It was the summer of 2011 when we ventured 5 hours north to Vermont to begin demo-ing our new EP. As we packed the car we made sure to bring the essentials for a secluded week of music in the middle of nowhere; as much gear as we could fit, some “provisions”, and ODDSAC on dvd. The house we were headed to belonged to Greg’s Uncle Erik. Since we became a band Erik has been a major influence on our music, as well as a creative partner. He offered us the chance to spend a week in the woods working out our new songs, away from the claustrophobic environment of New York City. Isolated and surrounded by woods we felt completely focused on our music.
For years Erik has been working on various acoustic and electronic projects and has played a huge part in turning us on to a lot of our favorite bands. His influence started by opening our minds to different types of music and eventually lead to this recording session in Vermont. Erik provided us with the trowels necessary to tap into our “musical aquifers” and begin creating the watery motif of “Lake Tones”.
The weekend started with us clearing out the furniture in the living room and filling it with our drums, amps, electronics, mics and whatever other random instruments we could find; it was now our beat laboratory. We would wake up to Erik blasting Sun Ra albums (our alarm clock telling us it was time to work), and spend each day jamming, getting back to our experimental, percussive roots. The vibe of the house gave us a free-flowing mind set where creativity thrived and nothing else seemed to really matter. Instead of having a rushed 3 hour band practice before running to work, we were able to spend all day relaxing with our tunes.
We would spend hours on specific parts of a song, playing them over and over, focusing on tiny details and different sounds until we were all satisfied. We created track after track on our recording software, and would listen to them all multiple times discussing what we liked or what could make them better. The only time we stopped working was to eat or sleep. We really re-learned how to write and record music on this trip. On Lake Tones, we wanted to spend as much time as possible making sure it sound exactly how we thought it should. Our self titled EP, released in 2010, was quickly thrown together after we won a slot at the Bamboozle Festival; we wanted a tangible cd for festival goers. However, we weren’t able to take the time to be particular about how the recordings sounded and we weren’t satisfied with how the EP turned out. This time around, we wanted to make sure that everything came out to our liking. By collaborating with our first influence, Erik, in a secluded environment, we all got in the right mindset, ready to go home and continue tracking our new EP.
Wild International's Lake Tones EP is out now.
