behind the scenes

Recording Joe Stamm Band’s Next Album

THE DRIVE

Completely uneventful. Perfect. Got a donut and a delicious coffee at Tim Horton’s. Also paid for our most expensive tank of gas ever, topping the $140 mark. But no worries, because you guys covered all of that.

ARRIVAL in pittsburgh

Pulled into a Giant Eagle, where 4 grown men shopped groceries together. We bought lunch meat (from a package, because we hit the deli counter 5 minutes too late), oatmeal, fruit, chips, frozen pizzas and taco supplies. Against Dave’s better judgment, I resisted purchasing the XXL “STEEL CITY DAD” t-shirt. In all, the bill was around $300, but you guys covered that too.

DAY 1 - monday, may 11

We got to the studio at 10am. I wore my new Bash Brothers t-shirt and a Rickey Henderson folder held my lyrics sheets - I wanted to channel that late 80s, Oakland A’s championship mentality.

It took a few hours to set up and dial in sounds. But we were tracking our first song by 1-ish. We cut a song called “Mine,” which I don’t think I’ve ever even shared with the WHITE KNUCKLE CLUB. It was quickly apparent that my vocals still hadn’t recovered from the cold that had put me down the 2 weeks prior. But the band sounded great. And I’ll just have to go back and finish vocals on another trip (update on that later).

I invited Eric James and Max Somerville to join our session. Eric is kind of a utility guy for CWG’s band The Allegheny High and Max is their keyboard player. Albert Torrence is of course producing, but he plays all the acoustic parts and spinkles in other performances throughout these records.

We finished the day with a song called “Low Spot” (a song I have shared with the WKC) and pizza by the tray (which you guys, again, bought for us). Monday turned out to be the shortest work day of the trip, logging only 11.5 hours.

day 2 - tuesday, may 12

Time to get serious. I put on a Terry Bradshaw t-shirt. Let’s make a record and start a dynasty.

We recorded songs called “Stay Up On Your Horse” and “Let’s Get Drunk And Dance.” I danced in the merch booth, but I didn’t get drunk. Nor did I ride a horse. My voice felt great, but it also continued sounding like I was singing through clogged sinuses. Which I was.

A feller named Cody Alushin, who travels around with CWG and the boys, spent the day with us taking the pictures in the gallery below (and a couple videos that I’ll share once the album is out). We ate Thai food, but nobody got too ambitious with the spice level. Amico (Allegheny High steel and banjo player) picked it up along with a crate of 24oz Miller Lites. The Thai was great, the beer was probably gross. But Tim had a couple.

We worked for 13 hours, went back to the house, and I stood outside my shower for 20 minutes trying to get the water temperature to a spot that wasn’t scalding or freezing (that was the one glitch about this house). Then I watched another episode of Dark Terminal and slept good.

DAY 3 - WEDNESDAY, MAY 13

Ya know what?…I don’t know what shirt I wore on Day 3. I just know that by the time you’re walking into a studio for the third straight day, after a couple 12 hour marathons, you can feel it.

But I do remember we cut songs called “Welfare” and “Take It Slow” (a Christmas song I shared with he WKC last year, but the kind of Christmas song I think you can listen to all year….it’s like one of those movies that has Christmas in it, but isn’t really a Christmas movie…like Grumpy Old Men or Die Hard. It might be my favorite song on the record so far).

Honestly, the rest of the day is kind of a blur. We slugged it out for another 12.5 hours. Albert is a machine. He just keeps going, adding parts, setting up mics, adding more parts - percussion, guitars, keys…he pretends to be tireless, but surely he was tired of us by the end of these 3 days. He’s full of grace and patience though. His personality is absolutely ideal for a producer. He has resolve and vision and never gets high or low. Albert is steady. And relentlessly productive.

I picked up chicken wraps for everyone and popped a Labatts Blue Light. I listened to Albert, Eric and Dave place 379 guitar parts down. We finally packed up all our shit and left, 6 songs in the hopper. We sat sat on the back deck around a patio table and decompressed for a couple hours, slept, got up early, drove home.

and here’s a video of tim hitting a cowbell

VOCAL SESSION, DAY 1 - monday, Aug 17

I think this day is best summed up in 3rd person bullet points:

• Bruce drives Joe to Midway Airport

• Joe eat’s very disappointing pizza while eating for plane

• Joe takes selfie with Franco Harris in Pittsburgh Airport

• Joe drives to studio in rental (I think it was a Hyundai) and records vocals on 2 songs

• Joe eats very disappointing ravioli at hotel restaurant (he’d go so far as calling it “gross”

VOCAL SESSION, DAY 2 - TUESDAY, Aug 18

My voice felt rough all day.

I ran late getting to the studio. By about 5 minutes. Desperate, I grabbed a $10 chicken sandwich on my way out of Walmart. I thought, “$10 for a Walmart chicken sandwich? Maybe Walmart has really good chicken sandwiches…like to Costco hotdog or Seven Eleven egg salad.” No, they do not. And it gave me acid reflux. Which scratched my throat up.

