Basement Noise Studio Report part 2

MAY 2005

Sator in the Studio

ChipsHasseHeikkiKent and ChipsKent and ChipsSatorHeikkiMickeChips and KentKent and Micke

It took a long time for us to find some free studio time but now we’re almost done. Sadly we had to stop again because the Music-A-Matic studio was booked and then it closed down for some construction work. There are only two songs left to be mixed, which will be done at the end of June.

Chips

completed songs may 2005

1 SO DRESSED UP
We recorded this one first for a German compilation which no one heard. We like it too much to be a lost song so it will definitively be on the album. A classic Sator punk/rock track in our opinion.

2 YOU AIN’T NOTHING TO ME
A really angry punk 1977 style track that has been around for a while. A new “I’d rather drink than talk” maybe?

3 NO!
Our negative side taken to the extremes. Say no to everything! Working title was “AC/DC”. No further comments.

4 THINGS YOU DON’T
Classic Sator around Stock Rocker Nuts with bits of The Who thrown in for extra excitement. It was written between Stereo and Musical differences but got lost along the way. We found a demo of it recently and thought it was a great song that we have to record now.

5 GOODBYE JOEY
Kent wrote this one as a tribute to Joey Ramone when he died. Probably the saddest songs we’ve ever recorded. A real tearjerker for all you lonely hearts out there. Before the song got mixed Johnny and Dee Dee died too so Kent had to rewrite the lyrics twice.

6 THE GHOST OF MY CONTROL
If Suicide would do a Sator cover it might sound something like this? Possibly the last song written for the album.

7 THIS AIN’T THE WAY HOME
Kent called Chips and told him to write a classic. He came back with the verse and chorus for this one in 15 minutes. The middle eight part was added later. The sequel to “I wanna go home”? This might be the first single from the album.

8 THE WORLD KEEPS TURNING
It started out as a very different song based on a guitar riff from Kent but it became something else in the end. Neil Young and The Ramones in a car crash with The Mamas and the Papas and this is what crawled out of the wreckage.

9 ANGELINA COME ON
Not like anything we’ve ever done before. Not that it’s that weird but maybe it might become our biggest hit?

10 YOU WALK ALONE
Our tribute to The Wipers or Dick Dale goes punk. Recorded totally live in the studio with very few overdubs. This is the second take. The first one was similar but with less crazy guitar solos. It’s the story about a couple of kids from a small town trying to get out of that hell-hole. The arrangement was very loose, we just let the tape roll and went for it.

11 AT THE END OF TIME
We wanted a song like The Undertones’ “You got my number (why don’t you use it)”. As usual the end result sounds nothing like we planned. But it’s great. Chips, Kent and Michael got together in Stockholm, borrowed a rehearsal place and instruments from Michael Lohse (ex-Atomic Swing, now in The Kooks) and worked it all out. Several more songs were written during this session but so far this is the only one we’ve used. It’s a very positive story about two people going straight to hell together.

album tracks to be mixed later

12 IT’S OUTTA MY HANDS
We’ve had the intro riff for years but we never found the right song for it. Finally all the pieces came together. Another future Sator classic?

13 WATER ON A DROWNING MAN
Another fast typical vintage Sator song. If Motörhead came from the Louisiana swamps they might have sounded something like this.

songs to be mixed later but not for the album

THE GOOD GUYS
A fast rocker inspired by the mid 80’s Australian wave. All these bands like The Lime Spiders and Hoodoo Gurus were a great relief at a time when most other music sucked.

ALL ABOUT EVERYTHING
A heavy groove in the vein of “Sideshow screwballs”, “Skyscraper” and “Gruesome Sunday morning”.

CELEBRATION TOWN
Fast and furious. Like a new “Baby Doc Holiday”. One of the first songs we wrote for the album but it might not make it. The working title was “Kickin’ ass for the working class”. That’s where the joke about the album title came from.

ESCAPE FROM PIGVALLEY BEACH
You wanna know whatever happened to that guy? Here’s the answer 16 years later.

dropped songs

These songs didn’t turn out the way we wanted so we dropped them. Some of them will surely be re-recorded eventually.

TIME AND DISTANCE

We decided that there was no point doing this one again. The version already out sounds great so why do it again. This version was never finished. We just did the basic tracks.

Michael

BASEMENT NOISE
The title track that did not make the final list. Another fast one in the Stock Rocker nuts vein.

We never did anything more than the basic tracks on this one. It’s a good song but we didn’t get it right this time.

Heikki

ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES
Like Joan Jett backed by The Faces was our idea with this one. As usual it turned into Sator anyway and became something else.

I’m really disappointed that this one didn’t make the album. It was one of my favorites. I hope we’ll do it again for the next album. It’s too good for a b-side.

Hans

We actually finished this one but it only came out 90% as we wanted it. We will rather drop it and do it again than live with the feeling that it didn’t turn out 100% right.

Chips

IF TIME DON’T GET ME THIS WAITING WILL
All our early punk influences put together in the same song.

It’s the same with this one. We all love the song but it didn’t came out the way we wanted. We’ll do it again next time instead.

Kent

ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY OLA SOLVING AT MUSIC-A-MATIC STUDIO GOTHENBURG.