Review Of 2000 Pt 4

With 5 songs having been mixed in February/March, Dan, Liam and I began meeting every Wednesday evening from the first week of October to mix the remaining songs on the album (Chuck's Party, Noriega, 1500 Wasted Nuns, Fat Nora, Must Get To Oman, Maren, Eva, My Mind Is On Sale, Pismel, and Che Guevara). We knew that weekday evenings don't give you that much time for mixing, and that our schedule was tight. But the consensus was that we were loathe to replace weekend rehearsals with mixing, as we were making such good progress musically. The aim was to finish mixing by October 31st, in order to allow plenty of time to get the CDs pressed by December 1st. As it transpired, we weren't 100% happy by that stage, so Liam and I had an extra session on November 2nd.
Even after that, we still weren't finished. So it was that on the day allocated for mastering, November 4th, I got up at 6:00am , in order to try and finish mixing the last 2 songs, 'Noriega' and 'Che Guevara and Me'. That accomplished, I took the train to Reigate, home of Panther Studios where we always master our CDs. This year it was to be Richard, and not Johnny Elmer, behind the controls, and to be honest I think I prefer the job Richard did overall. He really was bringing out the best in the songs. I came home with a finished master, confident that all was well. However, upon listening to the CD, 2 problems came to light. Pismel, a climactic, crescendo to the album, before the coda of 'Che', seemed very quiet. It needed to be louder than the songs preceeding it, not quieter. Then I heard 'Che Guevara' and knew that my 6 oclock mix had been a disaster!!. So the following Monday I remixed 'Che Guevara'. I then rang Panther and agreed a fee for the extra work. I 'special delivered' them the new 'Che Guevara' mix and instructions about 'Pismel'. It took Richard a while to redo the songs , but the new master, when it came, sounded amazing.

We had decided to only press 100 CDs initially, and as our previous pressing plant had a minimum run of 300, it was time to shop around. Having tried a few places that didn't give a good impression, I eventually stumbled upon 'Fatcat' who seemed to offer excellent prices, and had received excellent testimonials. They also offered a quick turnaround. So we decided to give them a shot. I posted the master and artwork etc, to them on 17th November, and in just 10 days time the CDs were returned to us, 4 days ahead of our projected release date. They looked, and sounded great. And sales were amazing. We sold over 50 in the first week!

Next up, Liam, Ravi and me headed down to Bar PM on December 2nd, to cheer on Mike and Chris, remixers of 'Dummy Love', as they made their live debut. Billing themselves as 'Cowboy Risa' they performed a selection or originals, and, of course, the 'Dummy Love' remix, which sounded amazing!! There was no time to rest on our laurels as the following week, on December 9th, we had the CD launch gig. Saul was coming down to sing his own 'My Mind Is On Sale'.. making it the first time all 6 of us had played together live. The venue was to be, once again, The Hope and Anchor, and naturally, for a CD launch, the setlist was 'Mountain Therapy' dominated.

The launch gig exceeded all our expectations. 81 people crammed into the Hope and Anchor specifically to see us, with about another 20 fans of the other bands joining them to absolutely pack out the venue (official capacity 78!!)The audience were about 1 inch from the stage!! What a reception we got. Since February we had been previewing the album so the audience knew at least 7 of the 10 songs (the only non-album songs were the Monkees' 'She' and Liam's brand new 'Nazi Dog'. 'My Mind' was making it's live debut) and were so up for it we couldn't believe the cheers.They were singing along and dancing, and within 2 gigs 'Fat Nora' had become such a crowd favourite it was amazing to behold. When we struck up the opening chords, and I sang the line 'Be sure to visit the grave of one 'Fat Nora', at the words'Fat Nora' the place went wild with screaming and cheers.Saul's guest appearance was fantastic, and the Monkees classic 'She' had everyone singing along. It was just the perfect gig. The full set list was:Toxic Stamp Glue, Nazi Dog, Maren, Fat Nora, She, My Mind Is On Sale, Kirsten, Noriega, Chuck's Party, Pismel.
And after it was over, they came in their droves to purchase the cd. More and more, until finally one customer came, and we looked at our table and had to say: 'Sorry we've sold out'.

The next Monday I hurridly arranged a second pressing of the CD. What a feeling, selling 100 CDs in less than a fortnight. After that, there was only one more piece of business to arrange. Theoretically Ravi and Stuart were still part-time Shorties (not paying for rehearsals, not being paid from gigs). We asked both of them if they wanted to become full time Shorties. Both jumped at the chance. In Stuart's case the decision made no practical difference at all, but in Ravi's it was to have far bigger an impact than any of us could have predicted.

But that was all ahead of us. As we looked back on 2000, we could celebrate finally doing ourselves justice as a live act, releasing our most coherent and popular album to date and releasing a new movie. But 2001 looked like it could be even better, as we prepared to celebrate 10 years of The Blackwells, with a special concert, a rarities CD, our first live acoustic gigs and a documentary. What could possibly go wrong??

Hope and Anchor Dec 2000 Pics from top:Close Harmonies on Noriega, Saul makes a guest appearance, Fat Nora wows the crowd, Climaxing with Pismel.

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