When we started tracking in Los Angeles, Chris Walla (producer) suggested we just follow our feelings and instinctively get through the 20 or so songs that we had settled on to record. About a week into recording we all sat down and wrote a list. Three actually. People (Tegan, Sara) were starting to wonder what WERE the priority songs? WHAT was on deck for tomorrow? Jason McGerr (drummer) suggested we prioritize certain songs and before we knew it, we were making a list. Three, as I said before.
The first list was the list of songs that we thought were not only priorities but also songs we should definitely record at Sound City. If you don’t know about Sound City, google it. We spent the first 3 weeks there tracking drums, guitars, bass and keyboards. Insane.
The second list were songs that we hoped to get to in Seattle. I can’t tell you where we are. Its a secret. A few of the songs were “A” list songs but needed a bit of construction and would make more sense to tackle in a smaller studio without nine people all waiting to play.
The 3rd list were the “I’ll break up with you/disown you/quit being your manager if you don’t record this song” songs. As time flies by they seem likely to become B-sides or …. forgotten. Shhh.
It’s been a few weeks since those three lists were written. Today, we made a new list. 14 “A” list songs. Three “B” side songs. Five unknowns. The list looks good. It reads strong. It was worthy of a white board. So Howard (producer) wrote out the list while Sara added A’s, B’s and question marks beside names. And now, we are making some remarkable progress. How? In what way? Would you like to know? Here is a list of what we have done today:
1. Stopped to get lunch and snacks on the way to the studio as per usual – 10 am.
2. Dropped off a rental car, got a new rental car – 10:30 am.
3. Picked up antibiotics (again) for Chris. He has strep throat – 10:45 am.
4. Made a list – 12 pm.
5. Finished vocals on an “A” song – 2:15 pm.
6. Ate lunch – 2:45pm.
7. Started work on a A song, but Chris needed to string up a 12 string so we moved on to a B song – 3:02 pm.
8. Listened to the B song and decided what needed to be recorded – 3:04 pm.
9. Ate brownies. Not those kind of brownies – 3:05 pm.
I love lists.
T Quin