It’d Be Rude Not To – It’s Actually A Done Deal, Right?

Well we finally got there didn’t we?

Yes! The Feckers have achieved our goal, and that was to write and record an album of material featuring some of our best muso friends in the world.

Not too many people know the full gist of what lead us to this point, so, let me cut it down into a few small slices of the big pie……

Chris used to be in a band called Jigsore with his brother Mathew (also known as Matt or Skube), Jigsore folds….Chris tries to get together with various people (they turn out to be some of the flakiest mofo’s on the planet)…Chris & I team up and write a couple of sweet little numbers – they don’t see the light of day (past the demo phase at least) because some other flaky mofo’s decide they will commit to something but not carry through (and one winds up being busy with studying)….thus leaving the said Chris & I somewhat jaded.  Jigsore reforms, records some demos….Jigsore folds…..(I am still waiting on my cd people!!!!). Chris once again goes on the lookout for dudes/dudettes to work with – once again gets given some of that good ole douchebaggery treatment (rock n roll hardon’s don’t abound)…..Chris thinks bugger this! (and possibly wonders if he’s flogging his head against a brick wall), Chris writes some interesting stuff, his brother hears it then Matt recommends a studio, Chris and Matt enter the said studio (Chris is now a singer, who woulda thought????) – what transpires is a sweet as bonafide piece of whatsamacalledit that plays music – oh yeah a bloody good solo album (accompanied by one or two cameos from other Jigsorian natives) – Chris releases the kickass production (really, Stew Long knows his shit!…and for that matter so do Chris and Matt)…..”Pieces Of Eternity” kicks a few asses and takes a few names….!?!

Then……..

Chris emails me suggesting that something be done with them old demoes from the dark ages – I think Chris is a little mad (20 more solo albums oughta be the go no????, why stop when you’re on a roll???), many more emails back and forth contemplating a plan of attack…what to do, what to bloody do???? no pressure, or was there lots? okay fuck all pressure because we decided from the get-go it was always going to be a “lets see what happens but have no expectations because you know we are jinxed as all heck” type gig.

Then……..

Arrangement jobs are done on a few old demoes – Chris waves his magic wand and wam bam yippekayaye father fecker (for we have sinned) – the first tune is sent off to Dennis Leeflang (a bit of a genius in the banging and crashing department – or so Chris had reckoned – but hadn’t we had enough of drummers?????) – what transpires is that Dennis blows my head off (and Chris’ who already knew that Dennis’ shit was good shit), he is our guy – that’s THE one, sorry other drummers that we would possibly have liked to have worked with but now can’t because this is the man….this is the sound……the blend is good (and we’re not just talking about the coffee – because quite frankly Chris’ missus makes a bloody good brew!)

Then……..

A few talks are had about who would sing? (we didn’t want to carry the can entirely), who would play bass? (this turned out to be a bit of a mix and match affair between the Szkupster brothers….both doing not a shite job you’ll be pleased to know).

Then……..

More talks with a few pals that we had worked with on various projects, people that we felt might possibly actually get what we wanted to achieve, and that was to rock out and write/record the album that deep down we really wanted to make, none of this “I wish we had” business….

Then……..

Success, we managed to convince some singer types (and ourselves) that we might actually be making an album…..hell it might even be a completed project….

Then……..

Song after song began to look like it might actually take shape – there was ZERO BULLSHIT, NO EGO PROBLEMS…..sweet fecking relief! (okay so not complete relief because there were a couple of things that were attempted that really could have done with some pain relief being issued in the form of a crowbar…)

Then….

Chris heads into the studio and lays down some of the rhythm tracks (to go with the now properly recorded – and actually bloody professional sounding – ie: ZERO RE-DO’S or “Hey Dennis, that sucks” type comments – nope none of that!!!) them was some killer drums….and Chris’ gatt tracks didn’t suck the farts out of dead seagulls either (thanks Rodney for the beautiful description…)

Then….

The process of mixing and matching the words and sounds with the right voices….the hunt was on….

Then….

I found a dude named Roy Bratbakken online and think “Sammy Fecking Hagar trapped in a lumberjacks body….not at all crap vocally, seems to be able to knock out a bit of ‘tude, yep we’ll have a lash and see if this guy is as nutty as we are” (as it turns out, having a lash equals signing Roy up fulltime to be a singer on the debut album, a couple of singles, a couple of tribute album tracks – and heavens to betsy, a 2nd album!!!)

Then……..

The next vocalist to take the Feckers oath of allegiance (ie: “Bottom’s Up!”)…..Irene Slade, the most beautiful thing for me was to be staring through my camera and seeing this person in front of me burst into life – which funnily enough was quite contrary to her earlier admission “I’ve got a sore throat, I’ve been naughty…” sweet, we can appreciate that, now to get on in and give it the college try….(even though none of us spent that much time at college, and some of us too much time hanging out at the girls’ college…) …. she nailed her tracks and then some!

