Officially released today, Thursday 29 February, is the long-awaited Japan Guitar Shop album Done You Right, recorded over a full year at 60 Road Studios in Siem Reap. Nine songs combining the slow, bluesy Waits-ian story songs of Cove Aaronoff and the hip-hop rhymes of Colin Hodgkins, elaborated by tasteful piano parts, punctuated by horns and harmonicas, led on by a dynamic range of guitar solos and riffs, it’s clear that good time was taken to make sure it was indeed done right. You can find it on Spotify or Bandcamp. Colin and Cove sat down with LengPleng to talk about the recording process, touring and promotion.
LP: How did you go about constructing the album?
Colin: We had a ton of songs but we didn’t know exactly what we were going to come out with. It turned out to be a nine song album. There were songs that we tracked, for example, that we didn’t end up keeping. Also there are songs that are singles online that we didn’t feel should be included on the album. We were really fortunate to have members of the band who were distinctly talented, like Arone [Silverman], Lewis [McTighe], Frank [Scarfone], Matteo [Dembech], who could add their unique flair. What Lewis does on the guitar is really different to what Frank does, which is different to what Arone does.
Cove: They’re all on the album.
Colin: Sometimes on the same song. It gave us a lot of depth and dimension. We had a fairly cohesive idea of what we wanted and then we just whittled it down.
Cove: Some of the intent turned into surprises, just because we stretched out the process. It wasn’t a matter of let’s finish this song and get onto the next one. All of the songs took just as long as each other to finish, and some tracks include contributions from players who were in the band at different times. So it was somewhat disjointed, at least timing-wise. But we’re pretty proud of it, happy with how it turned out.
Photo: supplied
LP: So it was ready when it was ready?
Colin: I don’t know how many days we were in the studio, two months easily, closer to three. There were probably 15 trips to Siem Reap. As an independent band, funding it ourselves, there was no deadline, so we could sit around drinking coffee and beer and talking about whether or not we’re going to have a guitar solo here or a piano part there. It’s a year worth of hyper-analysing and scrutinising what would be best – simultaneously unscripted and meticulously scripted. It helped to have Steve Bloxham producing, because he brings an objective set of ears, and he’s also an expert. He made us feel comfortable, and also gave us insight into what was sounding good.
LP: As you alluded to earlier, there were big changes in the line-up as the recording rolled on.
Colin: Phnom Penh is a transitory town. Take Arone – he’s rooted in Cambodia in many ways, having a Cambodian wife. He just reached a point where he wanted to get her on the path for American citizenship. When he left the band it was extraordinarily amicable, we knew that he had to do it. So we tracked as much as we could with him, utilising his insight, but also never hesitated to call him up later and say hey, what do you think of this? How does this sound?
Cove: He was one of the first people to lay down tracks and work with songs. So he might not be on it a lot, but he had a lot to do with the direction that the album took, because we hadn’t chosen songs yet or anything.
Colin: Also Matteo. Once everything was tracked and we were mixing, even then we would take a mix and send it to the other side of the world, to Arone or to Matteo, and say what are your thoughts on this? Sometimes it would be Lewis – hey, we need his guitar here. He’s a full time teacher, so we had to work around his schedule, get him up there to do it. Lewis is great at guitar tones and rhythm, if we needed blues guitar we turned to Frank, and if we need dirty, pedal-heavy distortion we’d turn to Lewis. Whatever the song called for.
Cove: Arone was very helpful on melody and structure.
Colin: Arone’s also like a kid in a candy store when it comes to the studio. And then it helps that Steve has a great ear but also a talent for keyboards and things, so he worked with Matteo, that was pretty fun to watch. Put it all together as a team, with the core of us being there but never hesitating to use these other guys. We made a lot of great friends in Siem Reap.
Photo: supplied
LP: How did the title Done You Right come up?
Colin: It’s a phrase from the song Wolves Out. The complete lyric is: if I ain’t done you right I don’t know right from wrong. In the context of the song it’s a bit dirty and relates to the narrator’s relationship, but in the context of the album it’s more to say we did our best to get it right.
LP: Tell us about the rather striking artwork you came up with.
Colin: We had a concept for that. The car is symbol of western/American music to us – both rock’n’roll and hip-hop. And because we’re based in Cambodia, and the whole album was recorded in Cambodia, using something like a banyan tree growing out of the car seemed like an on-the-nose but fitting metaphor. We got a really talented Nigerian artist to work on it with us who did a really great job.
You’re already starting to build up a touring schedule that includes Siem Reap, Kampot, Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Pai. What’s the plan to promote the album?
Colin: We’re going to play as much as we possibly can. We’re looking at touring this summer with Geography of the Moon, hopefully in Europe and Vietnam. It’ll be a challenge but we’ll see; we’re still working on that. And building as broad an audience as we can.
The album has been available for preview for a couple of months at Bandcamp and there will be a listening party at Tacos Kokopelli on Saturday evening. And it’s Bandcamp Friday tomorrow, where all sales will go directly to the band (the platform waives its fees on the first Friday of every month). They are heading to Siem Reap to play at Laundry on 8 March and the 60 Road Festival on 9 March, and will be playing with Geography of the Moon on a boat cruise on 23 March hosted by Tacos Kokopelli.
