It's a blustery Monday evening when I pull up to Fat Cat Recording Studio. Tucked away like one of Sacramento's many precious jewels, it's entryway sits nondescript, belying the magic that is created beyond it. I yank it open, step into the entryway, and maneuver down the hall that runs parallel to the cavernous live room. There's a whole gaggle of gear, splayed all across it. One very noticeable inclusion of this gear pile is Ryan Hernandez's suitcase kick drum. It's adorned with microphones, juiced up, and ready to go. Only there is no pilot behind the pedal.
As if he heard my thoughts, Jayson Angove emerges next to me from the main room, light spilling into the darkened hallway. I am greeted with a trademark Jayson hug, which stops just shy of popping my spine. Its gratifying and honest, every time.
I follow him into the control room, where Sean Stack sits, bathed in blue and purple light from his colossal wall of screens, interfaces, and recording equipment. Seated next to him is the aforementioned multi-instrumentalist Ryan Hernandez, playing around with an acoustic guitar. Saying hello to everyone, I come in and sit back in one of the recliners along the back wall.
Sean sets back to his screens, tweaking and adjusting levels on each track with the precision and speed of a true expert. Jayson is moving between the control room and the live room, setting up the next parts of recording, while Ryan serenades us with with spacious noodling. I've felt this vibe before, back when Humble Wolf was recording their newest EP, "Black and White".
It's the vibe of manic energy that comes with creating new things. New and exciting things. New, exciting, and freshly explored ideas.
On this particular day, April 30th, they are laying down the last bits of percussion, as well as violin, as played by Ryan. The day before, they laid down drum tracks from several different musicians, and frequent collaborators with a lot of Jayson's projects. They include: Steve Brown, from Oleander, Kevin Prince, from Drummer101.com, and Ben Michel, from Short Sessions and a whole myriad of collaborations with Jayson. With a rhythm section built on these drummer's foundations, how could you go wrong?
Ryan also is slated to play his pedal steel guitar on this album, which Jayson loves to add in to his songs whenever he can.
Soon enough, though, Ryan is warming up on his violin, while Jayson finishes setting up the mic for him to play into, while Sean tweaks the levels on his end. The violin has replaced the guitar as the control room backing track, and I can't help but kick back and listen. The ebb and flow in this room is something I have yet to see replicated in any recording environment.
Sean is playing parts of the song recorded so far. Titled "Saving Grace", it gives off a John Mayer sound, mixed with Jack Johnson, but all played through acoustic guitar instead. It makes for good head swaying music, I know that. You can't help but feel pleasant serenity every time you hear its devilishly catchy chorus.
Jayson and Ryan trade places, and Sean sits up a little straighter in his chair. It's go time, ladies and germs.
They give Ryan a run through of the song, while he figures out where to place his violin and how to insert its swelling notes into each part of the song. Once they get that figured out, Jayson leaves it in the hands of Sean, and he slides over to the table I am sitting behind. Both of us have a pretty good grip on our newly acquired plastic cups, filled up half way with the finest wine. And by finest, I mean red-ish.
Anyway, I start talking to Jayson about the nitty-gritty of this upcoming album, my primary curiosity is how he gets his ideas down, and put together. He explains,
"I'll write a song, and sometimes I'll just be playing guitar, like for stress relief, or an outlet. An idea will sometimes happen by accident, and I'll build on that, put it into Pro-Tools, then I'll start adding instruments to it."
In between our chatting, Jayson rolls his chair over to Sean, providing effective, yet diplomatic instructions for where the song should go next. Once everyone is on the same page, she rolls back over to me, just in time for me to ask about what this album is going for. He explains,
"It's [the album] cohesive, the whole album goes together. It has one meaning...The name of the album now is "Be Who You Needed". There's a quote by Danielle Vincent [Manager of Show Up Sacramento and First Festival] that she posted a while back, that was a really interesting thing to think about. It was to be who you needed when you were younger. And I really liked that idea...That's kind of what the whole record is about. Growing up, and treating yourself like you wanted to be treated when you were young."
That is quite a theme to build on, especially for such an accomplished musician like Jayson. The violins they were recording get a few takes wrapped up, while he and I sit back a little and enjoy our sour grape juice. He turns to me, adding,
"I've recorded 7 records, and I think this is the one I am the most excited about right now...I've made other albums that I've really liked, but this is by far my favorite solo record I've made."
With a very satisfied smile, he finishes the last swig of his grown-up juice, and he swivels over next to Sean again. Ryan goes through two more takes, while Sean continues to work on each individual track with his trademark expertise. Eventually, things wind on down for the day, and Ryan packs up his violin and guitar. Eventually, the computers go dark, and that's a wrap on recording for this particular day. There is much laughter and musical banter as we make our way down the darkened hall, and out into the deepened night of the parking lot. I bid everyone farewell, complete with a shoulder-popping hug from Jayson. The excitement I felt in that room this particular night hung with me my whole ride back home. I know, just from this snapshot I got tonight, that this upcoming album will leave you with the same floating, euphoric feeling that all great music leaves you with.
Be sure to give Jayson a follow on Instagram, as well as a listen to all his previous albums and singles with Humble Wolf on SoundCloud. Stay tuned for this exciting release, and don't miss a thing.
