airiel studio blog

the battle for sealand

2007-01-18T22:03:00.000-08:00

An entire week has past since my last post. way to be on the ball chris, really.

We wrapped up our time at engine studios last saturday with some of the other Highwheel records gang. It was a great end to an even greater(eh?) week.

By the time we finished on saturday we had successfully passed a cold/germ around to each airiel member as well as david and the engine staff. i have since gotten over it however recently lost my voice to the point where my already gravelly voice sounds more like kathleen turner now. hot. Theraflu is an amazing drug.

I would like to recap the many words of wisdom that came from balthazar this week:
1. when stuck on a runaway camel, be sure to pull to the side as the camel will run in circles until it tires itself out.
2. the aforementioned camel will remember the human that was riding it for the rest of its life.
3. french popstars reign supreme over the rest of the world.
4. sealand?
5. carry a pistol if you're concerned about a wild boar attack in germany
6. although i dont remember specifics, a considerable amount of knowledge on how corsica's government works.

there are numerous more that i am forgetting.

press has been good for monday's show. rad. maybe chicago is finally sick of electro every single night of the week?

cory myself and john went to darkroom last night for their 4 year anniversary party. julius and some of the guys from arks were there. best bar in chicago.

we will probably start mixing the record this following week after our show in chicago. i think i can speak on behalf of all of the airiel members when i say that we can't wait for people to hear it.

can't think of a witty way to end this thing,
-chris

salmon disaster 2007

2007-01-11T19:52:00.000-08:00

day 5 is done.

looking back on the amount of work we have done in this short time is somewhat crazy.

cory and jeremy have been working on vocals at night which is why i got to leave the studio early today.

balthazaar john and myself have been knee deep in a halo death match since vocals have been taking up so much of our time these past couple of days. baltie and i are somewhat pathetic when compared to john's advanced battle tactics.

the 3 of us also managed to make the entire studio (hallways and lobby included) smell like a dead fish after an incident with what we assumed was breakfast salmon this morning. this particular mishap lead to us toying with the notion of creating a myspace page for a 600lb grouper that plays lap steel guitar named seth.

we're not going insane, i swear.

-chris

busy busy

2007-01-09T17:45:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. Apparently google thought it would be fun to change around their settings/legistics for blogspot. Eitherway, things are going great.

We loaded into the studio saturday night at around 7pmish to return sunday morning.

General tracking has taken place for all but 3 songs by now. We have been doing vocals at night in an effort to not wear out cory and jeremy. In the meantime john and i have been treating ourselves to a bottle of martini and rossi.(only the finest 3 dollar champagne for us)

Highlights of the past 3 days include:

a drum circle that our engineer balthazaar described as "what 'war' would have sounded like if they got high before recording lowrider"

guitars playing so loud that it gives the soundproofing in the studio a run for its money

watching david (amongst everyone else) struggle to open the what seems like a 1 ton sound proof studio door.

seeing the other studio employees/owners come into our live room to laugh at the obscene amount of pedals that jeremy brought in (i believe we were close to 60, however i could be wrong. pictures to follow)

and now, back to playing halo.

-chris

first spin, 'source' will come soon after

2006-12-15T19:36:00.000-08:00

Jan. 2007 Issue
The Best Time You Had All Month section

JAN. 22nd
The Empty Bottle

Airiel, Walking Bicycles, Arks
" The Bottle has buried the stigma of Monday shows by booking dynamic bands (including these genre-defying acts from ambitious local label Highwheel) and charging nothing."

rad.
-chris

2006-12-13T07:44:00.000-08:00

It takes alot of money to sound this cheap

2006-12-12T09:41:00.000-08:00

Today we are heading to rehearsal to iron out some of the kinks on a few songs. Recording will resume next week.

However, as the year draws to a close, I would like to pay tribute to the music gear that I successfully blew up while playing/rehearsing with airiel.

Here goes:

3 Rack reverb effect units.

3 Amplifiers(all of professional quality) one of which actually getting the last laugh by sending electricity from the wall into me. fun! thanks ampeg.

2 guitar pedals

1 Fender Jaguar

i'm sure there is more. I just haven't had enough caffeine to access that part of my brain yet.

In other news, I have not been going out as much as i used to due to the work that is required for this album. As a result, I am starting to look more and more like a homeless person...and...i kind of dig it.

until next time,

got any change?

-chris

post 2

2006-12-11T18:22:00.000-08:00

nicole richie was arrested this morning. cable television tells me that i should care.

in slightly (read: much more) important news, we started tracking at david golitko's last night (he of assassins and marvelkind fame) Things are moving smoothly and we all seem to be on the same page. Starting on preproduction now should help things ease by while at engine. visit their site at http://www.enginestudios.com/ .

We recieved the posters for our first show after getting out of the studio yesterday as well.

more news as it develops.

go bears.

-chris

first post.

2006-12-10T08:13:00.000-08:00

I have been staring at a blank computer screen trying to start this entry for a few minutes however i can't quite figure out how to. so here goes, don't blame me if it is mediocre.

Last Thursday we played our last show before we go into the studio and work on the long delayed full length album. Rather than playing at our usual haunts of double door, darkroom or other chicago venues; we opted to sign on to a show at 'debonair social club.' As most of you know, we have earned a reputation for being obscenely loud. The owner of Debonair however was unaware of this so you could imagine his dismay when going from electro dance rock to whatever the fuck it is that we do. Either way, nice people all around.

click on the picture to get to more photos from that night

Today we start tracking at David Gollitko's studio before heading into Engine studios on January 7th. Jeremy and I have feverishly been collecting guitar gadgets, much to the dismay of Cory and John who are probably fed up with Jeremy and myself having to 'try out' new pedals each day before rehearsal. I blame my end of the obsession on being single. I don't know what J's excuse is.

I think we're all incredibly excited to get this album out as it is such a different sound from the old airiel material (don't worry.) There are certain surprises involved that I really really can't mention until the album is completed but I can say that it is adding to our own excitement.

I think thats all for now. I smell like a shoe. Time to shower.

-chris