On The Record: The Sidetracked Fiasco
on July 13th, 2012Sydney’s The SideTracked Fiasco have begun their national tour in support of their recently released second E.P ‘Enter the Motivational Sasquatch‘. A video clip for the single ‘547‘ has also just been released. This week they tell us more about the release via our On The Record questions. Expand this post to check out the answers, the new video clip and their upcoming tour dates.
Tell us about the release title.
Well I was at my local tavern and felt the need to relieve myself after partaking in one too many ales so I ventured to the men’s room. As I entered the cubicle I happened to glance at the crude graffiti and limericks that adorned the wooden partition and noticed one of them read “Be ‘ere at 9pm 20/12/2011 for a guud time”. This imparted a sense of fear in me as it was indeed the 20th of December 2011. I quickly looked to my watch and it confirmed my worst fear, the time was 9pm. The cubicle door was suddenly kick in and a large burley man in a monkey suit handed me a bass guitar “You’se gunna play the Funkcore, Motherlicker! & it will be called Enter The Motivational Sasquatch” he commanded. And I did. To be honest I was rather relieved as I thought I was going to be raped…
Tell us about the artwork..
The artwork depicts The motivational sasquatch Catboggie Sed our sometimes friend and spiritual advisor posing as Che Guevara. He’s half messianic guru, half sadistic tormentor & half funky cheese connoisseur.
What format/s will it be released on and how will it be packaged?
In a standard jewel case or digital download. Though I have heard the rumor the deluxe edition will come in a hand sewn Sasquatch scrotum pouch.
Who will it be released through, and when?
Green/MGM
Tell us about the studio and why you chose to record there?
We recorded the album @ Main St Studios, Wollongong. We thought it would be a good idea to get out of town and focus purely on the task at hand. Of course no-one told us about Hawaiian shirt Tuesday & no pants Friday until it was too late.
Tell us about the producer / engineer and why you chose to record with them?
We had Adam Jordan & Murray Stace manning the helm for this one. We met them several months before at the Gaelic Theatre when we were supporting “Over-Reactor”. Murray introduced us to the wonders of crabcore (a challenge we heartedly accepted) & Adam impressed us with the length of his goatee.
Did you go into the writing process with a clear direction in mind?
Absolutely, we all heard the rumours of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon being a companion piece to “The Wizard of Oz”… Well “Enter the Motivational Sasquatch” is intended to be watched alongside supreme leader Kim Jong-Il’s “Pulgasari” (yes he made a film). Only we didn’t have a budget to record 95 mins of music. So you can play the entire movie @ x4 times the normal speed to account for this problem.
Were you listening to anything in particular during the writing / recording process that influenced the songs at all?
Not in the way you’d expect. Adam & Murray kept forcing us to listen to the most appalling music they could find on youtube. Mostly people spitting rhymes about Jesus having a good tan or being unable to describe how magnets work. That definitely influenced how we didn’t want our E.P to sound.
Were there any albums you were referencing to aim for a certain type of sound production wise?
I have a dubbed tape of “Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em” that we used as a jumping off point. It sounds like parachute pants.
How long did it take to record?
5 days of tracking ,2 days of mixing.
Tell us a little about the recording process the band used?
After covering the studio in pentagrams drawn in nacho cheese and appeasing the Mayan deity Ah Muzencab, god of bee’s by putting on wetsuits and lying face down in the urinals of Wollongong’s nightclubs we simply multi-tracked our parts onto pro-tools.
Was this any different to previous processes you have used?
No pretty much the same aside from Hawaiian shirt Tuesday and No pants Friday. The horrors that we witnessed have forever scarred my soul…I can never look at a Hawaiian shirt again!
Any guests involved? if so, who.. and what did they do?
Yes, Catboogie Sed the Motivational Sasquatch popped in and graciously recorded the intro track for us. I think you’ll find it a literary masterpiece of the highest order rivaling the works of Chaucer, Shakespeare or any book with Fabio on the cover. My daughter Larissa also did the adlibs at the beginning and end of the cd.
Any particular equipment outside your usual live gear used in the process?
Dean (our guitarist) really took advantage and used just about every guitar and amp Main St had. He used a 1971 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe Goldtop, Fender USA Billy Corgan Signature Strat, Gibson Flying V plus his Gretch through a Hughes & Kettner TriAmp MKII, 1982 Marshall JCM800, 1968 Fender Bassman Head and an Orange Tiny Terror plus he went rummaging through the effects box looking for overdrives, wah’s, choruses & phasers. I used my standard recording rig which is my Warwick corvette $$ custom through a Randall RB 750 into Hartke xl 4×10 and a Hartke hydrive 115 cabs, we then blended that with a Trace Elliot GP12 SMX Bass Head & Mesa Boogie 6×10 cab. Effect wise I used my Digitech whammy, bass synth and delays, Ibanez weeping demon wah, Boss flanger, Tech 21 double drive and an Electro Harmonix octave multiplexer which are the same pedals I use live. Seb added an octodrum to his kit which he uses in the intro to “Squeeze the Monkey”. As far as I know Ryan used the same vocal chords he did on our last ep.
Any memorable studio moments?
On day 1 Murray came back with what must have been a kilo and a half of Skittles which he and Adam managed to get through by day 4. Sugar sick anyone ?
Any additional tracks recorded that didn’t make the cut but may see the light of day sometime?
No, we finished in the nick of time.
What track/s are you most looking forward to playing live?
My favourites are 547 & High & Mightes.
How would you compare the final product to previous releases?
They complement each other perfectly … So you should buy both!
Anything else you want to say or tell us about the release?
We’ve just kicked off an East coast tour called “Ignore the big scary dinosaur & get on the bus” promoting our new single off the album “547”. We’ll playing shows across NSW, VIC, QLD, SA & ACT. You can also pick up a copy online at iTunes or at all good music stores across Australia, and even some shitty ones.
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THE SIDETRACKED FIASCO – Enter The Motivational Sasquatch
EP available now, get it on iTunes [Here].
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Catch them on tour launching the new EP.
AUGUST
3rd – The Squatters Arms, Adelaide [18+]
4th – Worldsend Hotel, Adelaide [18+]
10th – The Pacific Hotel, Yamba [18+]
11th – The Buddha Bar, Byron Bay [18+]
17th – Dicey Riley’s, Wollongong [18+]
18th – PJ O’Reilly’s, Canberra [18+]
24th – The Townie, Newtown [18+]
26th – The Old Manly Boatshed, Manly [18+]
30th – The Beer Garden, Gold Coast [18+]
31st – Lismore Uni, Lismore [18+]
SEPTEMBER
1st – Ric’s, Brisbane [18+]
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