Preview
GROUND CD Release Party
Saturday, January 25
Liberty Lounge (MRC)
Following the release of their successful second album, Humus, the Calgarian foursome known as Ground toured with the likes of The Skydiggers and Rheostatics, spreading the good word of jazz-rock fusion.
Finding new representation through Spirit River Distribution, home to Corb Lund and The Plaid Tongued Devils, among others, Ground was eager to get to work on the next big recording project. But getting their third full-length album off the… well, you know… proved to be an unexpectedly daunting challenge for the eccentric band with the down-to-earth name.
Jeff Drummond, one of Ground’s two singer-guitarists, is the first to acknowledge the many pitfalls encountered during the process of creating and producing the genre-defying World Away.
"We had a couple of false starts with the new album in 2000," Drummond says. "We just couldn’t seem to get it finished. We began recording in July during the hottest time of the year. We were working out of Calgary’s Sundae Sound when the building was hit by lightning. And what got knocked out? The air conditioning. Pretty soon we were all delirious from the heat. I think that comes across on the album to a certain extent."
Ominous meteorology aside, the guys regrouped and returned to the electrified studio for another attempt. Discarding much of the material they had already accumulated for the new album, Ground opted to delve into the sophisticated spontaneity of their free-flowing practice sessions, drawing inspiration from their smooth, gelatinized grooves.
"We demoed a bunch of our jam tapes of different riffs we had come up with. Played it. Recorded it. Sifted through it," says Drummond. "Nothing was finished or even had lyrics when we went into the studio. We had started the album during the hottest time of the year, and came back to it in October when things were starting to cool down.
"Due to a variety of reasons, such as our work schedules, we could only record at night. We’d be at the studio from 7 p.m. to 4 or 5 a.m., go home, get up, go to work, and do it all over again the next night. During that time we became rather sleep-deprived. So, we kinda recorded the album while in the sleep-deprivation zone."
The cool insomnia of World Apart is conveyed through the stylish collaborations of Ground’s four members: bassist Greg Fairweather, drummer Roland Griffith, lead guitarist-singer Mike Robinson and, of course, Drummond, who confirms that the shared songwriting credits on the album are a happy precedent. Although, he muses, the difficulties of re-creating laid-back jam-based songs onstage surpasses that of bringing studio creations to life.
"We’ve had to work harder to figure out just how to play these songs," he says. "It’s been interesting. What we’re coming up with are not exact versions of what you hear on the album – I hope that fans will appreciate the differences. The scene is improving, we’re constantly getting better at what we do, and I think that people who want to hear live music are now being forced to seek it out." |
