From Russia with love

[subrussian]

Greetings from rainy Russia, Butch and Billy! I'm a member of a largest russian Garbage fan-community, and I can say that a chance to ask you a question is like a surreal dream for us)) Thanks for the amazing music you've made. We are full of hope that someday Garbage will come back with the new album and visit Russia again.
Here are some questions from the members of our fan-club:
- Do you remember how the unusual sound of intro-guitar in Vow was made? What effects and settings used?

- Is it true that the first version (jam) of So Like a Rose was about 10 minutes long? And what effects are used in it (especially the lovely reversed outro)?

- Any interesting facts about making of Hammering in my head? There are lots of incredible loops and samples! Just a masterpiece! I wish you would do something in similiar techno-style again with Garbage.

- Some people don't understand b-sides like Tornado, Alien Sex Fiend or I'm Really Into Techno. What was the idea of them? They were planned like a full-songs-with-lyrics in the beginning or not?

- Who's voice is in the intro of Dumb and what exactly is he saying?))

We hope that you'll answer at least some of them, thanks anyway! And PLEASE tell Shirley that Russia loves her and looking forward to her solo record too!
Best regards,
Andy. Russia, Moscow

[Billy Bush]

Originally Posted by subrussian

Greetings from rainy Russia, Butch and Billy! I'm a member of a largest russian Garbage fan-community, and I can say that a chance to ask you a question is like a surreal dream for us)) Thanks for the amazing music you've made. We are full of hope that someday Garbage will come back with the new album and visit Russia again.
Here are some questions from the members of our fan-club:
- Do you remember how the unusual sound of intro-guitar in Vow was made? What effects and settings used?

- Is it true that the first version (jam) of So Like a Rose was about 10 minutes long? And what effects are used in it (especially the lovely reversed outro)?

- Any interesting facts about making of Hammering in my head? There are lots of incredible loops and samples! Just a masterpiece! I wish you would do something in similiar techno-style again with Garbage.

- Some people don't understand b-sides like Tornado, Alien Sex Fiend or I'm Really Into Techno. What was the idea of them? They were planned like a full-songs-with-lyrics in the beginning or not?

- Who's voice is in the intro of Dumb and what exactly is he saying?))

We hope that you'll answer at least some of them, thanks anyway! And PLEASE tell Shirley that Russia loves her and looking forward to her solo record too!
Best regards,
Andy. Russia, Moscow

On the intro of Dumb, it's a cab driver speaking spanish. We were tracking Daniel's bass upstairs at Smart and for some reason the cabbie's radio started coming through his bass. It only ever happened that one time.. very weird... It sounded cool and distorted so we kept it!

[ButchVig]

Originally Posted by subrussian

Greetings from rainy Russia, Butch and Billy! I'm a member of a largest russian Garbage fan-community, and I can say that a chance to ask you a question is like a surreal dream for us)) Thanks for the amazing music you've made. We are full of hope that someday Garbage will come back with the new album and visit Russia again.
Here are some questions from the members of our fan-club:
- Do you remember how the unusual sound of intro-guitar in Vow was made? What effects and settings used?

- Is it true that the first version (jam) of So Like a Rose was about 10 minutes long? And what effects are used in it (especially the lovely reversed outro)?

- Any interesting facts about making of Hammering in my head? There are lots of incredible loops and samples! Just a masterpiece! I wish you would do something in similiar techno-style again with Garbage.

- Some people don't understand b-sides like Tornado, Alien Sex Fiend or I'm Really Into Techno. What was the idea of them? They were planned like a full-songs-with-lyrics in the beginning or not?

- Who's voice is in the intro of Dumb and what exactly is he saying?))

We hope that you'll answer at least some of them, thanks anyway! And PLEASE tell Shirley that Russia loves her and looking forward to her solo record too!
Best regards,
Andy. Russia, Moscow

Good memory BB....yes it was a cab driver bleeding through the bass!

the start of Vow was 9 individual chords, 3 for each chord, that I loaded into the K2500 sampler, the used filters, panning, and envelope parameters to get that sort or swirly tremolo effect.
We got asked to use that song in a sampler CD "Volume" in the UK, and none of us were into it..at the time it sounded really boring, kind of clean sounding.
When I started to mix, I ran every single channel really hot through the Harrison to get some saturation or distortion, and put Shirls vox through this Nady gtr stomp box.
Also (by accident) only one side of the mix went through a compressor.
The gtr intro, and the mandolin-ish solo by Steve we're recorded at the very last minute. We didn't intend to put the song on the album, and then some radio stations in the US started playing the song, and sort of forced us to get our shit together and finish the album.

[ButchVig]

- Some people don't understand b-sides like Tornado, Alien Sex Fiend or I'm Really Into Techno. What was the idea of them? They were planned like a full-songs-with-lyrics in the beginning or not?

Most of the b-sides were done really fast, cuz we needed b-sides...which is why they are kind of all over the place.

Tornado is named after the Tornado Club in Madison, where we spent a lot of time drinking cocktails. The vocal "c'mon Shirl" is Shirley's crazy friend Shannon, who worked there.

I think Alien Sex Fiend is the song that inspired Radiohead to record Kid A.

(Just kidding!)