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25 Years Of Local H
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| | HERE COMES THE ZOO. And we're back. An attempt to get back to the basics - not just in terms of the band, but in terms of rock music in general. Conceived as a no frills rock record modeled after Back In Black and Led Zeppelin IV, we jettisoned our conceptual leanings (or tried to) and concentrated on the meat. Like Back In Black, it was limited to ten songs (all in minor keys, btw) - but like Zep IV, it had two distinct rhyming sides that both end with long songs. There was a great conversation with Chris Goss about producing - as well as an intense talk with Josh Homme in the Liar's Club basement about him taking the job. But then we heard that Jack Douglas wanted to do it. Jack motherfucking Douglas. As soon as Jack expressed interest, we really couldn't say no. As much as we love the idea of a Josh Homme produced Zoo, we felt a distinct need to prove ourselves after all the changes we'd gone through in the last few years. We didn't want to be seen as riding on his coattails. Doubling down on our legend quota, we were more than happy to go along with Jack's suggestion to hire Jay Messina. With the team behind Aerosmith's Rocks at our side, we loaded into It Is What It Is Studios in Weehawken, New Jersey to record our new as yet, unnamed album. It would also be our first record with our new drummer, but Brian wouldn't be the only new presence on the record. Since the Pack Up The Cats tour, when we brought along Wes Kidd to cover guitar solos and harmonies, Local H had become a bit of an open circle with various friends and musicians joining us on stage, and we wanted the new record to reflect that. We were joined by Wes and Josh, as well as Shanna from Sullen, Simi from Suffrajett, and our buddy Maxton Koc. Gabe was there for the first time in the flesh. We even got Jerry Only to stop by on his way to his Grandma's Sunday gravy. Everything was in place. The songs were road-tested and we were confident. But then things started to go wrong. Equipment started to break down. Sessions would stall out. At one point Jack said, We're gonna need a bigger boat - and we switched studios. We would switch studios 3 more times before the record was finished. For the first time, we lost control of the recording process and we couldn't figure out why. Was it really just the pressure of proving that we still had it after being away for so long? Were we overcompensating by tamping down on our pop tendencies and just focusing on making this big RAWK record? While we were recording at Skyline in New York, Scott went to see the Strokes at Bowery Ballroom and, much like after hearing Shudder To Think's record during the mixing of Ham Fisted, he grew depressed and utterly disillusioned. Realizing that he was making a record that had no place in the current landscape, he lost all perspective. But it was too late. The record was almost finished, and there was no turning back now. Over budget and over time, we finally tapped out and handed the tapes over to Nick DiDia. Of course, Nick got the job done but it would be a long time before the record could be heard with fresh ears. Now it's easy to hear that we pretty much achieved what we set out to do. The side-closing epics, Baby Wants To Tame Me and What Would You Have Me Do, are two of our best songs - especially the latter - even if it does chicken out from the no concept rule by reintroducing melodic threads from nearly all the other songs during the mind-scramble curtain call section. Rock & Roll Professionals is one of our funniest and most scathing songs. The triple-tracked drums on Hands On The Bible is just one of the perfect things that Brian does throughout the album. This record really is the perfect introduction for him. Keep Your Girlfriend is our most twisted critique yet of macho bullshit. Half-Life, Creature Comforted, Bryn-Mawr Stomp - there's a lot of brutal stuff on here. And that's what we were going for. There's not a lot of texture, but it's smart. It's not like we remade Ham Fisted. There is SOME progress. And after all these years, you know what? The record sounds great. Wish there was some way to go back there and tell us that. |
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