7 Seconds studio report

us that the 7 Seconds website has posted a big update on the band's recording progress for their upcoming full length. Click below to see the post from Kevin Seconds, which indicates that the band has recorded at least 17 new songs for their 2004 album.

Monday, 12/22/03, 7:10am:

This past weekend ruled. One of the better, more productive ones in a long, long time. I didn't play a gig or go out of town. Instead, my boys from 7Seconds came down from Skeeno on Friday night and we prepared to go into the Hangar (studio here in Sacto - formerly Enharmonik where we recorded 'Out The Shizzy' and 'The Music, The Message') and record all the drum tracks for our upcoming album.

Here's what happened……

Friday (12/20): Steve, Troy and Bobby got down to Sac around 6pm and I met them at Guitar Center to buy necessary things like cymbals, drum heads and guitar and bass strings. Luckily, we have a couple of really cool friend who work there who were more than happy to hook us up with amazing deals.

The guys were going to come by and say to everyone at the True Love (I was doing sound for The Miles & Dana Deathray) but instead went straight to the hotel to get some rest for tomorrow.

Saturday (12/21): I got my ass up, showered, kissed Al awake and met the rest of the band over at the Hangar. I managed about 5 hours of sleep and felt pretty good, mainly due to my excitement of finally getting this album started. Longtime friend/engineer John Botch (owner of the Hangar) had already mic'ed up Troy's drums and they were working on settings when I got there. My other longtime friend David Houston (who owns and runs his own studio here in Sac) also showed up to add his expertise, ears and moral support. It wasn't long before Botch took off to get some work done and I jumped behind the console, grabbed the engineer's chair and hit the record button (with David a few feet behind me, lending the occasional bit of advice while doing some DVD editing on his Powerbook). We started with "Big Fall" and the boys honestly have never sounded better. It was apparent that they worked their asses off, getting these brand new songs into shape and the sheer power, energy and tightness of their sound just blew me the fuck away. I felt almost clumsy and embarrassed doing my little scratch vocal part:

"you're really down, you've hit the skids, you never seem to get ahead, you blame us all, for your big fall, you're pointing fingers every where"

One song down, 13 to go. Next up was "All Came Undone":

"7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, none, thought it all came together but it all came undone…11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, what with all that I've done I'm just glad I'm alive"

We raged on. And for the next almost 12 hours, the Hangar was filled with the sounds of my little old Reno/Sacto hardcore band. We just kept pounding and banging away and no one ever really wanted to stop. Not even to pee. The new songs and the way they were sounding coming out of those big studio monitors kept us all fired up and made us want to keep going for as long as the momentum was there. And it most definitely lingered well into the wee hours of morning. We stopped only for a quick trip to Subway for veggie sandwiches and then the True Love for massive amounts of caffeine and then it was back to business.

We ended up recording drum, bass and rhythm guitar tracks on:

Big Fall

All Came Undone

Meant To Be My Own

"first to take it, last to give it, step aside, do you think I'm playing, believe this world was meant to be my own"

This Is Temporary

"a knee-jerk reaction is waiting, for any who dare to oppose, talk of war, always praised, conversations, quickly turn closest friends into foes"

My Band, My Crew

"i'm glad we stuck it out, survived the floods and drought, you might not understand, i'm not sure that you can, it's a family, a band, hope it all never ends"

Say My Thanks

"say my thanks and be on my way, do i still hear it, feel it, today? when i look back does it bother me, i'll never let it get in my way"

Your Frustration

"and i have no excuse for my ways, (i never have), i could blame it on growing up wrong (like everyone), i could say that this life isn't fair (ridiculous), i could play on the fact that you care"

The last hour of the session, we were all starting to feel the strain and we decided to call it a night. David H was kind enough to hang in there with us the entire night and I was psyched that he was so willing to help out but even he seemed more than ready to get away from our nonsense for a few hours. I cruised by the True Love just before closing and chatted with a few pals like Warren but I was feeling pretty damned exhausted. Al and I were both ready for bed but I needed to put the band's hotel bill on my credit card and since the hotel couldn't do it over the phone, we drove to it and paid it in person. It was then decided that we were both so hungry we would break down and grab a couple of b'fast burritos at….*GULP*…. Del Taco. It was horrible but also horribly perfect and neither of us gave a real fuck at that point. As were were sitting at the drive-thru, I got a call on my cellphone. It was Steve. He said they saw the van pulling out of the hotel drive-way from their room and were wondering if everything was ok. I told him it was and that I figured they'd be sound asleep by now. He laughed and told me that they decided to practice the 2 brand new songs - "One Friend Too Many" and "Our Core" right there in their room, guitars unplugged and Troy banging the drum parts on his knee. He said they'd be ready to record the songs by morning and of course, I had absolutely no reason at all to NOT believe them. Got home and crawled into bed with Al and was out quickly.

