Table of Contents

Tales from a Downtown Pub Crawl

Where to Buy Used Stuff

Paths of Most Resistance

Road to Excitement

Sir Blaire of Rothes
Six Shooters

Notes from the Underground

Gospel Music?

A Queen for a Day

Madison Street

Discin'

E.C. History

Editor's note

As we peered through the mail-drop slot of Giant Gumball Studios on that cold, snowy morning of Febuary 28, the only thing we could think was: "How the hell are we all going to fit in that recording booth?" It was smaller than we envisioned. Only consisting of two simple rooms-a control room and a recording booth-we thought the six of us, known as the ska band Honest Johnny, were in for a long day.

On top of our expectations being let down our producer/engineer was running late because he had to get his mid-morning dosage of caffeine by means of coffee. In the meantime, we slept, warmed up our instruments and hoped that this expensive experience would pan-out in our favor.

We thought the task was easy, record six songs in twelve hours and go from there. The songs were set: "My Gal Chugs" (listen to an MP3 file), "The Queen's Dedication," "Mr. Donnetelli," "Ballad Incognito," "1 F.A.B." and "Drunk Uncle Heavy Foot." All we needed to do was record.

As we sat waiting for our producer to show up, we began taking a closer look at how we got to where we were that overcast and cold Sunday morning....

The process of recording our first CD began months, if not years before the actual recording date. Honest Johnny had its first practice in late November, 1997. Through spring of 1998, we played a number of different shows including the Earth Day Benefit at the Cornerstone in Eau Claire, WI, headlined our own shows there, and opened for The Blue Meanies and The Jinkies at UW-Eau Claire's Interstate Skafest V.

The next six months would be a test of loyalty and friendship within the band.

At the time, Honest Johnny was comprised of guitarist Michael Donaldson, vocalist Michael Kording, bassist Jason Ulwelling, trombonist Eric Gardner, drummer Cory Dahl, bari-saxophonist Tonia Lewandowski and myself on trumpet. Although Cory was our second drummer to date, he would not be the last in a long string of drummers and musicians.

As the spring semester wore on, Cory's commitment to the North High School baseball team began to cut into practice time to the point of non-existence and led the rest of us wondering if there would be a more reliable alternative.

We found that alternative in Travis Nicholai, our first drummer who originally quit because he went to school at UW-River Falls, but with summer quickly approaching, he would be home in Eau Claire and would be able to spend the time to make this band great. 

It was never said, but it was mutually understood that Dahl was fired from the band and accepted. Lewandowski and the band also parted.

Summer came, I left to work at my summer job in Wausau, WI. and Donaldson took a job in the Minneapolis area which made everything in the band highly tense. Besides the fact that two of us left town, we immediately had problems with our new drummer. The summer quickly became a hiatus for the band as, again, we looked for a new drummer.

Drummer number four was short-lived. Raised as a whole-hearted Catholic, he was not a big fan of some of the lyrics our singer wrote. Lyrics that were putting people down or talking about peanut butter, dogs and bestiality were especially offensive to him. Needless to say, he was gone after only one practice, again leading us in the direction of finding a new drummer. Only our determination and interest in the music we played kept our band together.

As fall semester, 1998 wore on, we were desperate to find a new drummer who was talented and reliable. Although we didn't find the talent in our fifth drummer, his commitment and dedication to Honest Johnny was the best we had seen. Unfortunately, talent was lacking, and we again found ourselves in a bind, and although it was a month and a half until we walked into the recording studio, we fired him as well. With his lacking talent, we, as a band, decided that we would rather take the risk of breaking in a new drummer, than release a CD that is not at our high standards.

We eventually talked with one of our most talented drummers to date, Cory Dahl, and explained the situation about the recording studio. He agreed to come back and play. We knew with his talent and new-found dedication this was the best thing for the band.

A month later, we found ourselves in the best position we had been in for almost a year. We had a talented, dedicated drummer. We had new songs which put the previous to shame. And we had a date to open for the Milwaukee based ska band The Invaders, The Blue Meanies, Umbrella Bed, and 3 Minute Hero at UW-Eau Claire's Interstate Skafest VI as well as a date to record our first album.

Now all we had to do was record, mix, photograph, pay for, sell and distribute the CD, and hope something will come of almost two years together.

Holy Cow, Leather, Gone Kaput and a list of about 100 other names were thrown forth as possible titles for the CD. Everyone had their ideas for what the CD should look like and we all were very adamant to have it go our way. Then something happened.

Donaldson, our guitar player, thought having a theme based on the board game Clue would be a good idea. We all concurred. But, we still did not have a title for the disc. Again, about 100 names dealing with clues and weapons within the game were debated upon.

Amidst all of the confusion and arguing, I blurted out "How about Six Shooter?" At the time I didn't realize it, but I had just named our first CD.

I liked the idea about a pistol being on the cover as a weapon in the game Clue, and as the rest of the band analyzed the proposed title, it became clear that this was a good idea.

"Let's see," Donaldson said. "We have six members in the band, we are putting six songs on the disc, and there are six beers in a six-pack."

I couldn't argue it more efficiently myself.

With the name out of the way, the photography and overall cover design were next in line.