But Voice is resilient. We threw song after song at Voice and it kept getting stronger throughout the day and evening. By nightfall, we’d replaced the vocals on all six songs. If you recall, I’d been sick during the May session and sounded like a donkey singing through an airhorn.

VOCAL SESSION, DAY 3 - WEDNESDAY, Aug 19

Today was the day our mystery guest artist was to arrive. We needed to thread a needle to get him in the studio. Al’s flight left for tour mid afternoon. Mystery guest’s bus was scheduled to arrive early morning. Then mid-morning. Then late morning. Then…well, he didn’t get into town with enough time to spare for the recording session. It was disappointing, but not altogether surprising. He’s still going to sing on the record. That’s the plan, anyways. He’ll just have to do so remotely sometime in the coming months.

I took these cracked eggs and I made an orange omelette. Camden Yards is a bucket list ball park. And the Orioles played a home game against the Yankees. And I had just enough time to get there. I drove to Baltimore, dressed up in my best Orioles costume, bought a cheap ticket, merch, a hotdog and traded beer for water for beer throughout the evening. The umps robbed a homereun from Pete Alonzo, and the Orioles lost, but me and Cal had us a time.

and if you’re wondering, it’s true…

Bert does all the heavy lifting.

DAY 4 - monday, Sep 7

Nobody slept well. I certainly didn’t - one of those waking up every hour or two, hoping it’s morning, kind of nights. The late afternoon coffee driving here and the three beers before bed are likely to blame. And perhaps, mostly, the “Let’s fuckin’ go.”

We managed to kind of figure out this Airbnb’s coffee maker, then loaded into the studio at 10am. It always takes a couple hours to get set up the first day. By one-ish, we’d started tracking “Where The Red-Winged Blackbird Sings;“ and by four-ish, I was threatening the integrity of the walls in the veins upside my face trying to reach notes in the out-chorus of a song called “Undone.” (You’d be familiar with both these songs if you’re a WHITE KNUCKLE CLUBBER).

We ate sandwiches throughout the day from a Giant Eagle sack stashed in the mini-fridge. I did 52 pushups. Bruce says the tracking room was cold. The vocal room’s temperature was comfortable. I wore a Steelers shirt and Spurs shorts. Jogged around the block once. Albert, Eric and Max convinced us to turn back the tempo on “Undone” by 2 BPMs. But we all agreed after some experimentation, the song should stay in the key of B.

We got back to the house about 8pm, ate leftover tacos and watched the 1993 ALCS Game 7 between the Red Sox and the Yankees. Trot Nixon went yard. Bruce said the Yankees end up winning. I don’t know, I went to bed.

A note on the folders I use to house lyric sheets during recording sessions: It’s important to my vibe. Rickey Henderson carried the load in May, you might recall. But it’s game week in Pittsburgh - opening game week - and if you’re not letting The Bus carry the mail, then you’re doing it wrong. I’m gonna get behind them giant shoulder pads and run it up the gut all week. One song at a time.

DAY 5 - TUESDAY, SEP 8

The fit was strong. So was my voice. Cameron Heyward strong. Bruce recorded wearing no pants. Here’s proof:

We hit the studio at 10am again, recorded 3 songs, ate Thai food. It was my first Door Dash. What wonders, ordering food for 7 and not having to interact with a single human.

We worked through songs called “Heaven Knows,” “Bluebird On A Wire” and “Lean Into Me.” I’m most excited about how “Bluebird” turned out. I wouldn’t call it a surprise - I knew it was a good song. But the places we took it were new and surprising. It’s always exciting when that happens…when you find some dimension within a song that you weren’t sure was there.

That’s pretty much it, really. Nate stopped by for a little bit. And we just worked all day. Got home around 8pm. Bruce and Tim sat mesmerized by a magical orb from outer space:

Then…we went to bed.

DAY 6 - WEDNESDAY, SEP 9

“Love goes where love goes, it don’t write no note so you won’t follow, It don’t pack no bags, it don’t scream or shout, It just slips across the living room and lets itself out…”

I told Al that when it came time to leave, I wasn’t gonna scream or shout. I was just gonna slip across the living room and let myself out. And that’s what we did.

We recorded our 6th song of the week, called “Love Goes.” Then we left.

But not before combing through all the songs, eating two chili dogs, adding guitar parts, listening to Bert beat on his organ til it swelled and crescendoed, and other miscellany. In short, we tied up loose ends - made sure Al wouldn’t need us for anything else to finish the album.

PS: I wore my 1994 Kevin Green throwback jersey for our last day in the studio. I set the edge on the run, got upfield on the pass, ripped some vocals and swept the porch.

DAY 7 - Thursday, SEP 10

That’s a wrap from Pittsburgh. Al, Eric and Max left to go play shows with Charles Wesley Godwin. We stayed in town and saw the sights. We rode that train car thing that goes up a big hill and looks out over the city. It’s called the Duquesne Incline, but I learned it’s pronounced DEW-CAIN. I bought a souvenir mug and magnet, naturally. We ate lunch and went bowling. I bowled a 171, which impressed Tim. We ordered pizzas and watched the 49ers pound the Rams. And…well…I guess that’s that.

