with Steve Lillywhite who produced their first several albums. When Matthews released Everyday, his production partnership with Glen Ballard vastly changed their sound. For that record Ballard's fingerprints extend beyond mere production credits and into actual songwriting credit with Dave. Some fans were thrilled while others were disappointed that there was a change in DMB's signature sound. So clearly producers can have a huge influence on a band ranging from dial twisting to songwriting to networking and promotion. To further examine the role of producers on the production of albums, I turned to one of my roster bands who had enrolled the assistance of a producer in the creation of their first real studio album. The band is Captain Soularcat, who is a muscular Southern Rock jam band out of Rome / Athens / Atlanta, GA. They had formed with members of several Southern rock bands including Ancient Harmony and others, and I noticed them when they were named a Band on the Verge by Relix Magazine about a year ago. Their EP was astounding, and I signed them before I even stepped foot in Georgia to meet with them. They shared friendship and a publicist, Tammy Bracket from South Carolina, with another Southern Jam figure in the Reverend Jeff Mosier (Blueground Undergrass, EarReverents, etc) and he was asked to come in and help to produce their first album. The result is called Three Rivers Point, and is an amazing album telling the tale of a young band taking off for the stars and bringing their home with them. I spoke with members of Captain Soularcat and with the Reverend himself about the process, and I think that we can all learn a lot about how things work in the studio as a result of the conversations that we had. Jambands Business School: What type of history did you have in terms of recording with this band prior to Three Rivers Point? Benji Shanks: We recorded a 6-song demo in a studio in the hills outside of Rome with the first line-up of the band. After we relocated to Atlanta, we recorded 3 tunes at the Biltomre room. JBS: How did it come about that you worked with Jeff Mosier on this project? Benji Shanks: Before Jeff we had not worked with a producer. This was our first time in a studio with the type of capacity to capture our "live" sound. When I approached Jeff about doing our record he said he wanted to think about a place that would accomodate our sound and our attitude. He went the extra mile to make sure we were really comfortable. We've been playing on these tunes for a while so the majority of the material was ready to go. JBS: How did it start to come together in the studio? Matthew Williams: Recording the album was great. Soularcat had all these songs that had been around for a few years. Some of them had made it onto demos and what not but we had never recorded a full length album. We had all been in studios before with other projects but together it was a first. I, myself had never really worked with a producer. We knew the we needed some help in the studio because we were paying a big chunk of money and only getting about 3 days of recording time. There was going to be no time to waste inside the studio. We needed someone who had been in there before and knew our music. Jeff Mosier has been around the music buisiness for a while and has joined us on stage for numerous shows. BenjI contacted him and after a couple of meetings between the 2 of them we were ready to go. JBS: Were you nervous about working in the studio with a producer? Matthew Williams: You always hear bad stuff about how producers come in and want to change all of your music around. It was kind of an intimidating thought before we got to the studio. However the experience with Jeff was nothing of the sort. Jeff stayed behind the board with the engineer ElI for pretty much the whole recording session. His role was more like a coach. Jeff has such a positive outlook on everything and really believed in the raw emotion of our playing. He pretty much let us do our thing and when he had an idea he would present it with a lot of enthusiasm. Benji Shanks: We only had two and a half days to record. We had a couple of newer songs that Jeff really helped us build from a skeleton. All of the material recorded was done in one or two takes. Jeff really helped us keep our "studio hat" on. JBS: Tell us a little about how having a producer there effected the process. Matthew Williams: Jeff would always make it a point to tell us that his ideas are merely ideas and if we didn't like them that there was no pressure for us to have to do it his way. They sat back and let us do our thing. Every few minutes or so Mosier would run in to the room and approach one of us with a little twist of an idea of what we could do to make our part fit a little better. He had some great ideas and always approached them in light-hearted fashion that I could relate to. Benji Shanks: Having a producer gave a fresh ear to the music. He brought in Mark Van Allen to play pedal steel on a couple of tracks. I think the most important thing is that I was clear to Jeff from the start as to what our budget was. There was no question that the whole project had to be done quickly and financially kept to a minimum. Although we wound up spending a little more than we had planned, everybody is happy with the outcome. You really get what you pay for.
JBS: Tell me how having a producer affected a particular song.
