Wake The Dead - Behind the Scenes

Part Two

Hey friends,

My second single from Wake The Dead, Sugar Into Water, is out now. And available here, there, and everywhere.

Here is another installment of candid photos from the making of.

Photos by William Wayland and video by Daniel Strickland.

I don’t know where the time goes. But four years between LPs is like an eternity for me. Stephanie says I never miss an opportunity to take the path of most resistance. I suppose that’s not totally unfair. Somehow, eventually, I had a batch of new songs I was excited about. Many written with Kurt Lipschutz. And like a virus, it just took over. Three songs grew to 30 songs. We can’t record them all. Eventually, there’s some natural selection involved, they have to stand up for themselves or they get left behind.  

The grooves under these songs feet are Cumbia. Or Chicha. Or maybe Bolero here and there. And I’m mapping my songs over those grooves. With my vocal over the top. Cumbia. We’re mixing up the recipe. Freely adding or subtracting from it. I’m taking my cue from what The Clash did with reggae. They brought their own unique energy to it. I’m stirring up my own brew. I’m not claiming to be correct. So please don’t call the clave police.

Photo by William Wayland

Latin music casts a wide shadow. I can hardly distinguish which subgenre is which. They’re all cousins and sisters. There’s Sambas and Bossa Novas, Salsa music and Carito music, Banda music and Tejano music. All that stuff overlaps.

Photo by William Wayland

Ricardo knows how to turn the beat around.

Photo by William Wayland

“Choices! You’re killing me with choices!!” Between me and James and the studio, we had quite the arsenal of guitars. A Chinese menu of guitars to pull from. 

We really didn’t have time to rehearse all the songs. So, in the studio, every song started with a little powwow of acoustic guitars. Enough to get the basic chord changes. At the very least, get the song on its feet, if not up and running. Sometimes it comes together fast. Like butter. Other times, the bull laughs at the matador. And we chase each other around for a while.

Photo by William Wayland

You don’t want a people problem. A good studio is comfortable. But, then again, not too comfortable. Otherwise, you might have visitors who plop down and don’t want to leave. And you might end up with what I once heard John Fry, the owner of Ardent Studios, refer to as “a people problem.”

Photo by William Wayland

Jandro (or Flaco El Jandro) has a lot of music in him. He can get around fluently on instruments like the Bajosexto and the Tres, for example. Organ too. Bringing a unique spice with whatever he picks up. And finding a sound that can bridge that gap between the electric guitars.  

Photo by William Wayland

Here is Karishma, our engineer, labeling the headphone boxes.

Photo by William Wayland

There was a boatload of logistics and schedules and accommodations to navigate to pull this project together. It was an all-hands-on-deck project from the get-go. A military operation. And easily the most ambitious project I’ve ever been a part of. It can get stressful. But the Qiensave cats bring great energy to the mix. Always. They never get weighted down. If they do, I haven’t seen it. They’re always laughing out of nowhere. 

Photo by William Wayland

And the finalists are… of course, I always write too many songs for every record. But these are the “go-to-the-head-of-the-class” songs. After much consideration. In the end, you have to “drown your darlings” or “kill your puppies.” (Pick your analogy.) Not every song grows up to be on a Chuck Prophet LP. 

Photo by William Wayland

Vicente and James. I’m looking at these guys while typing into this little comment box on my phone. And it’s just not as satisfying as beating on a machine. A typewriter. Or at the very least, a laptop. I will say this: it worries me that I’ll inevitably be putting emojis into these boxes. It’s just a matter of time.

Photo by William Wayland

I used to say that I judged the quality of my life on how far I could get through the Sunday New York Times, but this was something else. 

Things really slowed down for me. I did do a lot of listening. With the lockdown and then the cancer and the treatment. I found myself with a lot of time to just sit and listen. There was a lot of Cumbia on the turntable. A lot of watching. And a lot of thinking too! Speaking of watching, have you seen “I’m No Longer Here”? Its a movie about exile with a cumbia soundtrack. There’s really nothing like it out there. 

To be continued…

–CP