Tracking "The New Imperial"
"The New Imperial" was recorded at Chris Rival's "Middleville Studio" in North Reading, Massachusetts. It is an amazing studio that he built himself in an ancient colonial barn. The band tracked to a 24 track A820 Studer tape machine and did some overdubs and the solo guitar pieces (so I could improvise non-stop all day without running out of tape) on an Otari Radar hard disc system.
Once again Chris distinguished himself with his great ears and ability to capture extraordinarily natural sounds. The CD sounds huge, woody, and organic. We chose the unusual arrangement of playing in the spacious control room while keeping the amps in the live room. This enabled me to crank Marshalls without hurting anyone.
Chris Rival
The J.B. Groove
At rehearsal Zac, Ed (our original bass player) and I were jamming on the bass line to James Brown’s “Super Bad.” I listened back to a recording of the jam and, at some point I heard myself improvise the funky figure that opens the tune. I recognized the value of the figure and wrote the A and B sections around it. The C section in Bm is a melody that I came up with on the fly during another rehearsal.
When we started rehearsals for the CD Blendi, our current bassist, had just joined the band. He simplified and personalized the main groove and then came up with the terrific climbing line on the B section.
This tune features the largest number of separate guitar and amp parts I’ve ever recorded on a single tune which, in the grand scheme of things, still isn’t that many.
First we tracked the tune live with me playing my old strat through my Marshall 100 watt Super Lead and an old Marshall basket weave cabinet with 25 watt greenback Celestions and jumping from one part to another just as I normally do on gigs. This was a good take but I really wanted to hone the tone in for each little guitar part so I kept the live take and started experimenting with other tones and textures. The original solo was pretty insane and rather outside but I made a decision to try a more inside approach with a Hendrixy bent. The D’Pergo JK Classic has such a killer neck pickup tone that guitar was the natural choice for the solo. This is what we ended up with:
Funky part: Korina Gibson SG, Marshall studio15 combo amp
Tremolo melody: Gibson ES 330, Gibson GA-20 amp and a tremolo pedal. This set up doubles the original strat/ Marshall Fulltone Dejavibe.
Bridge (sus4 chords): old strat, Roy Goode amp/ Marshall cab.
Bm section: Korina SG, Roy Goode amp/ Marshall cab.
Solo: D’Pergo Strat, Roy Goode amp/ Marshall cab, MJM London Fuzz 2, Fulltone Dejavibe.
Promise
The first of three improvised solo pieces. I originally planned to do just one of these as I do live for an intro to “All of the Years” but I was in a groove the day I went in to track and just ended by playing all afternoon and recording everything. I took a theme and variations approach to the the improvisation and gave consideration to melodic motifs from different tunes and even solos on the CD. This piece was the first thing I played after plugging in my 50 watt plexi Marshall and the old giant silver Fulltone Soulbender fuzz. We ran a Roland Space Echo into a ‘49 Fender Pro so the Marshall was dry and the Pro was wet.
8 to 11
I had to write a simple straight up rocker for the CD and narrowing down to prescriptive writing is very difficult for me. A few days before we were due to go back in the studio I sat down with my guitar and the opening melody statement popped right out. Thirty minutes later the tune was complete. We rehearsed it once and took it in to the studio thus it was the only track that wasn’t played live before the sessions. The title refers to Zac making fun of my southern accent when I pronounce certain numbers (the old outgoing message on my machine, to be specific). Naturally this grew into an idiotic road mantra that still occasionally resurfaces.
The melody and fills went down live through the 100 watt Marshall and I went back with a Telecaster to track the rhythm guitar part which is a blend of the Marshall and (mostly) a Vox AC30. The solo was pretty burning but too notey/ scaley for me so I went back later for some more passes. Unfortunately the Superlead starting generating strange overtones so I switched to the 50 watt which was sounding great. I used a MJM London Fuzz 2 and really rode the guitar volume for some nice changes in distortion texture on the fly.
I Am a Centaur
 The title of this tune is definitely a band inside secret! Zac plays a bit on every instrument it seems and during rehearsal one night he threw me this bass line. The simple bluesy A section melody is literally the first thing I played over it. I took that home and wrote the rest of the tune. The solo section is steaming with attitude and opens with my rudest tone ever - not for those that like it sweet and slick!
