We recorded the album Six Shooter in august 2008 in the desert town of Ashcroft, British Columbia. Ashcroft rests on the banks of the Thompson River and was a stopping point during the gold rush with a hopping saloon. The sound of trains is ever present with CP Rail running up and down the west bank and CN on its eastern bank. The sounds of these trains serendipitously bled into the recordings of songs like the lead track Railroad. The album was produced by Johnny Ellis and recorded at his studio Nashcroft Manor. The view from various tracking rooms was either of the garden, which grew the bulk of the food we would eat while up there, or the river and the desert hills. Very inspiring, especially when racing the shadow cast by the setting sun while we were recording “Arizona” with the line “oh how the sun lies down across the desert…”
One of the visions I had for this album was to have Luke Doucet dueling with my guitar player Adam Dobres. I called up Luke and he happened to be traveling from Edmonton to Colorado the week we were recording. Ashcroft may not be the geographical midway point between those two destinations but it wasn’t too far out of the way to get him for a couple days. Interestingly when I put the songs in sequence for the final product it turned out that Luke played on 5 of the 6 songs on side 2. There is a distinct side 1 and side 2 with this record. Luke got a good kick out of the “West Coast” recording process that we worked around. We would get up at noon or 1 o’clock, hang out for an hour and a half, go down into the studio, work for an hour and by then it would be 40+ degrees in the studio, too hot to work. So in the back of the pick up truck and down to the river we would go. There is a certain elbow in the river that the locals know about and that is where you go to swim. I tell you it is one of the most spectacular spots on the face of the earth. You park the truck, cross the tracks, and all of a sudden you are on the surface of the moon. This psychedelic wash of river rocks is something that you have never seen before. You walk about a quarter mile to where the river takes a right angle turn and that’s where you dive in. Now you have to understand that the Thompson River is one of British Columbia’s 5 biggest rivers, this is no creek running through the farm and the ride puts any amusement park to shame. You dive in and instantly you are racing at about 20 mph down the river. You can open your eyes underwater as you are screaming along overtop of the riverbed and you feel like a 100 year old sturgeon. Well, at least I did. It was just what we all needed to recharge. Then we’d swing by the booze shop, pick up a case of wine and get to work ‘til three o’clock in the morning. Then do it all over again.
About a year before we started working on “Six Shooter” I met and started playing with Del Cowsill. Up until then my guitar player, Adam Dobres and I had been piecing together different bands for various gigs desperately craving a solid band. A Heartbreakers or a Crazy Horse. Del’s knack for harmony singing, bass playing and being a complete encyclopedia of music from the 60’s made for the perfect fit. We managed to get Pat Steward on the road with us and played for a year as “The Outfit”. With Del coming from a more extensive musical lineage than myself I’m not going to lie, the first time someone who was introduced to him asked if he was related to Billy Cowsill I was more than happy to witness that scene from the third person.
We now had a sound. We worked on it for a year and what we recorded in those two weeks is what you’ll hear on Six Shooter. It was a pleasure working with Johnny Ellis for the second time. Steven Drake blew my mind wide open with his knowledge of sound when we mixed it in the spring. And the beautifully talented and dear friend Pharis Romero designed the cd package, which looks amazing. Of course she had some bitchin’ photos taken by Mark Maryanovich to work with.
Thanks to everyone involved.
