Codename "Tribute" - The Delivery (part 2)

Last time, I talked about how "Tribute" came together and how we went from over a 100 potential songs, down to the 9 that made the album. Today, I want to fill in some of the details about the song treatments and the recording process.

As I look back on the process, recalling that it took many months to kick into gear, it still came together more rapidly than most of my music projects. It helped that the songs were already written. In a way, I think was part of the magic; it allowed us to focus all of our energy on picking the songs and then arranging them so that they lived up to our "Heavy" expectations. It was also a very satisfying recording process. All of the drums and rhythm guitars were tracked at once, plus some scratch bass parts. Many of the songs were arranged on the fly, as a band, although "I Think We're Alone Now" was one that I arranged on my own and Steve S. brought in the complete treatment for "Generals & Majors". Oddly enough, that phase of tracking went by so quickly (3-4 sessions over a month or two) that we were then left with my usual question, "What the heck are we going to do about vocals?"

Well, that's where Scott Adler, another comrade from Apple, stepped in. Steve R. and I had worked with Scott and his a cappella group, "One of Each" on a holiday spoof of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" called "Christmas Rhapsody". Scott did all the low parts in the vocal arrangements and had never sung even as much as one phrase of heavy rock or metal in his life. I think all of us were initially imagining someone with a higher range, a more stereotypical metal voice, but Steve R. and I had such respect for the way Scott had handled the vocal arrangements and tracking on "Bohemian Rhapsody" that we knew it was worth a shot. Looking back, I can't imagine it playing out any other way. Scott's voice and his approach are unique and helped pull together the songs, giving them cohesiveness as an album. For a guy who hadn't done any metal before, he added a dark, scary component to the arrangements and really helped define the sound.

Somewhere along the line, we finally dropped the "Tribute" moniker in favor of "Danger, Ltd." It took me a good part of another year to get all the tracks mixed, mastered and released. Still, something about the way the project played out has left me with mostly good memories. Unlike some other projects, overall this one went from start to completion fairly quickly, at least quickly enough that it didn't feel like it was dragging. I also like the way the band, the album and the songs all have a very clear vision and stuck with it throughout. I think that vision is strong enough that it could carry over to another album or two. Really, it's a question of logistics now that we're spread out across the country one on the East coast, three in the Bay Area and yours truly in Bozeman, Montana. But with the right motivation, namely a collection of great songs to tribute, you never know.

Got any songs you'd like to hear Danger, Ltd. cover?