SOLO
Introduction. After I got back from traveling in early 1994, I spent some of the money I had left over on an 8-track cassette studio and a synthesizer. This gave me the tools to record my songs completely by myself for the first time. It was a lot of fun to be in total control, even though I lacked the competence to do it well. I ended up recording three solo albums over a period of six years. On the first album, “Like a Fish Needs a Bicycle,” the drums, bass, piano, strings and horns were all sequenced and recorded onto two tracks. This left six tracks free to record the guitars and vocals. On the second album, “Pomo Pancakes,” I figured out how to sync the sequenced instruments to a sync track, so I gained an extra track. Both albums were mixed down onto a DAT tape and then I made cassette copies for friends and family. On the third album, “Outland & Lovers, Appetite & Loss,” I had access to Dave Kapell’s 8-track ADAT studio in North Minneapolis. I followed essentially the same protocol as on the first two albums, except on the third the bass is real. I wish I would’ve sacrificed a track and recorded real bass on the first and second albums too. The third album was also mixed down onto a DAT tape, and then I made CD copies for friends and family. Each album took about six weeks, start to finish, to arrange, record, and mix. The delightful work obsession was complete and all-consuming, although I regret not spending more time recording the vocals, which were always recorded last, after everything else, when I was tired, burning out, and in a hurry to finish. Since recording the third album, I’ve pretty much stopped writing songs.