A wizard in the control room and the kitchen, Dave (eventually fed up with our “whatever-goes-with-tabasco-sauce” approach to culinary creations) conjures up a magnificent meal of fresh, lightly-battered Raglan-caught fish, risotto, and salad. Magnificent. Chur.

Time is flying by. At the end of this weekend Jaimz had finished tracking all the drums for the album, a pretty incredible feat for the six days he’s had at the house. We were joined on the last day by his wife and two kids, the eldest who had a great time clambering around the playground of studio equipment (be sure to check out the video clip of said two-year-old behind the kit!), and making it an interesting session for Dave in the control room!

After they’d said farewell and headed back to the city, we were joined by a group of friends (including Mat and Dan from Decortica, The Great Aku, and Ms. Ana Steele, whose costume and styling talent you may remember from the Love In A Fallout Shelter video) who had driven down from the city for a BBQ, impromptu djembe/conga jam (where we tracked about 20 minutes of percussion for an intro to one of the songs), and plenty of whiskey-fuelled philosophy which lasted into the small hours.

Following a hearty breakfast (he’s also The Great Aku in the kitchen, you know), our guests departed and we forced a reluctant retreat from the stunning, brilliantly-sunny day outside to continue recording.

So now that we’re down to the final week, it’s up to the rest of us to finish laying down our parts (including those for a new song that was only finished yesterday, but captures the mood of us living and recording in Raglan these past few weeks perfectly) for a collection of songs that is already pushing 80 minutes.

When we were originally putting together a list of possible songs that would go on the record, we joked about having enough to fill an entire CD (admittedly, most bands do heading into the studio – it’s always better to have too much to choose from), but now we’re faced with the daunting task of choosing those which, after all this time, may not make it on the record. If we had 18 tracks at 80 minutes it may be a bit easier, but we’re looking at more than a full CD worth at only 11 or 12 songs, and of course everyone in the band has their own favourites they’ll be adamant about keeping. This won’t be easy. Any suggestions? We’ll keep you posted.

R.

Four generations of Big Muffs (clockwise from top left): Little Big Muff Nano, Reissue Russian Big Muff Pi, Original Russian 'Tank Metal' Big Muff Pi, Original Little Big Muff Pi

Amongst guitarists and pedal fanatics the world over, there simply isn’t a more famous fuzz box than the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff. Introduced in the early 1970s, for several generations now these pedals have produced lush, booming, ever-sustaining guitar tone for everyone from David Gilmour to Santana, to the Smashing Pumpkins (who singly coined the undisputed sound of the Big Muff in the 90s), legendary grunge pioneers Mudhoney (who even named an album, Superfuzz Bigmuff, after it), Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth, the list goes on. Bass players have also taken to the pedal’s grinding low end in droves – the late Cliff Burton of Metallica most notably, but also Chris Wolstenholme of Muse, whose Russian version is a renown part of his signature sound. Even more notorious are the early Russian models (see the big green box in the bottom right of the photo), which were rumoured to have casings moulded from recycled Russian tank metal.

Few pedals have evolved so much over such a long period of time, but the EHX Big Muff continues to be much loved and heralded by musicians everywhere.

Photos by Tyler and Dave.