F#CK IT.
In the summer of 2013 we packed our instruments, cigarettes and our photographer friend A.F. CORTÉS and headed to Chicago to record with legendary recording engineer and alleged opinionated asshole Steve Albini. We spent five days strumming, swearing and falling asleep on our feet to bring the album to life. Cortés captured the highlights and lowlights on camera for us. We remain embarrassed at how incoherent we are in the interviews.
F#CK IT.
In the summer of 2013 we packed our instruments, cigarettes and our photographer friend A.F. CORTÉS and headed to Chicago to record with legendary recording engineer and alleged opinionated asshole Steve Albini. We spent five days strumming, swearing and falling asleep on our feet to bring the album to life. Cortés captured the highlights and lowlights on camera for us. We remain embarrassed at how incoherent we are in the interviews.
making of: fuck it. (a short doc)
Video documentary shot on location in Chicago at Electrical Audio. Featuring nonsense from the band, wisdom from Albini and lots of gorgeous visuals of the studio.
All Analog All the Time
All Analog All the Time
FUCK IT: DIGITAL + CD RELEASE.
Sample Tacks:
We wanted "Fuck It" to sound wild and raw - sounding as close to a live show as it could get - so it made sense that we went to the expert. Albini’s method is simple: use tried and true analog equipment (all of the mics and amps were chosen according to each individual band members’ style of playing); make a list of all of the songs on a piece of paper; play each song live together until we get a magic take; fix any blatant mistakes; throw the singer in front of the mic to finish the songs off with a final vocal track; mix.
The Live Room was a cathedral with a vaulted ceiling – drums for several of the songs were recorded there. The vocals for Bad Romance, Don’t Call Me Slut, Zombie Form New Jersey and Dirty Talk were also recorded in the live room, to get big sound and big emotion on to the tape.
No pro-tools, no auto-tune, no agonizing over small, niggling details like “maybe we should double up the vocals here… maybe we should digitally clean up the guitar sound over there…” Letting go of absolute perfection (which is silly to try and achieve in rock music anyway) gave us freedom to focus on imbuing the music with the emotion and power that comes from working only to please ourselves. As Albini said to John at one point, “You’re agonizing over one imaginary listener having a problem with what you just played. Fuck that. If they cared so much they could have gotten on a bus and come out here to help you record this album. But they didn’t. Let it go.”
gallery
gallery
The Casting Couch
The Casting Couch
the artwork
Since our friend Andrés lived with us in the studio for five days, he was became intimate with the songs and was able to come up with a concept for an album cover that visualized exactly the attitude of the sound. He and Christa spend the fall months looking for a model who could represent the spirit of the album (the spirit of “Fuck It”, as we say) on the cover. After asking friends of friends of friends for leads and after holding endless casting calls, they finally met The One. Stevie Tosh showed up at the last call a little late, but very apologetic and immediately got along with the band like a house on fire. A few weeks later, Andrés shot a series of photos for the album and lovingly put together a gorgeous, lush cover and interior art for our baby.
Christa, meanwhile, bragged to friends about her “grueling” days of “meeting delightful, half-naked models all day…” at the casting sessions. She was hated and envied by all.