THICK OIL, day nine - The Arrivals

"Today the OIL project almost came to an end. A flash of planning, hard work,
amazing songs, amazing people, photographs and video almost cut short just
half way through the process. We had been warned the day of The Tossers
session that alcohol was no longer welcomed at the factory. The fear being,
"drunk person drowns in 1million gallon oil vat. Insurance company sues,
etc..." Sometimes I wonder what is more scary, terrorists or insurance companies.
Anyway, we ignore the warning, thinking we can clean up all the bottles and
cans and nobody would no the wiser. Unfortunately, we miss a can, that the
president of the factory finds on the loading dock. Our factory hook-up and
member of The Matics is in jeopardy of losing his job. To make matters worse,
Pat has to see his doctor to diagnose his ailing body. We initially think
exhaustion, but it turns out to be allergies. The Arrivals rhythm section
(Ronnie Dicola and Dave Kaktis) show up for their session promptly at 4PM
with coolers of brew in tow. "You will have to leave the beer in the car..."
follows the initial, "hello, howzit cuz..."
Thus begins the ninth in a series of journal entries by THICK Records kingpin Billy Spunke documenting his label's newest compilation, "OIL". To read the full entry, click on READ MORE, to see pictures from the sessions click here, and keep coming back here every day for the latest installment.

Today the OIL project almost came to an end. A flash of planning, hard work,
amazing songs, amazing people, photographs and video almost cut short just
half way through the process. We had been warned the day of The Tossers
session that alcohol was no longer welcomed at the factory. The fear being,
"drunk person drowns in 1million gallon oil vat. Insurance company sues,
etc…" Sometimes I wonder what is more scary, terrorists or insurance companies.
Anyway, we ignore the warning, thinking we can clean up all the bottles and
cans and nobody would no the wiser. Unfortunately, we miss a can, that the
president of the factory finds on the loading dock. Our factory hook-up and
member of The Matics is in jeopardy of losing his job. To make matters worse,
Pat has to see his doctor to diagnose his ailing body. We initially think
exhaustion, but it turns out to be allergies. The Arrivals rhythm section
(Ronnie Dicola and Dave Kaktis) show up for their session promptly at 4PM
with coolers of brew in tow. "You will have to leave the beer in the car…"
follows the initial, "hello, howzit cuz…"

Ronnie and Dave get comfortable and in no time get sounds with Lance. We
then wait until 7PM for Isaac and Lil' Dave to show up. Finally, with all
four Arrivals in the room, Lance begins tracking. Isaacs' guitar is so loud
that the ambient room mic loses the drum sound. Lance decides to run Isaacs'
guitar through a Pod and headphones to cut out his guitar in the room, which
will let the drums come through. As the sun goes down, it begins to rain and
Chicago's heat spell drops down into the 60's. This is the first day during
the recordings where the temperature has dropped below 80. The band nails
the song, "Pangea" in one take. Lil Dave adds his guitar track with a Mesa
Boogie Triple Rectifier and a Marshall cabinet over Isaacs Marshall JCM800 and cabinet. Vocals are next and Isaac asks if the photographer and video cameras can leave the room to help settle his nerves. I hide a camera and capture the whole take anyway, which he belts out in one take. You can hear his voice rebound off the back wall and make its way to us on the other side of the space. Isaacs’ voice sounds stronger than ever. A back up vocal later and The Arrivals are completed with what just might be the best song yet, in just 4 hours.

It is September 11th as I write about The Arrivals session last night. From our makeshift control room, Chicago’s skyline is in plain sight. I span the sky for airplanes leaving their flight paths. When I was scheduling the Oil Recordings, two bands turned down the September 11th session. Rise Against asked for it. I am ready for frustration, anger, and discontent to be heard in the factory tonight.