I asked Burner Herzog to write a little bio about who the band is and generally what culminated in this release, and they wrote this essay...
"Around the time I started making this album, I posted something on Facebook that said "How do I make records, you ask? Easy. I make some demos, then pretend I died and am working on the posthumous release." That's more or less the process we used to make Big Love. It's not a new frustration, but artists have a hard time with demos as they relate to final products. It's rare you get anything sounding or feeling quite as good as the first airing of a good idea. To that end, I hadn't even played most of the songs on the record all the way through before I walked into Donut Time to track them. I worked out briefly what the core of each song should be and a few riffs in advance, and then built the rest of it in the studio off the top of my head, drums first. I had watched my bandmate Tony Molina work in a similar way when I was working on one of his records. Donut Time is just a living room studio with some great gear that my friend Chris Daddio (Everyone is Dirty) runs, a nice, pressure-free environment. Most of the recordings were meant to be demos but in listening to them more, I realized we had the beginning of a Herzog album, and began to incorporate the band. But I didn't spare them either: spontaneity was stressed in all the sessions - first takes and rehearsal takes were often favored, sudden demands were made and instrument swapping was encouraged. What you hear is an effort to keep everything as fresh as possible.
That band in question was Paul Korte, guitarist and producer, who played in my old bands Brasil and Symbolick Jews, and recently he's been producing and engineering records for Cocktails, Warp and Owen Kelley, among others; Charlemagne Charmaine, keyboardist and vocalist, who, with Paul, has a band called Primal Wound; Alison Niedbalski, synthesizer, accordionist, vocalist, who has her own project Qualia and recently has been doing studio work for Brontez Purcell; Eric Mohammed, former bassist for Bilinda Butchers, now drummer for Torrey; Brian Davy, drummer, has played for a dizzying number of bands of all genres from jazz-funk to Italian metal, has been going strong with doom metal band Hafner for some time; Will Kreppel, virtuoso guitarist who makes experimental electronica as dEaTHSaUcE in their spare time, and used to play with a Goblin cover band called Nilbog. All of the above are people I've known for years, my musical tribe. Guests included Blaine Patrick, a fantastic drummer and ex-Tony Molina member, who now drums for Spiritual Cramp - he was our first drummer before he decided we were too weird; Manny Chocano, frontman and songwriter for enigmatic pop band Smiles; Tyler English on pedal steel, who also plays for Everyone is Dirty and False Priest; and Zachary Thorne, a North Bay trumpeter who has recently been playing with The Sam Chase.
It's hard to track influences but things I was listening to around that time included VC3 by Violent Change, Creatures by Hits, The Wondrous World of Damon & Naomi, Dongs of Sevotion and Rain on Lens by Smog, The Natural Bridge by Silver Jews and all the major Silver Apples LPs (obviously). Right around the time I started writing songs for this album, a favorite pastime was to take some THC tincture, put on the bonus disc of the deluxe reissue of Fleetwood Mac's Tango in the Night and pretend that was the "real" album Lindsay Buckingham meant to make, before everyone else screwed it up. Otherwise, I think Dean Blunt's Black Metal is the most recent, most important album in the development of the narrative voice in pop music, and any time I'm in the studio, I'm thinking of Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and Leonard Cohen - just like many, I'd guess.
I don't want to harp on it too much (nor do I want it to be too focal in whatever you say about the record) but I'd be remiss in not mentioning the effect the Ghost Ship fire had on me, as it did on literally every other Bay Area artist I know. In the wake of that, not to mention the election of our current president, my worldview radically altered, as we were now living in a new world. An existential crisis is probably the right descriptor for what followed. I shed what was left of my former punk nihilism, I stopped smoking and drinking, I started reading different things. And this is what came out. It's evenly split: the first four tunes are from the head, while the second half are all love songs - from the heart. The Silver Apples cover bridges the gap. Every song is as archetypal as a tarot card and meant to be extreme, the embodiment of one particular thought or feeling.
One last thought. Some years ago I was listening to an interview Stephin Merritt did where the interviewer asked him if his songs were works of fiction written for characters, or if he was ripping pages from his diary. Merritt answered, "I don't see the difference, really." I was angered by his response at the time, but the years have only further revealed the wisdom in those words - this is the zen koan upon which all of pop music rests. Big Love is our latest attempt to solve the koan."
credits
released July 24, 2020
All Songs By Burner Herzog Except “You And I” By Simeon Coxe
Charlemagne Charmaine - Vocals, Monotron, Synth
Brian Davy - Drums, Cowbell, Vocals
Burner Herzog - Vox, Lap Steel, Marimba, Etc.
Will Kreppel - Guitar, Bass
Paul Korte - Guitar, Vocals
Eric Mohammed - Bass
Alison Niedbalski - Vocals, Synth, Accordion
With: Manny Chocano - Vocals On “Prayer Candles”, Chris Daddio - Vocals On “Rubble”/Tyler English - Pedal Steel, Blaine Patrick - Additional Drums On “You & I,” “Lucky Star”, Zachary Thorne - Trumpet
Produced By Paul Korte And Chris Daddio
Recorded At Donut Time Audio, Oakland CA By Christopher Daddio/Santo, Oakland CA by Paul Korte / Alcatraz Manor, Berkeley, CA by Burner Herzog and Paul Korte / Pacifica Community Television by Josh Armstrong And Allen Antoine / New, Improved Recording, Oakland, CA by Jay Pellicci / Oakland Music Complex By Jasper Leach And Paul Korte
Mixed By Paul Korte At Santo Except “Lucky Star” Mixed By Jasper Leach At Alcatraz Manor
Mastered By Will Kreppel
Cover By Mike Harris
Back Cover By Heather Matheson
Thank You: Caroline Hamel, Sivan Gur-arieh, Mike Harris, Dennis Willis, Mike Schulman, Samantha Veneros, Erika Schrader, Anthony Molina, Morton Baird, Brian Tester And Jennifer Weisberg.
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