The Hold Steady studio diary - Stay Positive - #4

As we prepared to record basic tracks for Stay Positive, it was important to get a momentum going. “Adderall” made the most sense to record first. Here are the reasons why. The band played it a ton live. They played it as well as they played the songs on the previous records. It was a very straightforward arrangement. And it was already a favorite of the fans. Maybe out of the excitement of them finally hearing new material. With any record, I’ve found that it always makes sense to start every phase with a “free throw,” which means something super easy. There is nothing worse than leaving the studio the first day having struggled or having gotten very little or nothing done. It is a confidence killer. That goes the same for vocals, mixing, guitar solos, etc.

Specifically with mixing, I always start with the song that has sounded the best throughout each stage of the record. Also, the song that sounds like it’s the easiest to mix. And I always leave the first song up overnight and when I’m in the NYC area, visit my favorite mastering engineer, Greg Calbi, and listen to the mix in his room the next morning. So if the mix sounds good at 8:00 p.m., I leave it there and leave the studio with my analogue tape and digital back up.

In fact, I knew the first two songs we were going to track were going to be easy for Bobby to nail. Coming off the last record, I wanted him to hit the ground running. I wanted him to have a positive first day.

In all aspects of recording, I try to accentuate the positive. For me, it’s a much better way of working than the people who can’t make a record without a bunch of drama or aggression going on. I want the artists I work with to have a feeling of accomplishment and a feeling of progress. Always getting better and always feeling like they just did something great. The key to getting that to happen is by putting them in a situation to succeed. And then, when you hit the bump in the road, you deal with it accordingly.

Well, “Adderall” came out great! Bobby nailed it in the first few takes. Totally solid. He and Galen locked in together like any great rhythm section would. Tad rocked the guitar parts and Franz’s Vox Continental sound was the icing on the cake. At times, the keyboard sound reminds me of The Animals or, more recently, The Murder City Devils, who I had come to love after doing a record with them in 2000. Craig was super helpful at keeping the intensity of the performance up, by laying down some cool vocals. Like many of the other songs, he hadn’t totally finalized his lyrics, but he was really close and had the melody and delivery down really well.

While the band was hot, we also tracked a song with the working title “Waltz.” Eventually that song would be called “Cheyenne Sunrise.” This song’s feel was the total opposite of “Adderall.” A cool country & western track that Craig really sat on top of. It had some wonderful Floyd Cramer-style piano in it, courtesy of Mr. Nicolay. It’s a really cool song and a stylistic departure for the band in many ways. Unfortunately, the bottom line with this song was that it wasn’t going to make the record.

The agenda with making records these days is such that you never have enough songs for both the record and additional tracks. And I don’t mean throwaway tracks that are just filler. Twelve years ago, artists would cram as many songs on a record as possible. Remember seventy-minute records? I wish I didn’t. Who really gives a shit about songs 14-19? The real problem is that you’re bound to have a bunch of crap mixed into a record like that. Many artists can’t really write more than a few real quality songs anyway. If they can write any at all. Of course, there are exceptions to every statement, one being the latest Drive-By Truckers record, which feels like two single records.

That’s why the LP was a perfect medium. Especially length-wise. A thirty-six to forty-four minute record is perfect length for the attention span of a normal earthling. And here’s the best part, if the damn record is great, the listener will listen again! Winner!

So it comes back to “Adderall.” As the record took its shape, each song began to mature and become it’s own being. One or two songs that we thought might not be right for the record grew up a bunch. Songs that we liked originally never graduated. And that’s what happened with “Adderall.”

At the end of the mixing stage, we all took copies of the mixes to judge which versions of each song was the best and to think about the songs that were going to be on the record and the sequence or running order. Very early on, in the rehearsal stage, I thought “Adderall” would start the record. As we progressed, “Constructive Summer” became more of the song that would set the tone of the album. The lyrics were more uplifting. It had a cooler melody and it had more of a chorus. “We’re gonna build something this summer!” And it had an awesome intro with Tad’s monster riffage and Bobby beating the shit out of his snare drum. It also had a cool Franz piano break in the middle of the song. It’s a bit reminiscent of the previous record in a good way. Since this new record goes places the band hasn’t gone before, I was mindful to keep some of the record grounded in The Hold Steady style that kids knew and loved.

So “Adderall” became expendable. But y’know what? The song will find a home somewhere if it hasn’t already. And it’ll be fine.