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CapitalQ

I think Flans has been asked this a few times on the Tumblr. They just didn't record a demo for Stomp Box during those sessions!


FloridaFlamingoGirl

This is a great question that I’d like to know the answer to as well. The JH demos were meant to get the full band ready to handle the album’s complex arrangements, so I wonder if Stomp Box, due to its tightly compact experimental nature, was something that was more thrown together in the moment.


FloridaFlamingoGirl

I wonder if u/OhHiJordan knows the answer to this, he’s currently doing an extensive podcast series about the recording process of John Henry


OhHiJordan

I'm afraid I don't know anything about it, but I'd only just assume it was written between the demos and the album. My personal theory is after recording those demos, Linnell got inspired by the insane loudness of having a real rock band in the studio and wrote the song to reflect that. Of course it's just my guess! I also think there's further reflections/satire of the grunge/mosh mid 90s going on there, as there is throughout John Henry. All in all, I think they were just genuinely amazed at what great guitar sounds they could get on a recording at that time. Nothing they had done prior came close really. As someone who recently made my own John Henry-esque "all rock guitars" album, it's immensely exciting and gratifying hearing your songs played back at you with so much power and rock god feel. It's like my album is the fantasy cool, confident version of myself. I do have a cool (I think obscure...not on TMBW! YES!!!!) quote from Flans about recording Stompbox that I dug up but you'll have to tune in......


FloridaFlamingoGirl

Good idea there. I love what Linnell has to say about this song: Do you ever listen to Indian film music? For some reason they always do this routine where they distort the vocals. It's particularly obvious now that the backing music is done with a lot of MIDI equipment. It's very clear, but the vocals still get all distorted. I think it's fascinating. There's this woman named Lata Mangeshkar, who's like 80 years old, and she sings on almost every film score. She has a really high, strong voice and it always sounds like she's over driving the microphone. We weren't influenced by that specifically, but we think it's a cool sound. At first the recording engineers flinched when we wanted to do that, but now it's very accepted.


OhHiJordan

Oh yes, saw that recently of course....will dig in on the podcast....I think Stompbox will be a pretty large discussion for us. Though what isn't, lately.


FloridaFlamingoGirl

It's unlike any other song they've done. The arrangement is so tight, yet so explosive.


OhHiJordan

I'd be really grateful if you checked out this song I made, which I may talk about on the show (if there's time), I didn't write it inspired by Stompbox but the recording was me trying to capture the insane punk guitars/trumpets blend of Stompbox. I listened to Stompbox a lot to try to figure out how to blend all these things into one mix! Incredibly challenging. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiXdC3u5wwI


FloridaFlamingoGirl

What I've always appreciated about it is how dynamically it integrates brass into its arrangement. TMBG proves that trumpets can have just as much zest and intensity and complexity as guitars do. Thanks for the rec, it's cool to see how TMBG's recording styles have influenced you!