L7 Bricks Are Heavy?

[ButchVig]

Originally Posted by staticwhitesound

Hey Butch,
Do you have any memories of L7's sessions for Bricks Are Heavy? This is another band that always had a very raw, aggressive sound but they always had melodies in there somewhere, and I think you did a great job of cleaning things up just enough to allow the hooks to really shine, without losing the edginess. The album is still quite raw. Still sounds like a band playing their asses off, as you put it about Nirvana's Nevermind.

How were they to work with? Was it easy to get those performances? Was there a lot of double tracking guitars? Using different stompboxes, etc.? And you also mixed this one, so how was that process?

I always really liked their album before this one as well ('Smell the Magic') and the one after ('Hungry for Stink') definitely had it's moments, but 'Bricks Are Heavy' just really holds up so well. It's the most consistent of their albums, in my opinion, the songs are just really strong overall and the production really puts it over the top. So, thanks for helping this one happen as well!

Thanks,
Pat

That was fun experience working with L7....those girlz were CRAZY!!!
We tracked for 2 weeks at Sound City, then moved to Smart in Madison for about a month of overdubs. I had seen them live before, and they rocked, so I tried to take their sound and just make it bit more focused, especially the songs. I wanted to make sure the album had plenty of attitude!
By the time they left Madison, they knew every bookie, pimp, drug dealer, and psychopath in Madison, and with a constant flow of characters in and out of Smart there was never a dull moment!

Some great songs on the album: Pretend We're Dead, Diet Pill, Wargasm, Everglade.
There's some crazy backward noises on the end of Pretend We're Dead, that was a wild night in the studio!