The Great Vehicle – The People’s Cathedral of Wavelengths: A guided tour of performance, technical, and philosophical minutiae.
For your dancing and listening enhancement.
"Bald Chemist"
The People’s Cathedral of Wavelengths starts off, as so many great EPs do, with a quick reference to the Squeeze album Frank. And then we get down to business. It’s the business of pondering, what if Andy Summers accompanied Michael Karoli to a thrift store, what if Terry Kath had been born in Istanbul, what if you could overdub today’s version of yourself into last June, and who gives a fuck anyway? You too can ruminate on these and other closely related matters as the dense cube of sound hovers millimeters above your cranium.
By the way, the basic tracks for all of these songs were recorded using the following gear:
• 1974 Fender Stratocaster through a custom Scarlett Amplification 50 watt head and a Celestion-loaded Randall 4x12 cabinet with the logo removed and a bad caster. Additional flavoring and hiss from Boss, Danelectro, and MXR pedals.
• 1995 Fender American Standard Precision Bass through a custom Scarlett Amplification 200 watt head and handmade EV 15B-loaded TL606 cabinets. Additional tonal squeezing from Ibanez TS-9, GGG Tuned Big Muff Pi clone, and early 70's Big Muff pedals.
• A recording-specific drum set comprising 10”x14” and 16”x16” Ludwig toms (green sparkle), a Pearl 16”x22” kick drum (black) and a 1980s Yamaha Stage Series snare featuring an Evans ST Dry head that’s been on for at least 12 years. Cymbals used: Whatever Gregg had lying around in an old Minsky's Pizza bag that weren't cracked.
The “Bald Chemist” guitar solo was performed on a burgundy ‘00s Gibson Les Paul Studio with a mirrored pick guard. That’s where it gets its tone. And if you think the reverb on the snare at 2:05 is reminiscent of that in Van Halen’s “Love Walks In,” well, that’s an unfortunate coincidence. The end of the song features a fan favorite sing-along. Actually, it’s amusing (for about 17 seconds) to shout “Bald Chemist” at the end of any song … by any band, really.
"Black Mesh Object"
The bass guitar riff from “Black Mesh Object” randomly fell out of Mason’s hands at a rehearsal and Troy wrote out the 7/8 middle section while stopped at a traffic light. This is how you write a song. And speaking of that middle section, it also features sleigh bells played in a way they’re not supposed to be played and a 10” rack tom run through an amp emulator for maximum Mitchell Froom-ian say what-ness.
"The Gift of Weird Horse Bones"
Music to dig a moat by. “The Gift of Weird Horse Bones” was the first song written for The Great Vehicle, the riff appearing in Troy’s head before there really was any manner of vehicle. Things to consider: The Brian May type harmonies that pop up were a studio embellishment. No astrophysics degree required, thank you. That part that might remind you of something David Gilmour played on Pink Floyd’s “Pigs” is derived from the whole tone scale. Also, the gallop-y middle section (referred to colloquially as the “Iron Maiden part,” though Erik thought it sounded like “Smokin’” by Boston) used to be another longwinded guitar solo before it became composed carnival ride music. Time signatures utilized: 3/4, 4/4, 5/4 for those transcribing at home.
"Phosphorus"
This solo guitar piece was performed on a Di Pinto guitar (silver sparkle) tuned to an open augmented chord (F A C# F A F, it is believed). The tone was achieved by running directly into a Roland VS-880 Digital Studio Workstation and using its internal amp modeling presets. The results were just fine. And then Erik mentioned in passing a field recording he’d made in Australia of bellbirds (Manorina melanophrys). That’s what you hear in the background and that’s what made this piece come to life, such a life as it has.
"Touched in the Head"
A hot jam for your Ganymedian dance party, “Touched in the Head” is sometimes referred to as “Phil Rudd Counts to Five.” The first riff has been around since about 2006 and the “verse” chords are derived from an aborted song called “No Ape Chains.” So, yeah, it’s basically disparate mismatched junk glued together with industrial strength adhesive—in the best possible way, of course. Watching Gregg play the drum parts to this song is even better than listening to them. But you’ll have to see that for yourself.
"Swan Meat (Slight Reduction)"
If Nokie Edwards from The Ventures listened to Prong for three years solid he might … no, never mind. At any rate, “Swan Meat” is TGV’s version of garage-prog-surf. Deep info about the track: It has the diminished scale in its DNA (for those transcribing at home). The guitar solo was performed on a Michael Kelly Valor-Q with direct-mounted, zebra-coil Rockfield SCW humbuckers. And those Racer X sort of harmony arpeggios required fewer takes than you might think. (There was an over/under of 7,000 going into the session.) The breakdown following the solo features an unknown preacher from an unknown cable channel (we’re not saying anyway) and percussive whacking on a flask (empty).
Throwing mathcore, emo, and ambient into the mix, Estonia's Kaschalot push progressive rock's multitasking approach to its limits. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 10, 2021
