STUDIO UPDATE
By Hailey Williams
IV Leader Arts and Entertainment Editor, Sept. 23, 2010
Six p.m. strikes and everything is in place. Microphones? Check. Recording engineer? Check. Vocalist? …wait, where’s Matt?!
With everything in place except backing vocalist Matt Smith, members of Paragon Studios and David Mills, other half of local group Rawr Alexis Rawr, simply shrug off Smith’s tardiness and begin the scheduled work for the evening without him.
“Matt’s usually late, it’s just expected and accepted,” laughs Mills. “Once 6:30 hit, I started to get mad. The recording engineer was waiting for him to lay down some vocal tracks, so I tried calling him a bunch of times.”
It wasn’t until around 6:45 when they finally heard from Smith. “He called me and said he was in jail” recalls
Mills, still laughing. “I figured it was Matt trying to be funny and we’d find him out in the driveway laughing as we all ran outside.”
Shockingly, it wasn’t that simple.
“Turns out, he really was in jail and we had to go bail him out,” Mills said.
"I was handcuffed to a bench in the Putnam County
Jail," remembers Smith as he retells the story. He explains that his insurance company accidentally listed him under the suspended license list rather than the supervision list after a minor car accident he was involved in over the summer. The police officer who pulled him over that evening was under the impression that he was driving without a valid license. Thankfully, everything was straightened out and taken care of a few days later.
However, if Smith would have stayed in jail, Mills wouldn’t have been at a total loss… (Kidding, of course).
Mills shares that they had a lot of help with this album. “It features a few of our friends who are fellow musicians from around the area. We had Sam Nelson lay down drum tracks, Nate Riggs and Ryan Diemer doing some group vocals, and Laura Roberts doing guest vocals.”
With more people and music to take care of, new challenges, other than showing up on time, were faced by Rawr Alexis Rawr.
“The hardest part was learning how to record as a full band and still keep our acoustic sound. We wanted drums and bass, but acoustic guitars, so we had to separate and record several tracks on each song” explains Mills.
“With the new album we are trying to keep it to the same style as the first album, but at the same time show that we can do more than just two guitars and vocals. Fans can expect the same style of music, the only difference being that in some songs they will get to hear the sound of Rawr as a full band. The songs are more catchy, more meaningful, and overall bigger in sound.”
Smith notes, “David and I have both grown musically since the first album, so the music will be more complex.”
There were also time constraints to keep in mind since they were working with a professional recording company. According to Smith, that was the most difficult part of the process.
“Trying to lay all the tracks down in just two days was tough. We had to really focus and buckle down and nail a lot of the songs on the first shot to make sure we finished in enough time.”
“We weren't pushing to get the album done. We planned on waiting till 2011 to record it, but we just happened to get the connection with Paragon at the right time and they wanted to do a full length, so we finished all the songs we had in mind and threw them down,” comments Mills.
The new album, "Straight on to Morning" will feature eleven tracks all written and recorded by Rawr Alexis Rawr. When asked if there was a certain theme or message they were trying to convey on the new album, Mills informed me that "It follows right alongside the e.p. When We Reach the City,
In the end, aside from a minor run in with the law, which fits the typical rock star persona, recording their first full-length went as smooth as hoped for.
All 11 songs on the new album “Straight on to Morning” were recorded with the help of Paragon Studios. Thus far, an estimated 24 hours has been spent in the studio between the actual recording and the editing and mixing process.
The cd should be ready in early October after the studio is finished editing the cd and pairing it with album artwork.
While the future may be unknown, this duo continues to focus on their accomplishments and dream big. They have a lot of heart, and to survive in the cut-throat music industry these days, that’s exactly what you need to succeed.
Currently, Rawr Alexis Rawr is planning a cd release show to take place some time in mid-October. They are also working out a concept for a music video for the album’s first single “Near Sighted.” The two also plan to hit the road this summer on a Midwestern tour, which may even include a few East Coast dates. Keep a look out for these guys!