On Sunday, we resumed the session and recorded the rest of our new tunes, including:

Breaking News

"talking heads tell a story, see if we can catch the spin, so good at painting pictures, when will this shit ever end?"

Stand There And Just Stare

"and when i'm interacting, am i sincere, am i humble, do i take the time to reason, lend a hand when someone stumbles, i can sing my songs, be happy, but the sadness always lingers, find the passion that will feed me, can i grab it with my fingers"

Where Is The Danger (In Hot Topic City)? (working title)

"so gifted and smart, everyone looks so pretty, but where is the danger in hot topic city? most of them never get past what's on TV, your demographic grows up, fades away, your demographic will have bills to pay, your demographic doesn't get it anyway"

Rules To Follow

"grab a piece of paper, go on, you might as well, document your feelings, it might be your last chance, you can't tell…scream and shout about it, make sure it's good and loud, if you're unsure about it, it really doesn't matter, anyhow"

On It

"i just can't stand around and play along like good dogs do, cuz when i live the lie, i know my time here is all through, we all try cutting corners, sure, we all prefer the ease, but i can't see above the fray when i'm down on my knees"

Big Hardcore Mystery

"a new day, a new time, why don't we let the kids give it a try, a new way, a new plan, why should we get what we don't understand?"

Panic Attack

"i thought it was over, i thought i was dying, told myself i could get past the depression, there was no water but i was still drowning, head full of cotton, no, nothing was working, a part of me that never goes away, i feel it's presence every single day, some day i'll find a way to break free from anxiety"

We also recorded:

One Friend Too Many

"you say "no damage done", you find the right wing really does it for you, you're having way more fun, your racist attitude is working for you" and

Our Core

"don't you tell me i'm being nostalgic, i'm not looking to go back in time, take it back, take it on, take it over, nothing more, it's OUR core, re-defined"

I have to say (and I'm being totally truthful here), these 2 brand new songs sounded as good if not better than the other songs we've been rehearsing now for months and months. How can I NOT feel happy and proud to be a part of this band?

We ended the session recording a new song that Steve and Bobby wrote back when we wrote the 'Good To Go' album and it is just a killer. Heck, it's so insanely new to me that I don't even have a working title for it, let alone, the words. Musically, it's going to be the weirdest yet most "radio-friendly" song on the album. The problem is, we honestly could give 2 shits about getting played on the radio so so much for that. Now we have 17 songs to pick from to be included on the new album, NOT 14.

Fucking awesome!

Once their parts were finished, Steve and Troy needed to get back to Reno as they both had work to deal with on Monday morning. Bobby stuck around and doubled all his guitar parts and did it in record speed. I kept thinking about when we recorded 'Good To Go' in L.A. and the engineer Steve Krvac and how far we would have been by now had we recorded with him. I figured we might have had 3-4 songs done in the same amount of time. I don't know. As great as that experience was and as much as I love the way 'GTG' sounds, I just think this is the way 7Seconds needs to record a 7Seconds album. Some people might disagree but I don't care.

David H left sometime in the early part of the night and it was down to just Bobby and I (Al came buy for a few hours while the whole band was there to take photos but left earlier, as well). We finished up the guitar overdubs and were out of the studio by 11. Stopped at the TL to get Bobby some coffee for the drive back to Reno. I felt drained, hungry and in need of a shower. Got home and hung out with Al.

I had this strange yet mostly pleasant 'coming down' feeling before hitting the sack. Felt somewhat euphoric, really. It's always great knowing that you've just finished getting most of a new album done. There is still much work to do. Bobby needs to finish his guitar bits and then I start on the vocals. And then, after I get the lead vocals out of the way, we record the big 'gang vocal' parts and believe you me, when I say 'gang vocal' I mean 'GANG VOCAL'. My goal is to get no less than 50 different people singing the 'wo-ohs' and 'yeahs' on this album and I WILL get my way.

Time for bed. We throw everything into ProTools tomorrow afternoon. Woo-hoo!!!!