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Of Friends And Chickens Eric McFadden and Wally Ingram set out to make a duo record on an old chicken farm, but friends come to visit. by Glenn BurnSilver "There's a good combination of improv, but it is relatively song-oriented material that goes across the map that is almost playful carnival dark-clown music," Ingram says with a laugh. "It's almost like a dark cabaret...somewhere between soft punk and dark clown cabaret complete with live roosters." Ah, the chickens. Chickens, Ingram says, play a central role in the "vibe" associated with album, which was recorded on an old chicken farm turned recording studio in central California. Given that Prairie Sun Studios is where the truly dark and alternative maestro Tom Waits sometimes records and that Wait's engineer Oz Fritz assisted with this album, there might be some real credence to the idea of dark cabaret. It seems remnants of the past - the chickens - were running all around the place, and, though Ingram did not say if they actually wandered into the studio, they do grace the album cover and inspired the unusual title. "We toured the place and decided it was the right place for us. There are, like, live roosters running around and we adopted that theme for the record," he says, laughing once again. "Then we have the barnyard Les Claypool kind of thing going on there too." The Primus frontman, Claypool is one of the many guests that turned the duo album into an unexpected and unpredictable group outing. Bassist Juan Nelson from Ben Harper's band appears on several tracks, as do guitarist Nels Cline, former Jefferson Airplane keyboardist Pete Sears, blues guitarist Keb Mo and several singers, including McFadden's girlfriend. "We (initially) decided to do some recording so we had some representation of what we could do as a duo and it kind of escalated to the point that a friend of mine really liked the project so much that he decided to fund it," Ingram says. "Then we told all these friends that we were going to make the record and a whole group of volunteers wanted to be on the record. We really were just going to do a duo thing and just kept adding folks, so we decided to make it a duo record with friends." Prior to recording Alektraphobia, McFadden had just finished recording an album with his trio, Ingram had completed yet another tour with longtime collaborator David Lindley and both have somehow worked in a successful album and tour with the Stockholm Syndrome, an underground super group of sorts also featuring Dave Schools of Widespread Panic, Jackmormon Jerry Joseph and Danny Dziuk. Ingram felt that McFadden's unique playing style, which emphasized flamenco finger picking in a rock format, could work well in a duo setting, much like what he'd encountered in his six years touring with acclaimed multi-instrumentalist (of the stringed variety) Lindley. "Eric has this rock guitar approach with this flamenco thing in there, which gives it an extra added dimension," he says. "After playing with Dave for so long, those are big shoes to fill, but I felt Eric could pull off this approach." Each guest added a unique ingredient to the record, Ingram says. Mo brought his back-porch blues style while Nelson infused a funky groove. Cline's guitar work freed McFadden to explore while Sears solidified a classic rock sound. Claypool’s twisted sense of style naturally presented a whole new dimension—that aforementioned dark cabaret. "It's pretty wild," Ingram exclaims. "The record definitely takes you on an adventure; on a journey. It's not singular at all. It reminds me of an old '70s rock album. You put the headphones on and you don't listen to one track but the whole shot." And you don't have to flip it like a record. "Yeah. Right at the point where you would flip the album is a slow flamenco part that clears your head," he adds cackling, chicken-like, into the phone. "You're kind of at middle earth for a moment then you're back to side two." As intriguing as that sounds, Ingram says this tour will present the duo as originally conceived before it all "got a little wild." His years of experience in a duo format inspire confidence that he and McFadden should have little trouble making it work. There may be a Stockholm Syndrome song or two, he says, and some striped-down covers, like the Pixies' "Gouge Away," which opens the album. His hope is that they can present a broader sound that may be more representative of the album. "We've done some one-off showsthat really worked well, but it's like being pushed out of your nest in a way," he says of their first extended tour. "It's going to be a duo dynamic and pretty rocking duo. When people walk in the room and say, 'oh my God, that's a duo,' we want to sound like three or four people. That's our goal." Chickens should stay at home. WWWAssociated Press 11 Old Town Square, Ste. 200 :: Fort Collins :: Colorado 80524 phone. 970.484.1116 :: fax. 970.484.0449 :: www.fortcollinsweekly.com |