Hi there!! Thanx for tuning in.... Iīve been playing in different Quo coverbands over the years, strangely I donīt have one recorded demo left. So I decided to make some new demo recordings of Quo songs. I called my friend Mikael, he and I played in a band called "Stolen Status" 15 years ago. I asked him if he wanted to join me in this little project. Mikael with his Rossi guitar skills, and me, with my Parfitt style....Thankfully he said YES!! So there it is...2 friends that donīt have the time to be involved in a band...so why not enjoy Quo music this way? One song maybe takes a while to get recorded due to lack of time and miles apart, but anyways...if the result gets good itīs worth waiting.....Hope you have as fun listening to the demos as we had recording them!!
Yours sincerely
Jan and Mikael
This is a "diary"
and a short story behind the recordings.
We decided early on that we wanted to use a "drum plug" instead of a real
drummer. Simply because thereīs seldom a good drummer available and free at the
time, or they simply donīt have the time.
And the benefit of a "drum plug" is....they donīt argue back...hehe...
1. Rocking all over the world....
What Åke and I did to start with was to do a drum backtrack. And then I recorded
the rhythm guitar and bass to it, and Åke played the tambourine.
After that we sent the track in mp3 to our friend Erik,and he recorded the piano
on it in his own studio. He sent us the finished piano track back, and we simply
paste it in.
Next thing was for Mikael to join and put lead guitar and lead vocals on the
track. (he discovered that after 15 years break from playing and singing it was
hard work with a sore throat as result)
Rocking all over the world is in quite high pitch really..... Then we were
finished... Itīs simple as that!!...hehe...Just kidding...To be honest...we
struggled quite hard to try to get the Quo sound to the track.
The real hard work is
at the end...producing and mixing...When you start to analyze the songs you
discover that it isnīt as simple as some folks say...itīs just three
chords...YEAH RIGHT!!
(trust me Iīve been trying for 25 years).... maybe we could have chosen a easier
track to start with....a track that didnīt include so much instruments... Buuut
we didnīt...hehe...
We decided that the next song should be a straight forward guitar based boogie
track....
2. Caroline...
...So we chose " Caroline" ... This time Mikael joined in from the start. First
thing was to choose tempo. Åke said: Ok guys , try and find a tempo that feels
natural and relaxed....
I leaned back on a chair and tried to relax and we took off...Boom! spot on, it
felt right from the start...We decided to play in that tempo and did a drum
backtrack.
When that was finished, I played the bass to it, so when we record the guitars
it would feel like playing with a band. The bass took only one take...and then
on to the guitars.
And if I remember it correctly, the guitars took only two takes. It was going
fast forward and soon we were doing the vocals. If you listen to the Caroline
vocals Francis sounds very relaxed and laid back.
And we tried our best to get that feeling to. I think that Mikael nailed
it..sounds great. Caroline was a little bit easier to record, by that I donīt
mean that Caroline is easy to play in anyway.
You still have to have that drive and energy... but not tooo much energy..it
still have sound relaxed. Being a bass player and a rhythm guitarist and having
the opportunity to play both intstruments on these recordings, Iīve discovered
the hard work the Quo rhythm section is doing. Itīs not easy in any
way...believe me. It needs a lot of practice, but formost ...you have to have
the love and heart for Quo music.
And by the way, chosing tempo... Quos Hello version is 4:19..ours is 4:21...We
discovered that when it was time to produce the track...coming so close just by
"feeling"...Does it mean we listen too much to Quo??
-: Serious illness...
2009 - All recording is postponed on the future due to illness.
2010 - Mike is starting
to recover from his illness and we picked up recording again.
3. In my chair
2010 Aug 8th, IMC is now recorded and is on producing stages. So if everything
goes as planned, we should be able to put out "In my chair" in late august....
I have had a big task learning the recording programme and programming the drums.
And producing !!?? Oh man....god damn itīs difficult.
After a while I realized that our friend Åke better make the final touchess. So
at last itīs ready put out 2010-09-24. Enjoy!!
4. Rollover lay down
We are currently recording Rollover lay down. The final touches has been made on
the guitars. Our friend Andreas going to do the drum programming...And then
thereīs the hardest bit left...vocals...
God damn itīs hard to sing with that laid back feeling that Francis have, itīs
easy to sound to "stiff" when singin it. It takes time to nail the flow that the
"bastard Francis" has...
Weīre going to Åkes studio for the finishing touches on the vocals at the end of
February 2012.
5. Paperplane
The drums are programmed and bass is recorded. As soon as Rollover is finished
weīre gonna jump on to Paperplane.