Then……..

We felt we were on a roll with these singer types…..so we got brave and ventured in new territory, we enlisted the services of some dude who was actually going places (we’re not sure where as yet) – Chandler Mogel, so we flick a song his way which we thought was pretty cool, wires get pulled loose (wakey wakey Chandy!) Chandler writes his own lyric and comes up with a vocal arrangement (keen much brother ???), so that in turn kicks thy ass…and is quite possibly one of the best recordings of Chandlers life (stepping away from the clean aor rocker boy stuff…I hope he gets to dirty it up like this again sometime…)

Then…..

Come on down El Robbo Mofo (better known to his parents as Robert Smith – no not that Cure dude with the funny hair, we’re talking the farmer type dude from Ratapiko….(okay so farmer is a stretch, he owns 2 mad as fuck sheep and some things that are meant to be dogs….and one even looks like a dog). Now put this into perspective – Rob is one of the best guitarists in New Zealand – and also one of the best music producers as well…..and we ask him to sing…..(later we let him plug his lil geetar thingees in). What transpires is that Rob sends back some vocal tracks that are a little rawer than what he normally does – but we like it a lot because it’s different (and it doesn’t sound like the solo artist dude trying to fit into a project type gig) – sweet, we are impressed (and we then we proceed to knick a song from him for the next album….we dig it that much).

Then….

All hell breaks loose….and out pops Alexey Spectre, with his “ouch that had to hurt the balls screams” – so we write a tune specifically to pearce the ears of the 2 listeners that we envision hearing this stuff……hello, this is 80s metal, we love it!

Then….

Chris and I decide we might wanna have a lash at the lil mates tune I had conjured up on my acoustic (which demo wise probably sucked somewhat, but every little idea counts)…..Chris is at this point oblivious that its a song about our working together and becoming great mates….what transpires is not the greatest vocals of alltime, but the intent was there – that and I got to live the dream of having a string arrangement on a song…thank you for the sexy strings Lyris….!!! (and I got to sing with Chris which was pretty cool!)……

Then….

I managed to convince both Dennis and Chris that we should get their missus’ to do some backing vocals on a sweet lil thang that we felt would be a great thing to finish the album with…..the missus’ take the bait – and duly respresent the ladies department of Feckers Inc bloody well!

Then….

We get the opportunity to work with GREATNESS (not that the other dudes and dames aren’t great of course) – Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal and Tommy Denander, 2 big names in the music realms (or at least our realms….hip-hop gangstas out of Compton may struggle to recognise them) – both guys step into the fold and throw down some awesome guest geetar solo action – we love what they played and we love them dudes even more for hanging notes in the air for us (we’re still trying to grab a few of them notes out of the air).

Then….

We enlist a few mates named Edo Van Der Kolk (amazing tone mate!), Pat Valley (a young dude that will be around for eons!), Ponch Satrio (who comes up with the craziest arrangements I have heard in instrumental rock….and I actually like them too), Matteo Bucca (a mad italian who supplies some of the lead breaks, that’ll make your toes curl) and also the previously representing Matt & Rob - their solo-ing with Chris on various tunes blows me away – and I remember why I am not ever going to be playing guitar on a Feckers album (which is not an entirely sad thing for me, because these guys kick ass!)

Then….

Everything is recorded, then it’s down to the processes of things being mixed….not a job I really envied as there is a heap going on there musically, but not to my surprise, Stew Long does a great job and holds up his end of the bargain (he also did the great job mastering the album and again delivers!).

Then….

We send everything off to be printed up and sit and wait……I admit I am not the best at waiting so ponder the next album (we were juggling a load of ideas during certain phases of the making of “It’d Be Rude Not To”…things that will end up on album #2)…..but hell it was worth it.

In Conclusion….

We got there, sticking to ones guns despite the mammoth task it seemed to be – it was oh so worth it. I couldn’t have hoped to have worked with such an incredible and humble team of professionals to deliver this….OUR album. Thanks guys and girls – you were terrific in your output and faithful to the core – me love your work long time! My last hope was that we got to touch a few hearts and mince words and music with a few minds and that people buy this thing (seems this is proving to happen too!!!)

- Richard Anderson 14th March 2013

March 14, 2013 | Categories: info, New Releases, news, Projects | Tags: acoustic, anderson, austin, bass, cd, Chris Szkup, Dan Verkys, David Austin, Dennis Leeflang, engineer, Far From Done, feckers, finally, guitars, hacker, Irene Slade, It'd Be Rude Not To, Jake Long, jephasun, keyboards, leeflang, long, Maor Appelbaum, Mathew Szkup, metal, mogel, nailed, Paul Jolley, piano, polat, production, reich, released, Richard Anderson, Rob Smith, sessions, slade, smith, spectre, stew, Stew Long, szkup, The Feckers, uke | Leave A Comment »