We have always enjoyed our time in the studio, and have been even more fascinated by the different vibe and sound that each local studio provides. More recently we had finished our first full length release, "Back Amongst the Dirt," at our long-time favorite spot, Flat Black Studios, located just outside of Iowa City. We now had some tracks that we have been playing for a long time, but that didn't fit into the collection that we had amassed for the full length release. So, we got a really fun idea to do a "studio crawl" of sorts and take one band, just months out of our Flat Black Sessions, and do 3 songs each in a different small/underground recording outfit in Iowa City. The result was an amazing time with each engineer that we were lucky enough to work with.

Dan B brought his mobile setup to our house, which made things super comfy, and then mixed us up with his mad plug-ins from home. "Start Again" sounds crisp, heavy, and radio ready. JL, invited us into his basement studio and we set up to lay down tracks for "Space People" on his old carpeted floors. We had the chance to hook up a record player and sample some space clips from a 60's news recording which was a blast because we had to time the needle drop and everything! He also ran our final mix through a tape machine in the end to smooth out the sonic edges, giving "Space People" a more natural grungy quality that we are very happy with. Finally, the super nice Dave Helmer and Sam Drella, helped us record "Falling," fed us, and even filled out our composition with some excellent trumpet lines. Needless to say, this song now has a special sweetness to it, akin to what one might find on one of their self-recorded "Crystal City" albums.

The plan was also to put out a music video for each song, showing the studio space, and performances by the band. We were then going to tag on an interview with each engineer talking about their setups and their own musical philosophy. Unfortunately, I had an accident with the hard drive and was only able to recover some of the footage and none of the interviews. That's life I guess!

In recording at 4 different studios, all in the same time period, we were able to see just how big of an impact the space and engineer can make on the band's sound. I'm not here to rank any studio above another, your taste will lead you to your own judgments. I do want to say that it is amazing that there are so many dedicated people in the Iowa City area who are willing to put in a ton of time, let you use their gear, welcome you into their houses, make you sound amazing, and do it for a very reasonable price.

We hope you will take some time to listen to our album, "Back Amongst the Dirt," but here we are giving you the rest of the studio crawl for free. 3 fun songs, 3 welcoming studios, a ton of fun for no money down! We hope that you enjoy this project, and we really hope that you go out and utilize these people and make your own recordings, and help us continue building upon our incredible local music scene. You can find all these people online, on Facebook. Get out there and do it! - Larson