Matthew Williams: He took my song Gotta Go which has a bluegrass feel to it and really simplified it. We were playing it way too fast and it always seemed a little rushed. He also gave me confidence in my vocals a little more by getting us to transpose it up a whole-step which gave me the ability to draw out some of the lyrics and really belt it out. I'll never play that song in the key of G again. :) It's little stuff like this that makes me glad we enlisted his help and didn't try to take on the whole beast alone. After three days we had done what we wanted to do. We had recorded all of our old tunes. We also recorded two other songs that didn't make it onto Three River's Point. "Walk on" and "Time and Time Again". I'm really excited about having these songs done because they sound great. They were really two of the best sounding tunes in my opinion. We just left them off the album because we ran out of room and we really wanted the older stuff on there. Now that they are all down on tape we have been able to concentrate on writing more new material. It's a nice feeling to be able to look towards the future. We are really anxious to get back in the studio and are hoping to do that early next year. JBS: Did you take to having external influences in your music well? Matthew Williams: All in all I believe it is great having an "outside ear" there in the studio. The band is so used to our sound that sometimes you are limited in your ideas. Having a fresh look on an old song can really spice it up. We may get to the point where we don't need a producer. Who knows? I myself enjoy having one there to egg you on and throw out fresh ideas. At this point I would like to get the perspective of the producer and how it is to work with a band and try to create an album. Jeff Mosier was kind enough to take time out to rap with us about this subject. Jeff: How do you go about choosing which projects you will involved yourself in? If I think my experience can raise the bar for what they are doing I will get involved. If I think they are trying to be original without forgetting their influences I will get involved. If they in particular want me and my mind and trust my intuition and respect my choices I will get involved. Otherwise I don't really aspire to produce. I think bands finding producers is more healthy than producers finding bands. How did you get to know Captain Soularcat? From the road and from playing a long three hour show with them where me and Jeff Sipe and Jeff Coffin and the Count (M'Butu) sat in. They really went with the "invisible whip" aspect of our improvisational whims that night. I think they are brave and kind and desirous to be great. Have you produced other projects aside from your own material? Yes. This however is my first full length rock album. I have produced theatre soundtracks and video projects and short films as well. How does being a producer for someone else differ from being your own man in terms of producing your own material? You chew their gum and figure out what flavor it is instead of handing out your gum and telling them what flavor it is before they even begin to chew it. You make what they already do "read" as audio and try to get them to understand audio and how it is different than a live performance. You try to keep the live soul of the band intact while running them through a computer program. You encourage them by getting them to play it great just once. That's all it takes in the studio, and from there it can get greater on stage. No album should ever be forced to be anything but a document of that band at that particular point in time. If you think it's your masterpiece you have no where else to go except to work the day shift at Wendy's. Would you consider working outside of these particular genres and get yourself involved in a music style completely different than these? Totally. I think cross pollination in production is the breeding ground for genius. Ricky Keller (of Project Z) was my mentor and he went into rap and rock and ever genre and his ideas were fresh to those producers. He brought no preconceived notions of any kind, recognizing that they are death to creativity before the recording software had ever been booted up. Do you feel like it is part of your job as producer to help spread the word to industry professionals about this project? Or is your influence more strictly limited to the actual recording and mixing process? If the project is not talked about by the fans then I have failed. Industry professionals are primarily deaf people who sit around and discuss the market-abily of music apart from it being music. I just can't listen to a producer who can't play a musical instrument. I'm kind of anal that way. Software geeks are great to have by your side, but I want a guy working on my music who has felt sweat running down the crack of his ass while trying to please a live audience under pressure when the monitors are broken and his or her back is up against the wall, but they figure out what to do and everything works out fine. This is a producer. A producer can and must produce. Dig? Define for us what you believe a producer does for a project? Brings hope and confidence to the band. Teaches the band how to make the material read as audio. Gives the project a sound and sense of continuity. How does this differ from engineer or studio mixer, or post production mixing? A painter paints the picture and the framers frame and package the art for sale. The final mix and mastering are influenced by engineers by virtue of the fact that they help the artist realize they many choices that could be made on the overall sound of the final. But the artist and producer decide. What specific expertise must a producer bring into the studio in terms of technical wizardry? A basic understanding of compression, reverb and outboard gear technology. An understanding of the software and what can be done with it. What non-technical and more interpersonal skills must a producer bring? How to talk to a band without making them feel small and ignorant. How to keep things going and organized. What psychological and motivational tricks must one employ to help get out the artists vision? Humor How do you cope when your vision for a project differs from that of the artist? They win and must. How do you help an artist to see when their ideas may not be practical in the studio? The only unpractical thing is usually in reference to money. All else is possible even if I think they are nuts' they may be and that's ok. How involved do you get with the original composition of material or the revision of already created material? Not very. They should be ready. I make tweak arrangements for audio readability. How does it feel to be personally involved musically as a musician on a project that you might be producing? It feels good and makes be proud to be older and seasoned and proud to help young bands. People like Bruce Hampton and Ricky Keller helped me Any projects on the horizon for you as producer that we should know about? A mixed media Blueground Undergrass DVD with Vassar (Clements) and more to come. I want to thank very much the members of Captain Soularcat, the Reverend Jeff Mosier, and their publicist Tammy Brackett for helping us to peak behind the curtain a bit, and to understand more about the production of a studio album. I think that we all understand a little bit more about the magic that happens in the studio, and how our favorite bands come to create the music that we love. Catch Captain Soularcat touring throughout the Southeast in the coming months. You can catch Jeff Mosier and his band reunited- Blueground Undergrass while they play select shows in TN and Ga. More information is available at Bluegroundundergrass.com.
Phil Simon is a long time contributor to Jambands.com He also runs his own booking agency and publicity firm called Simon Says Booking handling bands including Freekbass, Revision, the Zen Tricksters, Max Creek, Bump, UMelt, Smokestack, Chicago Afrobeat Project, Tar Beach, the Blue Method, Woodbox Gang, and of course, Captain Soularcat. Be sure to check out Simonsaysbooking.com for more information.
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