10/06/2023
Common Molly live session from the studio is on Youtube now! This is the first artist of many that will featured for a monthly blog/live session called "The Gold" for midwestgoldrecords.com
You can see the full session here:
https://midwestgoldrecords.com/pages/the-gold-zine
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/
Here's an article I wrote about making their debut album:
It was a cold, snowy day in December of 2022. After a few cancellations/reschedules, I had finally got the band Common Molly to cut a demo in my studio “Upstairs, Man.” I had shared a bill with them twice before and thought they had a badass rock and roll sound. What drew me to them was their dedication to the rock sound while leaning into the punk edge. I knew they had two singles out, but they played over ten original compositions at all their shows. I was an instant fan and had to get them over to the studio somehow. All I expected was a demo session on that day in December, but it blossomed into something else entirely.
In mid December we tracked the song “Snake Bite.” I thought it was a catchy and thoughtful rock anthem. I sent them back a mix down of the song and kept communications open with the band. I shared another bill with them on New Year’s Eve at a random dive bar in Grand Rapids. Spirits were high, and we planned to start meeting on the weekends starting in January to record what would become their debut album. I was stoked to take on such a heady project, to say the least.
One thing I knew for sure was that this was a LIVE band and needed to be captured as such. We isolated the members into their own rooms so the band could live track their songs while still having the option to overdub in post. As I recall, it didn’t take long to get all the drum tracks out of the way. In a matter of two weeks, we had the drums and some usable guitar/bass parts to use as our skeleton for each song.
From there we dove into the overdubs. We tackled the bass first, then the rhythm guitar, and finally the lead guitar. The chemistry of two brothers in any band is undeniable: they tend to feed off each other musically. A fond moment I have from this time was when Tommy (lead guitar) and Brock (bass guitar) both live-tracked together on the band’s cover of Iggy Pop and the Stooges’ “Search and Destroy,” and nailed take after take until it was perfect. While Carter (drums) was done with his parts first, his work wasn’t over. He helped keep the band relaxed and focused with reassuring comments between takes. This made the whole process go much easier as I felt myself befriending the band more and more. We bonded over ci******es, cheap beer and the local eatery, “Sneakers.”
After we had established all of the instrumentation, we moved on to Fish’s (guitar, singer) vocal parts. Within the fun, high energy, and occasionally chaotic group that is Common Molly, Fish grounds the whole project with a poignant and unique voice. I was impressed with the ease at which we recorded the vocals for the album. It all happened easily and naturally with only a few takes on each track. After we’d all had a few drinks, the band attempted gang vocals on a couple of songs, though “Snake Bite” was the only instance where they made it to the record.
One struggle with the album was recording “Izzy’s Song”. The song was previously written and arranged with their old drummer, and the band wanted to restructure it a bit to set it apart from the single they already had out. We spent three different sessions on this song until finally the idea came to just do it acoustically. This ended up being a great decision. The song was stylistically an outlier and needed to be showcased in a softer light. I was honored to play one of the guitars and add some accordion to the tune.
Another idea that had been pawed around throughout our weekends together was a bass riff that Brock had. We kept trying different takes on it until we found one we liked. We dubbed in guitar, keys, a three part harmony by Fish, and nature sounds. We sat with the track for a while to see how we felt about the direction the take took. They wanted it to be an outro track with some sort of theme. I suggested a missed call voicemail. We ran with the idea of having each member record their voicemail privately on their phones. I spliced them together and got the track “Missed Calls,” which closes the album. It was a last minute idea we threw together in an afternoon, but I think we were all happy with the outcome.
Now that we had finished recording all the music, it was time to mix. I was honored that the band chose me to mix the album with them. It was March now, and we had come a long way in just four months. We started meeting on the weekends in March, and Carter loaned me his Yamaha studio monitors to mix on. In my opinion, the beauty of this record is the true-to-life capture of the band’s sound. We did some very light EQ, compression, and more minor effects to each track, but mostly kept it faithful to the band’s live sound. It was raw, but tight. By the end of the month, we had a fully realized album. They took the album to their friend Koty to master, and history was captured in the cold months of winter in Lowell, MI. I’d like to think that the band grew in our time together. They really do love each other like a family.
Flash forward to May of 2023: the band played their album release show to a sold out crowd. Their fan base was as strong and as rowdy as ever. The band closed out a chapter of local rock and roll history: the songs will live on outside of the band, and stay in the hearts of all who adore them. I know they will stay in mine.
