Today only (December 25, 2011) you can download a free copy of Victory! from our Bandcamp page.
Merry Christmas to all!
I found it Guys. Also, I have even outdone the original!
hahahahaha and then I figured out what to do with it… stay tuned.
FMGreen - Nadine
10 years ago today we recorded this song.
“next we attempted nadine a couple more times to no avail. finally, on the 11th full take of nadine, we nailed it. the one break before the solo that had been screwing up every previous take came out perfect and no one made any mistakes that were worth redoing the whole song for.”
-Steve’s Yellow #5 recording log - September 3, 2001
I can’t believe it took us 11 takes to get this simple song done right, but that’s what happens when a young band enters a professional studio for the first time and tracks their songs live to ADAT. Overdubs and punch-ins become a last resort and if any one aspect of the song lacks the necessary feeling, the entire take is scrapped and you try it again.
FMGreen Fun Fact:
The analog MCI console at GFI - through which we recorded our debut album (Yellow #5) - was the same console through which Metallica recorded their seminal debut album Kill ‘Em All in 1983.
I don’t mean it was the same model, I mean it was the exact console they used.
“We spent six weeks up in Rochester, New York, recording the album at the Music America Studio. The actual studio is in the basement of this huge old colonial-type of club house. Up on the second floor there’s this huge ballroom which is perfect for getting a good drum sound. The only problem is the place is fucking haunted, so I had to have someone else up there the whole time I was recording. My cymbals would start spinning, you know shit like that. It was scary, but I would love to record there again.”
— Lars, August 1983, Metallica: In Their Own Words
(via)
We like to think they were just warming it up for us.
10 years ago today, FMGreen was at GFI Studios in Rochester where we were in the process of recording our debut album, Yellow #5.
We went in early on August 31, 2001 and left late on September 3rd. We spent a total of about 38 hours in the studio for those tracking sessions. Later we would return to GFI for our mixing sessions which lasted over 80 hours spread across ten days starting January 2nd, 2002.
Both sessions still get referenced today through a long list of inside jokes and rehashed arguments. So much has changed and yet so much remains the same.
FMGreen, I’ve known them for years, I was even in the band for a brief moment, and between the three of them they make up half of the people who follow this blog. What can I say that they don’t already know about themselves? For the people that don’t know them, it’s been a long road; rough in the beginning. Lots of different band names and lots of different bass players, the worst of which were Jewel’s Verne Fish and TJ Rinaldo respectively. I don’t actually remember if TJ was the worst but he was the shortest lived, he may have even been the first back when the band was called The Adventure Breakfast Club after a boy scout camp-out mishap… hey, that could be a band name; The Boy Scout Camp Out Mishap… hmm, maybe just the title of an album. Anyway, in the years following they settled on a strong three person line up, got sweat on by Slash, burned with fire by The Reverend Horton Heat, and began listening to Peter Gabriel. It’s these components (three great musicians and baptism in sweat, fire, and mediocrity) that make up this unstoppably rocking band. For years I went to their rehearsals and to their shows. I looked forward to hearing them play as much as any of my favorite bands (ya know, real bands). I was always an FMGreen fan.
The best decision they ever made was to pretend to break up the band in order to kick me out without hurting my feelings. If they hadn’t done that I never would have had the thrill of being in the crowd and watching them play.
FMGreen just released their third album, VICTORY! Listen to it… and Follow FMGreen on Tumblr, I do.
Thanks John!
Additional former band names and band members include: Quentin and the Tarantinos, Vinny Reeder, Matt Butterfield, Volksempfanger, Grady Mutzel, Jon Schott, and Item 069.
Volksempfanger’s first and only gig, at Fast Eddies in Rochester.
(L to R: Steve, Scott, John, Grady, Vinny)
Rick was in wwii. He is awesome.
Here’s the audio from our May 29th interview with Frank & Woody on 98.9FM The Buzz’s Sunday Night Shakedown.
Roughly 14 minutes including two interview segments and the songs Bug Collector and Tell Me Lies.
Topics include a bit of band history, our influences, and literally-painful memories.
(Right-click here to save/download if you’d rather not listen online.)
We stopped by the WBER studios to visit the Local Show.
Included among the interview segments were the radio-debuts of Kill You and Yellow Plants as well as another spin of Bug Collector.
We discussed the inspiration for Victory!, FMGreen’s history, the evolution of our music, our trip to Electrical Audio in Chicago and hanging out with Steve Albini, and the prospects of touring.
Also spun were some of our favorite local bands: Gonculator, Burning Snella, Velvet Elvis.
Total time is approximately 43 minutes.
(Right-click here to save/download if you’d rather not listen online.)
Victory! - Available June 17th, 2011
