After we had finished touring for our last record, Broken Side of Time, we decided that it was time to go somewhere remote to start writing new material. We thought it would be a great idea to travel and set up the studio in a rather isolated environment where the whole band could stay and work no matter the time — we didn't want to risk missing out on those little gems you stumble across at 3 am.
Our manager found us a beautiful little spot in upstate New York. During the summer, the house is used by all kinds of artists who go up for a couple of weeks or more to paint, write poetry etc. The house was old and wooden, filled with lots of weird and wonderful things. Indeed, it was perfect apart from one thing, no heating, not to mention the fact that we were up there towards the end of fall. The first couple of weeks were truly gorgeous, but it became very, very cold. Sometimes, we would even climb in the fridge just to warm up a bit.
As soon as the sun went down on our first night, I think we all felt a little freaked at the realization that we were so isolated. There were no locks on the front, back or bedroom doors. All I could think about were stories of nutters escaping from mental hospitals — this is where they would end up.
The first few nights went by without anything strange happening, but then, one night while we were sitting on the porch having a few glasses of red wine, we heard a horrible screaming sound. The scream lasted for only a few seconds, but it was really loud and was one of the most horrible things I've ever heard. In true cowardly musician fashion, we all ran inside where we heard the scream a couple more times.
After that incident, strange things seemed to happen nightly. One morning, we got up and all the paintings in one room had been hung upside down, and the furniture had been moved to different locations. One of the guys was woken up by a door continuously being slammed, and sometimes we would hear someone knocking on our bedroom doors or windows.
It was freaky at first, but after a while we got used to the changes and sounds. It became kind of fun to come down in the morning and see if anything had been moved. We felt as though whatever it was seemed to be having a bit of fun with us.
