Sometime towards the end of summer 2006 we got the opportunity to record our first album for Rise Above records. It had been a long time in the making and the songs we had written for it had already been gigged heavily for a few years, so we had no problems in getting the goods together when it came time to record.

We went into the studio in January 2007. We had been on tour with Josiah in October, then played a handful of gigs with Firebird in December so we reckoned we had had sufficient practice for getting the songs sounding as tight as we could and as much like our live performance as possible.

We booked into HD1 studios in Huddersfield with the idea that I would record the album by myself as this is my profession and I knew I could get the sound I wanted. A few days before going in and after having adequate time to think it over, I decided that it would be a good idea to get someone else in to help with it and concentrate on the things I couldn't when I was playing. We got our old time friend, Simon Mawson, on the case. He had recorded our 7" for Rise Above about a year earlier and used to be our drummer way back in 2003, so we knew he could be trusted to help us get it together.

Everything went well on the first day. We set up the drums in the main live room, the bass in the vocal booth and the two guitar cabs together in the other live room. Adam was playing his Ludwig kit, Doug was using a Fender P-Bass bass played through a Marshall JMP amp, Chris was playing a Fender Stratocaster through a JCM900 and I was using my Gibson SG played through a JMP amp. It was all pretty straightforward and everything was cranked as loud as it would go. We played through most of the songs and got everything to roughly where we were happy with it and recorded a rough mix of a few of the tracks. We left early on that day, happy with the fruits of our labour.

On the second day we went into the studio at noon and got cracking straight away. We knew we weren't interested in making our performances perfect; we wanted to get as much of the sound and feel of a live performance into the recording as possible and didn't want to piss and moan over any little bum notes or hit drum microphones.

We recorded 'Heavy Petting', 'Mistress Mistrust', 'Parking Banshee' and 'Just a Fraction' in a matter of takes. We knew we had three days to record the music, so if we did four songs on the second day and then three apiece on the other two days everything would be fine. We left at 7pm that evening. After all, it's supposed to be fun doing this recording thing.

Day three was much of the same. We recorded 'Vivid Wonder', 'Lying and Fooling' and 'Widow Maker' without any problems. By day four we had recorded 'Creamy Lid', 'The Lady' and 'Out of the Eye.' It felt great to have got these songs we had been gigging for so long, out of us and recorded. We packed up and retired to the pub to contemplate the next step of the recording.

We decided to book the studio on a couple of late nights to get the vocals done. I think vocals can sometimes pose a problem to record. Singing with a pair of headphones on whilst listening to music at a fraction of the volume that it would be at when playing live, makes it hard to put the full amount of power into the voice. Needless to say, because of this my headphones were at an unbearable volume for me to get the right amount of energy into my singing. Luckily I got this done in a pretty short space of time, so my ears live to hear another day!

The majority of the vocals were written and worked out a long time before going into the studio, there were a couple of adlibs here and there, but nothing too drastic. In previous recordings I had double tracked the vocals on 'Creamy Lid' and liked the sound. We knew we didn't want to double track on all the songs as I don't think it would have worked on most of them, but we tried it again on 'Creamy Lid' and also on 'Out of the Eye.' Chris laid his vocals for the duet on 'Heavy Petting' on the second day and also some backing vocals on 'Lying and Fooling.' Thus, the vocals were finished.

Mixing took up another couple of late night sessions. We recorded what we had onto Pro tools and decided we wanted to transfer it across to 24 track 2" tape to mix. I think that recording digitally in this day and age is all very well and good, but there is nothing that can match the sound of something being driven to tape. It just seems to naturally fatten up the bottom end and take out all the frequencies you don’t want that Pro-Tools so accurately puts in.

We thought that this would be it for the album, but then Rise Above asked if we could do a bonus track for the Leafhound Records issue of the CD and for the vinyl release. We had a song we knew would be ready to go – 'Comatose' - so we went back to Mutiny Studios in Bradford where we had recorded our first demo. Including set-up time, 'Comatose' was recorded in about an hour. We were all set up in the same room and the amps were cranked as loud as they would go. We recorded the music to 8 track ADAT and then overdubbed the vocals straight afterwards. It was mixed and ready to go just a couple of hours later.

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GENTLEMAN'S PISTOLS > On to the songs...

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Just A Fraction
We have always opened our set with this one. We knew before we even thought about recording the album that this would be the opening track. It's one of the first songs I wrote for Gentlemans Pistols before we were a proper band. It's a kind of Glam stomper with a pop twist.

Out of the Eye
We thought it would be a good point on the record to up the tempo here. This song blasts through like a freight train. Chris plays a blinder of a solo here and sews it up.

Heavy Petting
Just as we get to the climatic point with 'Out of the Eye', we bring it all back down to base level with 'Heavy Petting.' This is a primitive bass driven track and Doug does some lusty bass licks through this, proving that simplicity is the key.

Widow Maker
A groovy little number to shake yer arse to. Period.

The Lady
This was the first song I wrote for Pistols way back in 2003. When we came up with the track listing for the album, we were looking at how it would sound on vinyl. In the order we chose this would be the last song on side one, and that's how we wanted it to work. With dynamic and tempo changes galore, but still with the same rock ethic carried through, this track has the most going on in it of all the songs on the album.

Lying and Fooling
Side two, track one, and what a start - straight into the glam-boogie of 'Lying and Fooling.' We seem to always play this song last in our set and it always gets the most reaction from the people who bother to dance [we luv ya!]. It's got my favourite solo on the record and could possibly be my favourite track.

Mistress Mistrust
A riff roller coaster about motherly love. This song is yet another one that needs no spiel, just some arse shaking please.

Creamy Lid
A relentless foot stomper. This song keeps on going where others fail. Features my one and only solo on the album. Blink and you'll miss it.

Vivid Wonder
An ode to being a daydreamer set to an ultra fast 12 bar blues with a rip-roaring solo by Chris to boot.

Parking Banshee
A song about those fascinating creatures, Doggers. Starts off with Chris' whammy feedback and then rips into a dark brooding monster creeping toward the end of the album. Topped off with more haunting whammy feedback to end the album. Nice.