‘New Album’ is where a band or artist answers some questions about their latest release. Up next is Sam from Gypsy Jazz band Black Spider Stomp.
When/where was the new album recorded?
The album was recorded, at bass player (Scott’s) flat in Newtown. It’s a nice wooden floored room where we recorded our 7inch release too.
Who produced/engineered the album? How did the tracks come together in the studio, or at home?
Vanya Vitali from Scumbag College. He has recorded all of four of our albums so far as well as mixed a few of our live shows so definitely has an ear for capturing the sound we are after.
How did the songwriting happen? Are there any overall themes within the songs/album?
Were you going for a different sound/approach on this album?
For our previous albums we have focused largely on original tunes that stay true to the gypsy swing tradition. However, since a large part of our repertoire is made up of classic, and obscure tunes written by the masters. Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli, Matelot Ferret, Wasso Grünholz, Joseph Reinhardt, and more.
For this album we wanted to record some of our own versions of these. Our previous records all featured the quintet “Black Spider Stomp” but for this recording we were only using a trio so we wanted our arrangements to utilize and explore sounds and space of the trio setting.
Was there any specific gear you used to capture that?
We always want our sound to be as natural as possible. The closer the recording sounds to the acoustic instrument the better so we normally use a pretty minimal approach when it comes to gear. A few Instrument and room mics basically. We did all the tracks as single takes for this record to give it an even more live and personal sound.
Is there a particular single/track that you feel captures the essence of the album?
I would say either Topsy or Bolero Troublant. We tried some new things with textures and space with both these arrangements which use the trio in the kind of ways that this record was about. One of my favorite songs that we play is on this album. It’s one of many waltzes by Wasso Grünholz named Wasso’s Waltz.
Is there a physical copy available? If not which digital platforms is it available on?
Yes! we have Black Spider Trio on CD which you can pick up at our live shows or contact us through Bandcamp where you can also purchase digital copies of any of our releases.
Are you working on a video/videos for any of the songs? Are you doing any gigs or promotion for its release?
We have no plans to do any sort of video at this stage but we are busy playing shows around wellington to promote the new record.