“Shut My Mouth,” by Digger
Year: 1994
Writer: Daryl Frazier
Engineer/co-producer: Drew Townson
Studio: Blue Jay, Carlisle, MA
Notes: Recorded and mixed 100% analog using 2” Studer A800 24track at 15ips w/ Dolby SR, and mixed to Studer A820 1/2” 2-track at 15ips w/ Dolby SR. Console, SSL 6000E.
I’ll shut my mouth now.
THREE BAGS
20 Years ago I was in a band called Digger - a punkish, garagey, power-poppy, devil-rocking mess. Playing guitar in Digger was the most fun I’ve ever had in a band. We were brothers, bad boys and rock-star posers with hair down to there. We just loved hanging out with other, getting stoned out of our gourds and playing really loud. Our reheasal-space exploits at Boston’s Sound Museum were up-all-night epics.
Digger actually came as close to getting a real major-label record deal as I’ve ever come.
This song, called “Three Bags,” is by our bassist/singer Daryl “Billy Nightshade” Frasier. I just remastered it today. I love this song so much it hurts. It’s about a very earnest and hard-working fellow who collects bottles and cans and cashes them in to make money. Refusing all handouts, he considers this an honest day’s work. Just when we get to really respect him, we learn that he is scraping up the dough to buy “a bottle of the good stuff,” the favorite of bums and winos everywhere: Night Train Express.
Priceless.
Literally one of my favorite one or two tracks I’ve ever been involved in.
Daryl Frasier, bass & vocals
Chuck White, vocals
Mark Frasier, guitar & vocals (Stratocaster, right channel)
Drew Townson, guitar, vocals (Les Paul, left channel)
Mark Mastrella, drums
Written by Daryl Frasier
Recorded circa 1992 by Drew Townson at Squid Hell Studio, Jamaica Plain, MA
Here’s the title track from Miki’s “Soul Deep” LP. It’s two-minutes of soul heaven. Makes me crave a gooey slice of Loozianna pecan pie. Happy Valentine’s Day people, enjoy!
Memorable Records I have engineered
HONEYTONED SOUL!
Back in 1989 I had the pleasure to sit behind the console with Producer Ron Levy to track an exceptionally good (but little known) LP for the Rounder label by Louisiana soul-singer Miki Honeycutt. Ron put a terrific studio band together for her - none other than Sugar Ray and the Blue Tones, selected a slew of smokin’ songs, flew Miki up from Shreveport, loaded us all in to Boston’s Newbury Sound, and hit the big red button. Miki then proceeded to burn the studio down! We tracked everything 99-percent live in the studio. I think the only overdubs were some backing vocals and we double-tracked the sax on a couple things. Miki was in a windowed booth in the large live-room, wailing her vocals in real-time with the band. I had a nice old U87 on her, pre-amped with an API 512 and compressed with a Tube-Tech CL-1A. From what I had been told, Miki had been a hard-livin’ gal in her earlier years, including a run with heroin addiction. Whether this was true or not, I don’t know, but judging by the beautiful ragged edge in her voice, I can believe it. This girl was no poser; she had lived the blues! It all came together that week in the studio, as we captured a 10-song snapshot of raw emotion and soul. Janice and Aretha would have been proud of this performance. Highlights are “Don’t Cry for Me,” the Ron Levy penned “Teardrops,” and her cover of the Box Tops’ “Soul Deep,” which may actually be better than the original. Go to Amazon right this minute and treat yourself to this lost gem!
Source: amazon.com