The Making of "Lvl. 1" (Part 3 of 3)

Part Three: The Finished Product

Final Tracklist for Last Chance to Reason's "Lvl. 1"
1. Owned By A Sting Ray Barb
2. She's My Bloody Pie
3. Escape From Brinstar
4. Me And Tom Brokaw Are Like This
5. Maddens For N00bz
6. It's Professional When That Happens
7. Kraid Aint Got Shit On Me
8. Get Awesome
9. Those Were Real Witch Bones
10. Joe Dirt
11. Destroy Mother Brain
12. Cock Eating Bullet

After two weeks of nonstop recording, tinkering, adjusting, and being overall perfectionists to assure the best possible outcome, Last Chance to Reason packed up and headed home, anxious to hear Jamie King’s final mix. When they did, the results shocked even them.

“Our album came out better than any of us expected it to,” said guitarist AJ Harvey. “I don’t get sick of our new songs, I love it. Each of the instruments and vocals sound amazing.

“The final product is better than we ever thought we could sound thanks to long hours and Jamie’s production expertise,” Sammons added. “Overall, I think the album has a really good balance and flow. We did everything we wanted to do. We took the time and did those little things and polished it, and it all fits together. This is definitely cohesive as an album.”

The group is beyond satisfied with the result. “We want to go back [to The Basement Recording] for LP number two,” Sammons said, leaving no doubt in the band’s appreciation for King’s production talents.

“I am sure that we are going to work with Jamie King on future projects,” vocalist Rob Delaney added with enthusiasm. “He basically said that we are one of his new favorite bands. He assured us that we were one of the most unique sounding, distinctive, technical bands he has worked with,” Delaney said; impressive comments coming from the producer of Between The Buried and Me, among other respected metal acts. “He also said that Chris was in the top three of all the bass players he has ever worked with.”

“I love listening to this album,” Delaney said; another testament to the album’s merits. In the process of making the album, the band had to write, rehearse, practice, record demos, and then hear them for hours on end in the final recording stages; an exhaustive process that often turns bands off to their own material. “‘ Lvl. 1’ Is by far the best album I have ever been involved with. I don’t think there is a weak moment on this album, regarding anything,” said Delaney, who has filled the role of vocalist for numerous other acts, including Maine groups Vatican City and Amaranthus, as well a tour through Europe with Washington D.C.’s Age of Ruin.

The album ended as the group planned; nine songs, four of which are older titles reworked – some drastically, others moderately – and three interludes. “All the songs we reworked should be fun for OG LCTR fans,” Sammons said. But are there any favorites among the band members?

“My favorite tracks on the album would probably have to be ‘Those Were Real Witch Bones’ and the new version of ‘Tom Brokaw.’ They just have really good parts that sound epic and huge. I like that in a song,” said Chris Corey, bassist.

Sammons picks no favorites among what he considers by far to be his band’s crowning achievement. “It’s great just to hear the complete album.”

“All of the songs have a unique awesomeness to them,” said Delaney, who refers to “Lvl. 1” as his new favorite album. “Right now, I would have to say ‘Get Awesome’ and ‘Cock Eating Bullet’ have my votes for the best songs on the album.”

Looking back to the pre-recording interview, did Last Chance to Reason achieve their goals? Did they indeed perfect the execution and “groove the fuck out of it?” Yes. Mission accomplished. Just listen to the solo of “Get Awesome,” now available for listening on the band’s Myspace. Harvey’s symphony of sweep and shred is already brilliant in its own right, but when Sammons brings the double bass in halfway through, you’ll know exactly what they were talking about; it’s fun as hell, plain and simple. Or look past the more-epic-than-Beowulf chorus of “Witch Bones” and focus on the riff that directly follows it. The riff essentially stays the same for nearly a full minute, but it’s performed with enough style and flair that it grooves its way into your memory and simply refuses to get stale. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the definition of execution, attitude, and grooving the fuck out of something, all rolled into one and spat back out in auricular form.

As for the doubters and the disgruntled fans that yearn for nothing beyond the days of piling onto each other and crying, “I would die for you, I would kill for you,” Last Chance to Reason is unfazed. “People don’t change,” Sammons said. “Any time a band that people really like – or even kind of like – changes, [fans] get pissed off.”

Harvey may have said it best: “I just think we’ve accomplished a collection of badass, memorable songs.”

All photos and captions courtesy of Jayme Boucher.

The Making of "Lvl. 1" (Part 2 of 3)

Part Two: In The Basement

“We’re just writing music that’s really, really good,” drummer Evan Sammons said on Jan. 11. “It’s not like you can hear these songs now and be like, ‘oh, this fits into this genre of metal.’ It’s just Last Chance to Reason. That’s what it sounds like. We’ve just melded our own kind of thing.”

With that attitude, Last Chance to Reason hit the road to record for two straight weeks at Jamie King’s studio, the North Carolina-based Basement Recording, beginning on Jan. 28.

