The City Lights' studio diary

Wed 8th Aug, 2007 in Features

The City Lights – made up of members of Youth Group, Peabody and Rocket Science – recently headed into the studio to record album #2, El Sol. Singer James Roden kept a diary of their time in the studio, and has happily shared it with FasterLouder…

The City Lights are a confusing band from the outside because of all the different members but it is quite straightforward from my and my brother’s perspective. We write the songs and we play in a band with our friends. Our friends happen to be in other bands so we work around those other bands’ timetables. As a result we have periods where we do a lot and periods where we do nothing. We are also signed to a great independent label Ivy League Records who get behind us when we are ready.

As a result we finally found a period where we could all be in the same room at the same time to record our second album ‘EL SOL’. The line up is: me on guitar and vocals, brother Harry on bass and some vocals, Bruno Brayovic (Peabody) on guitar and backing vocals, Kit Warhurst (Rocket Science) on drums and backing vocals, Danny Allen (Youth group) on 3rd guitar and finally Graeme Trewin (ex-Peabody) on 2nd drums- some songs he drummed on, most of the songs Kit drummed on and some songs they drummed together at the same time.

We also had guests. Here is the diary.

Friday
Haz picked me up via vintagesounds to pick up repaired guitar and via Troy Horse to get the bass and guitar stuff. Arrived at bigjesusburger studio in Surry Hills at 12. Haz and I went to pick up lab coats for our musical scientists Trumpy and Simon (engineer and assistant). About 3pm we recorded ‘Never Let You Go’. Trumpy left at 7pm for circus. Went to pub, hooked up with few cats and drank ourselves silly. Graeme arrived from Brisbane. Went to hotel.

Saturday
First proper day. We laid down bed tracks to ‘I Just Gotta Believe’, ‘Anyone Who Is Anyone’, ‘Get Steady’, ‘Got The News Today’ and ‘Grand Pacific Son’. Kit and I went for a swim and a spa. We got so drunk I didn’t even participate and made smartarse comments about my bro’s songs like, “Can we just get this over: it’s just gonna be a b-side”. Ordered up extra beds but only one turned up so Trumpy slept on floor.

Sunday
We recorded ‘You Ain’t Heard The Last Of Us’ and ‘If I Said I Was Wrong’. Kit and Graeme did double drums on ‘Spy Theme’ and ‘I Just Gotta Believe’ and if ‘I Said I Was Wrong’. Absolutely brilliant skill and groove. Kit let loose with the pressure off and did a number on himself. Listened to Modern Lovers and Love and Kit prowled around the hotel like Iggy. He rang his girlfriend in England. He couldn’t remember what he said the next day so is worried he might be engaged.

Monday
Bruno had to move house so he wasn’t in today. Harry re-did bass to ‘I Just Gotta Believe’ and fixed up lead for ‘Grand Pacific Son’. Did ‘End Of Story’ with Graeme as a three-piece. Graeme flew at 7pm back to Brisbane. We started on the wines and we put down ‘Memorise The Words’ and Kit and I got on the acoustics for ‘Take A Picture Of The Sun’. I wanted the studio German Shepherd named ‘Bear’ brought in for vibe but he was sleeping. I got the giggles the whole way through ‘Take A Picture’ thanks to Kit. Three of us went back to hotel and listened to Rocket Science demos which are unreal.

Tuesday
I had a restless night’s sleep. Crazy dreams and the sweats so felt pretty weird for the first half of the day. We re-did guitars from last night now that we were sober. Bruno started on solo for ‘Here To Stay’. Called up Andre Warhurst to do solo on Thursday to ‘Get Steady’ since he is town with his band Silver Night Drive. I started on vocals and did ‘Anyone Who Is Anyone’. Kit and I watched the film ‘School Of Rock’ twice.

Wednesday
Tim Kevin came into to do keys (Hammonds, pianos) after he played a gig last night and worked a full day. I did vocals to ‘Get Steady’ and ‘I Just Gotta Believe’. Seemed pretty cool. We sat around listening to Tim doing the piano to ‘Got The News Today’ and it freaked me out how good he is.

Thursday
Danny Allen did his guitar parts and Andre Warhurst guested guitar solo on ‘Get Steady’. It was Andre’s birthday so we gave him cake. Danny’s guitar parts were tasty as usual. We started on vocals to ‘Never Let You Go’ but we all had too many wines and started fighting Gallagher brothers style. Nothing too serious but a bit of a waste of time.
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Friday*
We agreed to make today a ‘Drink Free Day’ as time was ticking and we couldn’t afford to waste any more. Did vocals to ‘Here To Stay’ and all the backing vocals. Did percussion to it and to ‘I Just Gotta Believe’. Bruno did very tasty backing vocals to ‘Grand Pacific Son’ which surprised me as his voice is so tough in Peabody but he sang like the little Chilean angel he is. Michael O’Regan from the Intercontinental Playboys came in after work to play keys on ‘Grand Pacific Son’. He again is another talented cat. I sang ‘Everyone Out’ and ‘End Of Story’.
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Saturday*
Kit flew home for Rocket Science rehearsals. I did vocals to ‘Got The News Today’. Then realised I had to write lyrics for the remaining three songs as I didn’t like what I had. Started ‘If I Said I Was wrong’. Bruno did backing vocals to ‘News Today’. Did ‘Take A Picture Of The Sun’ and ‘Memorise The Words’. It’s Simon’s birthday tomorrrow. He is 24! Tomorrow is the last day and trumpets and Kym-Louise Barton (The Exiles) are coming in. Kym is gonna sing on one song. I had an early night as my vocals are finished so am relieved.

Sunday
Last day. We got Tim into to do more keys. Kym-Louise sang on one song (‘Memorise The Words’). I had to do a little bit more of vocals and the trumpet cats came in and laid down horns on four songs. Pretty sweet. We finished at 10pm and did rough mixes till 3am. A really good last day as they can sometimes be stressful. All in all an amazing ten days of rock and roll and great times.