Exclusive: Hot Club de Paris Studio Blog

As we told you last month Hot Club de Paris have been recording their second album in Chicago over the past month with producer Brian Deck (Iron & Wine, Modest Mouse, Tortoise) and now we can bring you further news on the fruits of the recording sessions. Matthew and Paul from the Liverpool based trio took time out during their last week of recording to write a day to day diary of how it was going.

Read on…

Monday

Matthew: Oh Monday, why must you be so cruel? Luckily this Monday wasn't cruel and I totally nailed a face melting solo on the end of every song. 10 points to me.

Food. I ate sandwiches.

Paul: I made 6 completely offensive drawings. Seriously, I could go to prison for shit like this. Monday is fucking totally freezing but fortunately we have interns that will do almost anything for us, including going outside and getting cold. Every time I use my computer I get mad electronic shocks. That’s why this diary entry is finishing now.

Tuesday

Matthew: I have no idea what we did on Tuesday because I am completely making this up. Not really, I remember now. We recorded some vocals on a song called Sparrow Flew with Swallows wings. It's very fast and Paul's flow was only just sick enough. Our friend Sharagi hooked us up with tickets to see Jerry Springer getting filmed, as it is shot in Chicago. It was pretty scary and odd to see people being so insane and aggressive and generally weird.

Paul: I couldn’t be fucked going to see Jerry Springer getting filmed. I can’t be bothered leaving the studio because I know that whatever I do it won’t be as good as the Tim Kinsella and Cryptacize show at the Empty Bottle the other night. I stayed in and made more offensive drawings.

Wednesday

Matthew: We finished off a song called 'Call Me Mr. Demolition Ball'. It sounds a bit like Engine Room era Mike Watt but we put a queen rising harmony in the middle. Later on we went to see a band called Menomena play, followed by Maritime which features Davey Von Bohlen (ex Promise Ring/Cap'n jazz). Our friend Mark from SSS is really into the Promise Ring and Paul got Davey to make him a video message. You can watch it here. You probably won't think it's funny but it is.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=gM0OR4YOLh0

Menomena were awesome. They're on Barsuk records and you should check them out. I remember hearing "I am the fun blame monster" a few years ago and thinking it was alright but the new stuff sounds incredible and they were dead good live.

Paul: Davey Von Bohlen was a nice man. He was in Cap N’Jazz. Nuts.

Thursday

We had a bit more time than we thought so we recorded a couple of acoustic versions of two songs on the record. One called Boy Awaits Return of the Runaway Girl and the other was called For The Party’s Past And Present. They're not cop out shitty versions that everyone always does because they're too stupid or lazy, they're reworked and different to the originals.

Friday

Matthew: On Friday we finished mixing a Minutemen cover of the song "The Anchor". It came out really well and bizarrely sounds a bit like Mike Watt and the Black Gang. We went for an offensively expensive but delicious meal with Mr Brian Deck who produced our record. It was all tiny tasting portions but they were tiny tasty portions. We came back to the studio, drank lots, got emotional, bid Brian farewell and saw him for the last time.

Paul: Right, if you’re vegan, in Chicago and want to spend fuck-loads of money on super-good food, go to Green Zebra. Whilst the staff are completely humourless and behave as though their dedication to good food is a great burden upon their shoulders, I have never eaten food as good as what I had tonight. I went for the mushroom broth, shitake mushrooms and squash cassoulette. It was mind blowing. I drank Goose Island beer. It was probably slightly too happy for the delicate flavours on offer at Green Zebra, but it was nice to drink something that wasn’t Pabst Blue Ribbon. I’m sure that stuff is sending me completely bonkers. Goodbye Brian Deck. Thanks for making our record sound awesome.

Saturday

Matthew: From Saturday onwards we had no work to do so got drunk except for a few hours yesterday and today when we had our photos taken by Chris Strong. Chris's photos are incredible. That is all there is to say.

Paul: I’ve been a big fan of Chris Strong’s photo’s for a while. He photographs a lot of the Joan of Arc related bands and so I’ve been seeing his work every time I’ve bought one of those records. So yeah, it feels a bit nuts to have him take our photo. We wandered down to the lake front and did some photographs there, as well as shooting some portrait shots in his house whilst his chubby cats wandered about.

Hot Club de Paris release their Christmas Single 'Will You Still Be In Love With Me Next Year?' / ‘Straight To Hell’ on December 17 via download, while a limited edition vinyl version will be released on Christmas Eve.