“Everything sounds the way it should, everything is very clear, unlike a lot of the [old material],” said bassist Chris Corey during the recording. Vocalist Rob Delaney called the process “intense” and “absolutely amazing.”

On Jamie King, Delaney said: “I was confident in his production, but wasn’t sure what to expect out of him as a person. He was awesome from day one. We just got along really well from the get-go. We didn’t go into the studio as fans, we entered the studio as professional musicians looking to get a sick album, and it worked.” Delaney added that in downtime, Jamie King was never at a loss for an entertaining anecdote, often talking about “King Diamond and Motley Crue and how much ass they kicked.”

“I think he is really on the same page as us, musically, in a lot of ways,” Sammons said. “We’ve definitely formed somewhat of a bond. He had a lot of praise for our originality and approach to song writing and gave us a lot of good advice about the music business, as well.”

“They work hard but have fun at the same time,” Jamie King said when asked for comments on Last Chance to Reason and the recording of their first full-length album. “[They’re] super prepared. The music is on point stylistically and is catchy. Labels should acknowledge that and start bidding. They should have no problem getting a good deal.”

As guitarist AJ Harvey predicted, the album title practically fell into place on its own following King’s comments on how the album sounds like the group is playing Metroid across each song. King likened the sound to “aliens taking over the world,” and the band embraced the theme for an exceptionally unique outcome.

The Making of "Lvl. 1" (Part 1 of 3)

Part One: The Final Weeks

“I’m going on record and saying that we’re eight million times better a band now than we ever have been. I don’t know how anybody thought we were good before,” Evan Sammons said on Jan. 11, as Last Chance to Reason were holed up in the Augusta apartment of guitarist AJ Harvey and bassist Chris Corey, recording the final demos before their trip to a much more professional recording environment: The Basement Recording Studio in North Carolina.

“If you hear this album and you think we were better before, you’re an idiot,” Sammons said with a smile. “This album’s going to be fucking awesome.”

His point practically proving itself, the group lounged in the kitchen, reading lyric sheets as Rob Delaney recorded the vocals to a demo at that point known as “Strange Ass.” The song, which would eventually become “Those Were Real Witch Bones,” had a chorus so powerful and catchy the band struggled for words. With feet tapping and faces glowing, the one adjective they could agree on was “epic.”

Nearly a year prior, Last Chance to Reason booked studio time with Jamie King, the renowned producer of over 350 metal and rock groups including Between the Buried and Me, Through the Eyes of the Dead, A Prayer For Cleansing and KillWhitneyDead. With the studio time booked, the group took on the task of composing their best work.

“We’re playing on our strengths and not trying to be something that we’re not. We’re not like, ‘oh, we have to play something that’s like BTBAM or The Red Chord or Into The Moat because we’re a tech metal band.’ No, instead of putting eight million notes in this measure, let’s just pick every note and be really careful with that to make the best riff possible,” Sammons said of the writing process.

“Everything is a lot tighter,” Harvey added. “We’ve grown as musicians, definitely.” As Sammons stressed after the band’s debut show with the new lineup in October, a great deal of thought went into every single riff. The members concurred that they were essentially the same band, only much improved.

And so, after months of writing, rehearsing, recording, and reworking, nine songs were ready to roll, with three planned interludes. The interludes would be used to segue between songs and would “incorporate layers of synth material that [could] be even more experimental than what’s in the songs,” according to Sammons.

With two weeks to go until the Jan. 28 recording began, there was no shortage of gray areas concerning the album. Song titles, the album title, and the opening song were all up in the air. “We’ve talked about it and thought about it and wrote the songs all down in different orders,” Harvey said. The group had been stacking the arrangement of their songs up to classic metal albums like Metallica’s black album and Pantera’s “Vulgar Display of Power” to get a feel for prime song flow.

As for the album title, Harvey wasn’t worried, saying, “I think one day someone’s just going to say something and it’s going to be like, that’s it. There we go.”

“It’s probably going to be right up to the end,” Sammons said. With the last two weeks at home, the band needed only to finish their demos and practice the material.

“We need to make it so we’re not just executing [this stuff], but grooving the fuck out of it,” Sammons said. “First you need to execute it, but second, you need the attitude. That’s what makes what you’re playing good. It’s not what you’re playing, it’s how you’re playing it. You can play a riff that’s awesome and it doesn’t feel like anything or you can play a riff that, you know, anybody can play, but you make it the most kick-ass thing you’ve ever heard.”

“We’re going to concentrate on that; making everything brutal, making everything groove,” Harvey said. The band’s constant goal to appeal to both the technically minded musician and the average metalhead clearly underscored their philosophy.

In Sammons’ words, the goal was clear: “The task at hand is making the best record possible right now.”

Mission stated. With two weeks of non-stop recording and work with a professional producer, could the task be as concisely accomplished?

Next in The Making of "Lvl. 1" : Recording at The Basement in North Carolina, Jamie King's comments on the band, each member's feedback on the experience, the final tracklist and song titles, and initial impressions of the album in its complete, final form.