The cover design was assisted by Kording's parents, David and Kathleen. David had access to an original late-1800s Colt pistol. It was beautiful, heavy, valued at about $4,000, and very rare. As for the six pack of beer on the cover, it was beautiful, smooth, and valued at about $3.99 and can be found at your local grocery.

The inside cover followed the Clue theme Michael Donaldson had suggested. Each of the individual band members are killing an attractive lady with, not lead pipes and chains, but their respective instruments. Ulwelling with his bass, Kording with a microphone and so forth. To get this done was a huge relief, financially and time wise. We shot one full role of film per member, which meant we had to pay a lot of money for processing and printing fees. It also took a huge amount of time to do all six band members.

With cover photography and inside photography out of the way, it was time to record the CD.

February 28, 1999, couldn't come soon enough, and the morning after a long night of little sleep came too fast. We all met at Jason's father's house to talk to him about what was going to take place that day. James Ulwelling is a very important figure in this escapade because he is funding the project with the expectations of us paying him back. We headed down to the studio and from there, we hope it's history.

Mike O'Neill, our producer and engineer showed up shortly after 11:00 A.M. and diligently began setting up his digital equipment that would be recording our first album.

After setting up and doing numerous sound checks to make sure everything was right, the rhythm section--guitar, drums and bass-recorded the six songs in a four hour set. They started with what we thought was our easiest and most-played song, "1 F.A.B." However, in the different setting and the muffled sound of the studio's egg-cartoned walls, the song was much different and numerous takes were needed to perfect this easy and old song we wrote almost a year earlier.

The rhythm set was the longest part of the day for the horn section and Kording because all we could do was offer our support to the three guys who were playing while the anticipation of laying our tracks built up inside.

The four hours were slow, and without eating earlier that day, everyone's stomachs were starting to feel the repercussions. Shortly after 5:00 P.M., we took an hour and a half break to eat while O'Neill stayed back to mix and finish the preliminary recording of the rhythm sections material.

When we returned to the studio, we took a listen to what was done earlier in the day and we were immediately impressed with how this little studio could create such a big and intense sound. 

Then it was our turn.

Gardner and I walked into the booth which was now empty with the drumset gone and Donaldson's and Ulwelling's equipment out of the way. Gardner and I put our head phones on and awaited the count-off from O'Neill, and with everyone watching and listening, the digital audio tape was cued and we were set to go.

Unfortunately, there was a major mistake in the first section of the first song we played called "My Gal Chugs." The rhythm section accidentally came in one beat early, which threw Gardner and I off when we recorded. We spent about fifteen minutes fixing the problem, which gave us horn players the opportunity to relax and concentrate. With O'Neill at the helm, the problem was solved and we were off recording the first track of the evening. 

The first take went well and after trying again, we realized that the first take was the one to go with. I, however, decided that the end of the song could use some spice. 

I stepped into the booth, all alone, and felt all eyes upon me as they watched and wondered what I was about to play. O'Neill ran the tape back through the headphones, and as I waited for the closing section of the song, I anxiously and nervously awaited my time to cue O'Neill when to hit the record button. As my time came, I gave him the sign and away we went. I was nervous, not because of the people watching me, but because I knew that I would only get one good shot at this. The music I was about to play was in a high register, and I did not know if I would be calm enough to do it twice.

It went off without a hitch. It was recorded in one take, and the other members of the band behind the six-by-four foot piece of glass celebrated.

The rest of the night, we pieced together and totally finished three of the six songs to be put on the CD. We rotated the order of the performers, first would be the horns laying down tracks, then our vocalist, Kording would jump in the booth and lay the tracks until we ran out of time at 11:00 P.M. What we had set out to accomplish in one day did not happen.

We had three songs to go after twelve hours of work, with another eight hours still ahead.

We came back to the studio the following Tuesday, March 2 at 5:00 P.M. to finish laying the horn and vocal tracks. This day would go a little smoother with the familiarity of the studio and the studio process.

O'Neill was waiting for us as he was putting some of the finishing touches on the three finished tracks from the night before. We marveled at the work he did and realized that the size of the studio that at first disappointed us, did not matter. The quality of equipment and the person controlling the sound were the important factors.

As we did Sunday, the horns layed the tracks and then it was immediately followed by vocals. After six hours of playing, singing and the last minute rewriting of my trumpet solo on our fourth track, "Ballad Incognito," the album was recorded. The hard part was over. 

We returned to the studio one last time on Wednesday, March 3 to do the final mixing of the recording. Although we trusted O'Neill with the mixing, we wanted to be a part of it just to make sure everything was balanced to our liking. Two hours later, we walked (or should I say stumbled, we celebrated with some, well, we'll just say we celebrated!) out with three mixed copies of our CD which we all were proud of. 

The next month we would live by the proverb "Patience is a virtue." The time taken to design the cover and inside cover was a huge waiting game. We weighed every option we had with design. Again, made sure everything was perfect before we sent the Zip disc with the files on it to Pennsauken, New Jersey for the final touches on the audio tape and the printing of the cover.

The recording game is over for us right now. All we can do is wait and see how our first album sells. A game of selling, distributing, and making a name for ourselves outside of Eau Claire by way of Six Shooter is what we are playing to see how far we can take Honest Johnny.