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This page: Jamming & Creativity
'I have to be a more responsible musician versus back in the day where it wasn't that big of a deal.'
Jamming & Creativity
Do you think it's made you a better musician that you've grown together with the same guys?
Marcos: Yeah, a lot of responsibility as a guitar player was put on to me because we play guitar-based music. As far as writing riffs and chord progressions and stuff, the responsibility is on me, whereas if we jam it just turns into a jam session, it doesn't necessarily turn into a song. Usually I have to do that, and it's changed me a lot because I have to be a more responsible musician versus back in the day where it wasn't that big of a deal. I guess you could say it made me more responsible as a musician.
How so?
Marcos: Because I used to play in a band where there were two guitar players and I would follow everyone. Now it's like I'm the only guitar player and our bass player -- he writes a little stuff here and there too, but the music is all about melody, whether it's heavy or if it's soft. When I started I was just playing along and following chords like in punk rock bands. In this band there's a lot more responsibility on me to write a majority of the stuff, like the melodies and the riffs and the hooks and all that. Because the drummer doesn't come out and say, "Write a hook like this" -- he just makes the fat beats, the bass player writes the bass lines, but it's the hook and the lyrics that make people want to hear your music.
Sonny was telling me the four of you get together and that jam thing just inevitably kicks in.
Marcos: Yeah, that happens when I write riffs. I don't go in and write a whole song, I'll write a riff and say, "Let's jam." But if we go in there and I don't have anything, then we are just playing nothing. I mean, we're jamming but it's not like song jamming, it's like jazzy style or funky. It's not necessarily a structured song-like chord progression or anything, you know. If it doesn't work then we don't use it, but a lot of times if it does it becomes a song.
Describe the process when you're writing as a team.
Sonny: Most of the time when we sit down to write an album, that's when things just kind of come to us. We'll play two new songs in the show and people will be like, "Where can I get that?" And it's like, "No, that's just stuff that we write." A lot of times when we wanna play new stuff, that stuff gets left behind when the album comes. We've already played it and jammed it out for a year and a half and it's like, "Do we wanna play this or do we wanna make a new song?" So it's just a toss-up. But I believe that most of the time stuff comes to us when we're running out of time. Even with this album [The Fundamental Elements of Southtown], we wrote probably half the album, if not more, in our studio time. We just kind of came up with things and put it together. We work really well under pressure. But it would be nice to just sit down and relax and write a great album.
So you made a conscious decision not to record some of the stuff you'd jammed out.
Sonny: A lot of things just kind of came together. We had some time in pre-production and we met with our producer. Also, we got some new equipment and we'd just test it and goof around. But we wanted to write a batch of songs that we could pick from and go through with Howard Benson, our producer. We'd never worked with a real producer or in a top-notch studio before. Everything before was out of pocket: "Let's see if we can do an album in a day or two." And now we just started writing, and they gave us an awesome studio two weeks before we started recording to just tighten up and get ready. Now, my guys are some of the most gifted musicians in the world. They're not schooled -- it's just all from the heart; they taught themselves. When they get together, they just start jammin'. There are things that get recorded that go unheard by anybody except for us four when we start jammin' and goofing around. Then we get together a couple of days later and it's like, "Man, what were we playing?" And it's like, "I forget, but it was dope." "Okay cool, let's jam something else." When these guys get together, they love to play. You can't tell them to not play drums or play bass when they're checking guitars. They have fun playing music and that's just the best part. I don't ever not want to have fun doing what we're doing. Once it stops being fun, that's when it becomes work, and why do it?
Upgrading your equipment seems to have enhanced your creativity.
Marcos: It's cool because we've been putting albums out for a while now. I started working from a four-track to an old 1978 MCI board to an SSL. It was really exciting because there weren't really any limits anymore, using all the new stuff. I just bought myself a Roland VS-880 and I'm messing around with that on the road, because we don't have time to write when we're on the road, as far as complete songs. So I like to track a lot of riffs on the machine, just to keep the ideas fresh. That way, when we go to write something, I'm not dry. And as far as excitement, it's a great feeling because you have all these things you never had before. Now there are no boundaries -- there never were, but there were some limitations. I will say I really enjoy working in the studio on top-notch equipment. Or even the older stuff -- some of that's great too. Like the MCI board; it sounds beautiful and warm.
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