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"Over time it felt like we were his band and main outlet,
whereas some or these other bands he was playing with he
was a hired guy/' says Dennis. After a few sessions at the lake
house, the band began tracking drums with Joel Hatstat at
The Bakery studio. Some songs were solid and set: others were
based on plotted-out peaks and valleys in Fuchs' drum tracks,
with additional fleshing out to be done later. That was in the
r ummer of 2009. After Fuchs left, the band logged a handful of
days recording guitar and bass, with plans to reconvene, write
and record more in December.
fter everything happened," says Dennis, "well... we
knew we had a record there, it was just figuring nut:
'How are we gonna do this?’"
In Februarv. as the fog of grieving thinned, the bang
surveyed what it had in the can so tar. "There were two
•racKS where Jerrv just played along with a clicx track and a
eouencer to now hed mapped the songs out: tnev weren't
eally written yet. It was just his vision." says Dennis. "We
• ind of just wanted to leave everything the wav ne plaved
*nem, and then the challenge was going to De going in ana
vnting around what he did." The band retreated from Athens,
eekina to distance themselves from distractions. Based on
•ecommendations from friends, they traveled to Austin to
tecord with Erik Wofford. The drums suggested songs that were
at the same time uptempo, muscular and dance-oriented. For a
band as powerful and often somber as Maserati, the new aspect
of high-energy dance beats wasn't totally alien: their work has
been remixed by DFA's Tim Goldsworthy and !!!'s Justin Van Der
Volgen. But it's certainly a new look for the band on its own.
"It's kind of like dance music for people who don't dance,"
says Cherry. "I tend to think of it as taking elements of dance
culture or techno culture that was sort of hatched in the gay
scene in Detroit... and making it really ballsy." Upping the
electronic element even further. Zombi's Steve Moore contrib
uted oscillating synths to the tracks "Oaxaca" and "They'll No
Longer Suffer from Thirst."
The Austin sessions had one overarching theme: "We kind
of approached it as: 'If this was just Jerry's track, what would
he do?'" says Dennis, "That turned out really well." As the
band discovered similar BPMs throughout the material, they
were able to graft Fuchs' drums onto riffs to create new com
positions. The lumbering, distorted "Ruins" was based on a
loop, upon which McNeal layered additionally distorted bass.
Through seven days of 12-hour recording sessions, the band
was able to finish tracking and arranging the songs, and sent
the mixes to New York for fresh ears.
"Jerry was very adamant about having Justin Van Der
Volgen from !!! mix the record," says Dennis. "Because this
record has so much more of a danceable element, we really
needed to have Justin on board. And Jeremy Devine, the
Temporary Residence Records owner, he was really our ears
up there. 'Cos we were getting these emails from Justin say
ing, 'Dude, there's like 15 guitar tracks on here; I make dance
records. What do I do with this?'"
aserati will tour behind the new record based on its
conviction that the group's work and the work of its
friend deserves to be heard. Stepping in as drummer
will be none other than Zombi's Anthony Paterra. After that,
the band has made no plans. As the group figures out what
defines Maserati in 2011 and beyond, we're left to pore over
the group's finest document, which ends with what may be
its finest moment. "Bye M'Friend, Goodbye" is the last song
the band wrote as a quartet before entering the studio in the
summer of 2009. "Jeremy [Devine, of Temporary Residence]
was joking around with us," says Cherry. "'That's my favorite
Maserati song. Even if you had 40 minutes of feedback and
that song at the end, it would still be a total win.'"
For a band that has made its music the business of tough,
stoic or solemn moods, this song is an emotional 180, an
undeniable upward lift. It's almost celebratory in its forward
propulsion: the sound of four people traveling at the speed of
their collective sound, riding their repetitions forever into the
sun. It's powerful.
(Ed note. Chris McNeal breaks down Pyramid of the Sun track by track on
our music blog, Homedrone. Check it out at www.flagpole.com.]
Jeff Tobias
r
WHO: Maserati, Towers
A
WHERE: 40 Watt Club
WHEN. Saturday, Nov. 20,10 p.m.
HOW MUCH. $8
v
)
i
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