In the meantime…

WHOA. YOU guys fundED the crap out of this album 🤯

Honestly, I never expected this kind of response when I gave you guys the opportunity to literally put your names on this record. But as I write this on September 13th, you’ve already invested $28,991.40 into these songs! 🤯 “Thank you” just doesn’t quite seem to cover it. But for now, it’s all I have. That’s 80% of the estimated budget. Absolutely amazing.

A COUPLE NOTES ON CROWDFUNDING GOALS:

• I used our actual expenses - tanks of gas, lodging, etc. You have funded most of those specific costs. However, it became quickly apparent, for example, that a lot of you liked that $108.20 tank of gas price point. Instead of limiting it to the 12 tanks of gas we need for the two sessions, I did not cap the amount y‘all could purchase. One, so more people could get involved. And two, so those extra “tanks of gas” could go towards the less specific and sexy expenses (stuff like studio costs, post-production, etc). As a result, we’ll be able to keep funding the album gradually, communally.

• There is one Executive Producer spot remaining, for a total of 15. So if you’ve been considering this level of commitment to the album, try not to wait much longer.

WHAT’s NEXT?

These songs will need some additional parts - stuff like background vocals, probably some keyboard sounds, guitar parts that Bert thinks will tie the room together, and hopefully that mystery guest artist. Then it’s mixing, mastering, pressing to vinyl, streaming distribution, marketing prep, etc.

RELEASE DATE?

Way too soon to say.

Wrapping up post-production and getting mixes completed will be largely dependent on Albert’s spare time, which is very limited (take a look at CWG’s tour this year 😄). But I’m hoping that’ll all get worked out over the winter, which puts a release date sometime in 2027.

Once we do have a release date in mind, you’ll get first crack at pre-ordering the album, with all the creative packages and limited edition stuff we always do.

in the meantime…

We’ll keep touring and selling merch to cover any remaining costs that don’t get fan-funded.

I’m releasing More Than Just Bones September 18th - a 5-song new EP that I recorded with The Allegheny High back in January. Consider it an appetizer…something to hold you over.

josh’S REVIEW:

I played the rough tracks from Session 1 for Josh - our WHITE KNUCKLE CLUB Administrator - and here’s his real-time reaction:

so hang tight.

And obviously, feel free to contribute more if you desire. Album Partner Opportunities remain open.

I’ll keep this page updated throughout the whole album-making and release process, as I have more news and developments.

THANK YOU FOR GIVING A DAMN!

Peace, love and new albums forever,

Joe

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS

Bill & Sandy Reese
Kent Thibaudeau
Craig Eckert
Zach & Missy Scantland
Kyle Schmiesing
The Marshall Family Farm
Molly, Clark & Della Sweeney
Katrina Boyle
Stan and Carma Sturtz
Sheila & Steve Grubb
Vern Powell, CJF, TE, AWCF American Farriers Association
Jeff Hyde
Sean & Carla Bass
Joanne Clark

ALBUM CONTRIBUTORS

Jenny & Lirpa - Spencer Bakken - The Durkee Family - Jordan Roling - Jon Thibaudeau - Tim & Andrea Barrett - Matthew & Tayler Tollefson - Brett Johnson - Scott Staples - CJ Bruser - Craig, Sharie, Wes Heim - Jessica Schalkowski - Cynthia Wolfe - Stacy Connelly - Kaine and Amy @ Never Again Acres - Matt Thibaudeau - Cameron - John Tucker - Cortney Schafer - Jared & Stephanie West - Cory White - Laurie DeFord-Mirus - Larry Luzier and Tracy Cottone - Jason & Hilary Ruyle - Connor and Natalie Steffes - Kent and Dee Argenta - Bobby & Lisa Kennedy - Renee Morgan - Gary G$ Harvey - Beckett & Blakely Dickerson, and Hutchens Hays - Zachary Hollenbeck - KDN - Jason Janusziewicz - Sean & Victoria Wiedel - Dwight & Sarah Weber - Lincoln & Leo Weber - Brad Lindgren - Molly, Clark & Della Sweeney - David A Buckler - Eric Gregerson Music - Tammy & Kevin Maki - Jerry & Gail Stowell - Marty & Eileen Wagner - Lance & Katie Otto - Jaqsyn Elise Otto - Pat & Lynette Hoover - Raylan - Paul Roeker - Townes Lee Legend Derry - Haley Wargin - Jason J Hoffman - Kathy Ostertag - John Fell - Jon Monson - Cory and Kay White - Leah Arnold

NOTE: IF A NAME IS MISS-SPELLED ABOVE, OR YOU WISHED TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS, OR ANY OTHER CHANGES ARE NEEDED TO HOW YOUR CONTRIBUTION WILL APPEAR IN THE ALBUM PACKAGING, PLEASE EMAIL ME DIRECT AT JOE@JOESTAMM.COM