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 A DEATH IN THE FAMILY - SMALL TOWN STORIES [RESIST RECORDS] ALBUM INSTORES NOW The name of our album is: “Small Town Stories” How did the name come about? About half way through writing the album we felt we needed a bit more direction and focus on the lyrics and song ideas. We started discussing the fact that we had all grown-up in small Australian towns and found that we shared some similar experiences living in those places, albeit different parts of the country. Although not all the tracks on the new album are related to the ‘Small Town Stories’ theme, it was definitely an idea that we drew from on several songs. “It’s not a concept album…” Atom (Guitar/ Vocals) Ha Ha! It will be released on: Feb 28th via Resist / Shock Records We recorded it at: Three Phase + The Arthouse Studio Tell us a bit about the studio and why you chose to record there? Three Phase is an up and coming studio in Brunswick (Melbourne). Over the past few years they have built up a solid reputation; with recent updates to their tracking/ control rooms and very recently installing a new desk (apparently it has a lot more buttons and lights than the old one!) Their drum tracking room is nice and ‘roomy’ which is something we were keen on too. We had already talked to Sam Johnson about tracking the album for us so it made sense to use a studio that he is familiar with. We recorded it with: Sam Johnson and then vocals/ extra instruments were recorded at The Arthouse Studio by our drummer Matt. After that the songs were sent to the US for mixing by J. Robbins at his studio ‘The Magpie Cage’. It was mastered at West West Side Studios, New York. Tell us a bit about the engineer / producer and why you chose to record with them? Sam has done live sound for ADITF for the past few years and we all get along really well with him – when we told him the plans for the new record he was keen to be involved. We’ve all had some bad recording experiences in the past, so it was great working with Sam who knows our sound and has a great approach to working with bands in a studio environment…..he’s a very patient guy! Our connection with J. Robbins initially came about from a benefit show we played for his son Callum (who suffers from Type 1 SMA disease) As part of the show J offered an auction prize to all the bands on the night for him to mix a track for the winner. ADITF won the prize and we contacted J about the idea of mixing the entire record – lucky for us, he was keen! Tell us about the writing / pre-production process, how long did it take and how did you go about it? The writing process for ‘Small Town Stories’ was a long one! We probably spent 6 months writing the first 3-4 songs! Being a band where everyone has an input on the song writing, it easy to get bogged down on the first few songs…..once we had 5-6 of the songs done, things moved along a little faster. About a month out from recording the album we did a week of pre-production which was really helpful for finishing lyrics and adding guitar parts. I guess in total, the record took most of 2008 to write and record. It took us 3 months to physically record it – but this was broken up into a week here, a day there etc… Tell us a bit about the recording process the band used Essentially it was a standard ‘rock’ recording approach – at Three Phase we got Drum tracks down, then Bass, then main Guitar tracks followed by PLENTY of Guitar over-dubs, lead parts etc. From there we took the tracks to The Arthouse Studio and we had Nell Day come in to play violin and Clare Whitcombe to play keys on certain songs. We also recorded all vocals at The Arthouse Studio as well as some extra percussion/ guitar effects etc. Gear wise, was there anything outside your usual live equipment used? We were able to bring in a decent range of guitar amps to try and vary guitar tones/ dynamics in certain parts of the album. As with our first record, we were once again fortunate enough to have Clare and Nell come and lay down some keys and violin tracks. Matt also added some extra percussive instruments that we hadn’t used before. Any memorable moments during the process that stood out? Overall the recording process was reasonably smooth (apart from taking a few more weeks than we anticipated) – no studio brawls to report unfortunately! Who took care of the artwork and why you chose to use them? Evan B Harris (an artist from the US) did the original painting that the album artwork is based on. Jamie came across his artwork on Flickr site and thought Evan’s style would suit the new album really well. Once he had agreed to do the painting we emailed Evan some of the thoughts behind the songs and also mentioned that the album would be called ‘Small Town Stories’. Evan’s painting ended up being the front cover and the basis for the rest of the artwork. Josh Andrews designed the packaging and layout. Now that it's ready for release, what can we expect from the final package. I think the songs on Small Town Stories definitely sound more ‘worked-out’ and the overall sound is much ‘fuller’ than on previous recordings. It still has plenty of drive and melody, with a few surprises thrown in – essentially it still sounds like us! It was important for us to discuss things that we weren’t happy with on the first record and try and make improvement leading up to recording this album. People who are familiar with our earlier recordings should hopefully hear a step-up in sound with better tones, more dynamic parts and added production. Do you have a favorite track on the album? Maybe “Erasing The Maps” How would you compare the album to 'This Microscopic War'? The new album is sonically better for sure (thanks Sam and J!) and I think the song structures flow a little better than the first record. The addition of Jamie’s vocals and song-writing to this record was another key difference. We learned a lot from recording the first album and the tracks from the split EP we did (with Manifesto Jukebox) – I’d like to think those experiences have helped us make a more mature and better sounding record. You'll be hitting the road to launch the album on the 'Small Town Stories' tour, what can the punters who head along expect. Plenty of new tunes, a few of the old ones and probably a good ol’ fashion piss-up after the show! Right after that you are off to the US to join The Gaslight Anthem on a bunch of dates, has anything been lined up release wise for this new album in the US? The new album will have US distribution through Revelation and No Idea Records. It comes out in the US/ Canada on March 3rd. Which parts of the US will you be taking in? Are they places you've been before on your past visit, or new territory? It’s a pretty full-on schedule this time around… we start in Portland, OR and then have dates in California before heading East through Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and then into Texas and Florida. On our 2007 US tour the shows were mainly in the East (Florida, Texas, Tennessee etc). It will be cool to play a couple of cities like Austin and Tampa for the second time. Your previous album 'This Microscopic War' has just been given the vinyl treatment courtesy of Resist, any plans for this new one to also be released in that format? There will be an LP version for sure – to be released a few months down the track. In 2007 you played at many people's dream festival, The Fest In Gainesville. How did that come about and how was it as an experience / compared to Australian festivals etc. What were the highlights? It seems like ages ago now – but yeah, playing The Fest was an amazing experience. We were lucky enough to get an offer in early 07’ from the guys at No Idea Records, who organize The Fest each year. From that offer we were able to book another few weeks worth of US shows. For people who haven’t been, just imagine a small city about the size of Newcastle being overrun with 3000 or so ‘Fest Goers’ and 200+ bands. The event takes place over 3 days in 7-8 different sized venues (all within walking distance) around Gainesville. The venues range from a small outdoor stage to the headline venue which holds about 1500 people. Plus there are house shows/ parties going on left right and centre!I guess because it’s spread over a bunch of separate venues and kinda runs through out the whole city, it’s hard to make a comparison to any of the festivals we have in Australia – which are usually confined to 1 venue or big outdoor area. I’m pretty confident that it’s more fun than ‘Soundwave’ he he! The highlight for me personally was being on the same bill as Seaweed who reformed for the Fest that year. This was a band I never imagined ever seeing live, let alone playing on the same bill as! For older dudes, they still had the fire! What do you hope to achieve as a band this year? We’ve never had any huge expectations as a band. We are just really excited to get the new album out and feel very lucky to have some great shows/ tours coming up through March/ April/ May. Apart from that, if Atom can avoid getting bitten by any form of deadly insect and Jamie doesn’t get arrested at LAX again, I think we’ll all be happy with whatever comes out way.
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