SCOTT EVANS Mostly about pointing microphones at loud things.

Man, busy. Been doing some recording and mixing but nothing new is out yet. I’ve also had a few articles run recently in Tape Op. Neat.

Anyway, couple of Kowloon Walled City happenings…

1. We have a new record out. It’s a 3-way split 12″ with Fight Amp and Ladder Devils called Lose/Lose/Lose. Purchase and download info are over there.
   
   
2. Next week we’re doing a 2-week east coast tour. We don’t tour much — it took nearly a year to work the planets into alignment for these 15 shows — so I am stoked about this. Tour dates are over there.
   
   

After I saw Top 14 Most Common Band Names this morning on Invisible Oranges, I wrote a script to list the most common words in those 75,000 metal band names.

Here’s the top 20:

Dark / Darkness – 649
Black – 637
Death – 574
Blood – 320
Dead – 318
Hate – 221
Eternal – 218
Dawn – 210
Silence – 186
Soul – 181
Hell – 175
Funeral – 168
Pain – 162
Chaos – 154
Evil – 153
Angel – 146
Fear – 142
Beyond – 139
Flesh – 138
Fire – 137

We did the RPM “write and record a record in a month” thing again this year. We actually needed to finish tracking midway through February because I was leaving town, and because I wanted to give Greg more than a few days to mix.

We set up shop at glamorous Turk Street on a Friday night, then wrote and recorded basics over two long days of gear failure. Things that fucked up: my recording laptop, my backup recording laptop, Pace’s Ampeg, my VTM60, the Laney Supergroup we borrowed, two mic stands, Cubase, a 1spot power supply, my 2-ch A/D converter. On our first afternoon I was sitting in Jeff’s car, installing Cubase on a borrowed Macbook Pro while we drove back to the space. It’s like Abbey Road around here.

Gear problems or no, we got basics done. We spent the next few days writing and tracking vocals and guitar overdubs in my basement whenever we could find time. I uploaded a gig of files to Greg the night before I left town, and listened to his mixes on headphones in a hotel room. I thought the roughs were really good, but Greg just killed on the mixes. Next level shit. How does he do it?

Anyway, here’s the result: Ten songs about bigfoot(s). Narration by Friday the 13th author Victor Miller. Mix desk manned by a genuine Grammy winner. Mellotron. Riffs. Feel it.

1. White spraypaint
2. Adidas “Overtime” large wristband
3. Tiny Alamo amp which totally rules
4. Kowloon Walled Bunny (Ben, the LED is too damn bright)
5. SF Guitarworks
6. Japan and the Greco Jazz that was made there
7. Snailface
8. $100 Avantone ribbon mic
9. Washburns, all of them
10. Zebra pickups