Recording The Usual Angst

The countdown has begun! We’re less than two weeks away from our album release party on Saturday, March 7 at the Railway Club and thought this was as good a time as any to share a few tidbits about the recording of The Usual Angst:

• It’s produced by David Carswell (in collaboration with us) and was recorded at his and John Collins’ JC/DC Studios here in Vancouver. All three of our albums have had David at the helm and we’ve developed a great working relationship with him. Some of David’s other credits (sometimes with or without John) include The New Pornographers, Destroyer, Tegan & Sara, COOL TV, the Shilohs, Vicious Cycles and the Evaporators.
• The album was recorded in two blocks–the initial session was in September-October 2012 and the second session was May-July 2014.
• We played pretty much all the instruments on the album, except for 12-string guitar by David on “Corner of Gore and Pender” and horns by Stephen Graf and Melissa Lee (of the wonderful garage-rockin’ band the Beladeans) on “My Pal Dan.”
• This album marks the first time we’ve recorded songs we hadn’t previously played live–“One Too Many” and “The Happy Song” had not been road tested before being committed to tape.
• The album was mastered by Brock McFarlane at CPS Mastering in Vancouver. He buffed us up good–we recommend him highly!
• This is the first China Syndrome release out on vinyl LP.

In other news, LPs and CDs of The Usual Angst are now available from Neptoon Records and Audiopile in Vancouver and Ditch Records in Victoria. They join Red Cat Records as outlets for hard copies.

Here are a few snapshots from our time at JC/DC Studio.