Once upon a time, Aram played in a band called Champion. At the same time, Todd Jones was busy playing in Carry On, Terror, Snake Eyes, … Greg and Todd P. were busy with bands of their own, too. Along came the opportunity to do a side project between TJ and Aram. At the time, I remember thinking, this could be huge. Aram has been around the world, he’s seen everything. Now he’s given a mic and allowed to speak his mind (in fact, keep your eyes peeled for a Aram interview on HYE). And TJ, well, he’s got riff after riff waiting to be put down on wax. Together, they made the Addiction EP aka magic.
This time around, they enlisted Todd P and Greg Bacon (well, Greg when live, at least) for the LP. Needless to say, it’s an amazing album. I know it’s early to say, but I’m calling it my favorite release of 2006 (I’m sure my mind will change slightly when the LOJ lp hits. Then the two will be tied for best of 2006). The production on this LP is on point, courtesy of Kurt Ballou and a vigilant Todd Jones. Hell, even the layout of the album is cool. Real simple, black and whites, easy to read fonts, chill pics. That’s tops in my book.
Now for a few things you may or may not know about this LP:
a) Kurt Ballou is tall. In fact, he’s so tall, that the soundboard at God City is up on 8×8 timbers so Kurt can fit under it. He is quick to reprimand people who lean on it, too.
b) The layout was masterminded by Scott Magrath and Mr. Todd Jones.
c) Casali attended the backup vocals session wearing a bright yellow fleece jacket. He was semi odd man out. A month or two after backups, Aram calls me and asks, “Who is Casali?” Apparently, Casali only signed the slip with his last name and Aram could not recall who he was. I spoke about the yellow jacket, and it all came together.
d) The cover art features 4 dudes at a rocky point chilling. Plenty of crucial looking shirts and attitude. Except for one thing. Aram is sporting a swatch guard on his x-rated swatch. Sweet Pete wouldn’t stand for that.
e) The City Lights is dedicated to Brandie Bailey. During the recording process, group chants were recorded for this song, but they were cut from the final release because “they didn’t sound appropriate.” Look for the unreleased song on the Betrayed Box Set to be released in 2012.
f) Todd Jones thanks Pete Lynch in the liner notes. It’s written like this “name x, name y, Pete Lynch (haha), name z…” Pranked!
That’s all for now. Spend less time reading this review and more time going to the store to pick this up. Get going. No, now. Go!