Country Air Under The Sea Ticks

Country Air ←
Under The Sea Ticks

The story of Under The Sea Ticks

I recorded this album by myself in San Francisco during the period between the summer of 2004 and the early months of 2005. I was jobless for some of it, and working late at night during the rest. Everything was recorded in my two apartments from that period onto a Roland 840GX 8-track. Each song utilizes a now defunct 250mb zip disk. I used one AKG C1000s microphone for everything, usually through a cheap Berhinger tube preamp.

Most of the guitar heard on the album is an Alvarez Fusion series acoustic/electric that I got for Christmas back in junior high - either via the AKG or direct in. I never got around to getting a mic stand, and it was a pain in the ass to prop it up on desks and shelves. I used an $200 LTD Hybrid (like a Les Paul junior/Telecaster clone) through a Fender Super 112 on Sticks In Your Drinks and Family Computer - the two final tracks recorded. Basses used include my roommate's Fender Jazz, and my Danelectro - always direct in.

All the drums/percussion are from a super-cheap but highly recommended tiny Zoom drum machine, my fingers and hands, chopsticks, and a few other objects. Keyboards? My little Casio CZ-101, and my beastly and now-sold Korg PolySix. All effects and EQ are internal from the 840GX. Mix down went straight into the 1/8 line-in jack on my G4 Powerbook into Peak. There is a terrible digital click in A Better Nest I was too lazy to remove by re-mixing. Now it's there forever.

The album 'cover' artwork was drawn on a scrap piece of paper in about a 3-inch square space in pencil. I believe I have that original drawing, but I've somehow lost the Illustrator file, that includes the cleaned up scan, the color, and the typography. The low-res versions on this site are the best copies that exist - if a fire were to break out and burn down the Internet, then it would be lost forever. The album was released independently on my imaginary label Fancy Dance Records (which features an imaginary logo with the initials F.D.R. and the former U.S. President doing a dance in his wheelchair). The available formats are the rather compressed mp3s you find here, as well as 3 or 4 CD-R copies still floating around somewhere (technically the much higher fidelity versions in existence). Think of what you could get on eBay.

All songs are written by me except Heroes & Villains by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, and Stand By Me, which is actually based more off of the Lennon version than anything. I'm forgetting who wrote that one right now. I'd like to thank that person. Also, thanks to Damon, my roommate, for the kind words about the songs he heard, jamming with me at times, and the use of his bass and capo. Also would like to thank Jonah, who appears un-credited and unknowingly as a vibrating cell phone call in the end of Girls And Boys, for his support and encouragement, and for briefly letting me in his band during that same time. I'd also like to thank Jason, my biggest fan, a good friend, and a fellow forehead grower. Also, thanks to my family and friends who, at a minimum, claimed they liked what they heard when I previewed tracks.

I originally called myself Salt Lick. The album's title 'Under the Sea Ticks' came out of that and the silly word play and imagery - like some kind of aquatic horse and tick that live under the sea and make music together. Or perhaps a ticking and licking noise coming from somewhere deep under the sea. But then I discovered that Salt Lick was already a band so I changed it. That's all I have to say about Country Air for now and eternity - except that the name Country Air comes from a Beach Boys song of that title.