With the exception of the overdubbed keyboards this tune is completely live and one of my favorite performances on the CD. Two previous takes had been done with my strat, the Superlead, and the AC30. Take two was good but it seemed too polite and fusiony and the arrangement wasn’t happening. Acting on a whim I pulled Chris Rival's ‘52 Telecaster off the wall and called a few changes in the arrangement. This Tele is a strange guitar with a very small neck, worn frets, high action, microphonic pickups, and a dark but harmonically complex tone. Just before we tracked the take Chris told me that if I pushed on the pickup selector a certain way it would break contact and cause the sound to cut out. When I started the solo this was an effect I couldn’t resist! The band came together like magic on this one.
For the solo I used the Fulltone Soulbender and an MJM Rocktavios octavia style pedal. The Marshall and the AC30 are running through entire track. After the opening phrases I turned off the Rocktavios and then returned to it for the ride out at the end of the tune. If you listen carefully you can hear the tele picking up the drums during the tag - another bonus for a once in a lifetime take!
About Rudy
Rudy was my beloved cat. She passed away last summer having spent all of her fifteen years with me. This second improvised solo is dedicated to her.
The descending triadic melody at the end is the one set part of this solo piece that also serves as an intro to “All of the Years,” the rest is improvised. For this I played the maple neck strat through the AC30 and used the same delay set up with the Space Echo running into the Pro.
All of the Years
This is the first of three tunes on this CD (the other two being “Sister,” and “The New Imperial”) that I wrote during my last semester as a grad student at North Texas in 1995. Fred Hamilton, my teacher, asked what I wanted to do for my private lesson, so foolishly I volunteered to write a tune every week and play a special guitar department recital of the new music at the end of the semester.
Three of the tunes stood the test of time and after playing them live the conceptual nature of this music led naturally to the composition of the rest of the tunes. The harmonic motion of “Years” is very strange and complex in some places and quite functional and “normal” in others. In some ways it exemplifies my vision more than any of my other tunes compositionally and in my approach to the improvisation. The title refers to all of the years that have passed since Hendrix died yet every time I pick up my guitar I channel the inspiration he has given me.
I played my old rosewood board Strat straight into the Roy Goode JK custom head and the Marshall cab. I love the elegant Rhodes playing by Lefteris Kordis on this track.
Sister
Dedicated to my wonderful sister, Gabrielle. This is another harmonically complex tune. I wrote this with my friend, the great drummer Keith Carlock in mind and he played on the original demo recorded in ‘95. Unfortunately, though the first version of this tune had a mind boggling drum solo, it also suffered from a weak bridge so it went in search of a B section for ten years. Finally one day the music revealed itself and the tune was ready for the public. This is Zac’s favorite JKB tune (it was, after all, written for a drummer) and he plays great on it. Blendi plays upright on this tune and you can hear his bass creaking on the stand during his solo.
I played the maple neck Strat on this one. The clean tone was a combination of amps similar to what we used on Flipping Time:
AC30, Fender Vibroverb, and a tweed deluxe with an echoplex running through it. The clean guitar was recorded live because I wanted the comping under my solo to be locked in yet spontaneous. The solo is the first take and was played immediately after the band take, while the vibe was still happening. I plugged straight into the Superlead and we added the delay during mix down.
Jacket Full of Bees
Stefan Dapergolas, the maker of D'Pergo guitars, named this tune. He said being around me was like having a jacket full of bees - that I have a laid back personality and I'm quiet in day-to-day life but when I start playing guitar everything gets stirred up and you are bound to get stung if you are not careful (or something to that effect).
Zac, Ed Spargo, and I were jamming on all kinds of insane things one evening. I recorded it all, listened back, and during one brief section a moment came together where Ed played that evil low bass groove, Zac locked in with him, and I played the “So What”-like chordal hits with the huge stacked fifth voicings a whole step apart. I knew that was a tune waiting to happen, so I transcribed it and started working on a melody and a B section. Though it sounds atonal, the wild A section melody was based on changes I originally wrote for a tune that was, in turn, based on the Coltrane tune "Satellite." I wrote the melody on the changes, put it over the ostinato bass, and tweaked the melody notes until it sounded right. The B section is in Ab mixolydian and Blendi brought it together with that killer slippery bass groove. The solo is conceptually atonal but still hovers around the key of D blues.
This was tracked live with the maple neck Strat, the Superlead, and the AC30. I used the MJM London Fuzz 2 for the solo. The guitar was knocked a bit out of tune during the solo so I punched in from the “AC/DC” chords at the end of the solo to the end of the track. You can hear the original with the feedback and the fast phrases running between the arena rock chords. The backwards guitar during the intro vamp and on the last chord is the real deal. We turned the tape over, I did a couple passes and we selected what to use during mix down.
In the Fields
This was one of those tunes that came to me all at once. I heard the tune in my head, sat down, and didn’t get up until it was finished. The title refers to childhood time spent on my grandparents Virginia farm which was called the “Home Place" (the title of the opening track of our other CD “Flipping Time.” ).
We decided not to include a solo section - the tune seemed perfect just one time through the head.
I used the same guitar and amp set up as Sister.
The New Imperial
Many have asked about the meaning of this, the title track, and I’ve decided to keep it an  inside secret - known only to certain musicians I’ve worked with and a few audiences who have long since forgotten my between-song banter.
This tune is different in several respects. There is no bass player. Ken Clark plays left hand bass on the Hammond B-3. We wanted a very dry, contained sound for the drums, so Zac played some thuddy old Ludwigs in a small booth. I used a strange one-off guitar made by New England luthier Marty Flanders. It is chambered mahogany with a flat spruce top and P-90 pickups and looks kind of like a wide, flat Guild Bluesbird. I plugged it into an old Gibson GA-6 amp that Roy Goode modified rather heavily though it still maintains its fundamentally nasty barking dog tone.
Zulie
Another bass line from Zac that I took home, wrote a melody and added a third section, hence the title (Z)ac J(ulie)n. For a long time it had the working title of “Meters Rip” because it reminded us of a Meters tune but nobody could figure out which one.
People mistake this for a Telecaster but, once again, it is the old maple neck Strat. I am particularly proud of the bell-like clean tone on the melody and first half of the solo, which is the Vox AC30. For the distorted part of the solo I switched to the 100 watt Marshall with a Fulltone ‘70 fuzz and the Maxon delay.
Requiem (for Bottle)
Col. William M. “Bottle” Kasper was my Grandfather on my Father’s side. He passed away last summer while we were tracking this record. I was thinking of him when I improvised this mournful solo piece.
This was recorded using the same guitar and amp setup as “About Rudy.”
Mics and Mic Pre-amps
I kept track of some specific mic/pre info but I’ll keep it general. Neve, Bryston, Neotek, and Telefunken mic pres were used to taste and the difference between them was always profound as to the impact they had on tone. Usually Chris would switch between them, we would decide which pre sounded best for that particular application, and then I would forget to ask which pre we ended up with. Chris kept most of the info in tracking notes so I used those to fill in gaps in my memory.
For the Marshall cabinet Chris usually placed a Royer 121 ribbon mic about four feet from the cab through a Bryston preamp. For screaming fuzz tones ambient mics an old RCA 77 ribbon broadcast mic about 8 feet out and a little above the cab sounded great combined with a Neumann U-87 in the back of the room.
On the solo pieces and the "8 to 11' solo Chris used a Seinheiser 409 on the Marshall or the AC30, used the U-87 and an Earthworks TC30k as ambients, and a Neumann U-47 on the Pro.
The 409 and the U-47 on the AC30 and Vibroverb respectively were favorites for clean tones.
Every now and then the good old Shure SM-57 would end up on the Marshall cab. The sweet solo tone on "Sister" includes that mic.
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Other pages in this section:
Zac Casher at the Berklee
Performance Center
Listen to sound clips from
The New Imperial
and order it online at
Nugene Records (UK)
CD Baby (US)
Lesson
Here's a link to a lesson from Julien that is currently available on the TrueFire.com website.
It isn't free, but it is inexpensive — about $3 gets you an audio version (mp3) of the lesson recorded by Julien for Guitar Player's "Notes on Call" series as well as a .PDF version of the lesson as it appeared in the September, 1998 issue of Guitar Player magazine and a PowerTab version of the lesson examples.
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