Here Comes Treble

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Here Comes Treble

Released: February, 2001

Band Personnel:

John Knutelsky (vocals, guitar)

Tim Ross (guitar, vocals)

John Serros (keyboard)

Bud Harrington (bass guitar)

Gary Fryer (drums, percussion)

Tim Kjeer (bass guitar on "A Game on Earth" & "The Oz (bonus track in first release)"

Recorded at Guyhooya, Platinum, Thunderchild and S&M Studios, Jacksonville, Florida

Here Comes Treble was the bands first album of all original material. Recording started in the Spring of 2000 in Platinum Studios as part of an agreement with EMMI. (see EMMI Publishing Collection for more details).

Tr: We recorded the songs for HCT the same time we recorded the songs for EMMI. It was quite a long process and after several months, we realized we weren't getting what we expected in the production of our music.

JK: Our mix wasn't given the same attention that was given to EMMI's mix. And it kind of hurt because we did the music equally. We tried to make it all good.

Tr: The reel to reel tapes used to record us were already used several times over. Some of our guitar solos can be heard fading in and out because the tape actually bottomed out! I ended up copying the master tapes onto a DAT machine using two tracks at a time, with the intention of loading them onto my computer with each two track segment being pieced together and mixed to our standard. Unfortunately there was a lag in the software on the computer and the tracks would eventually lose time with each other. That's when we decided to record everything from scratch.

GF: Maybe not the best decision of our career but part of the problem was we had two conflicting producers. Two different ideas on how the album should sound.

Tr: I regret that I didn't take a more proactive role in the recording of the album; especially the drum parts. We also had decent recording equipment when we made the decision to rerecord things ourselves. Someone within the organization owned a good mixing board but just as we started the recording process, it somehow got away from him and we were kept on wires for months with the promise we would get it back. Meanwhile we used some piece of archaic equipment that caused electrical spikes and a host of other problems so I was left to finish and mix down this material that was very difficult to fix. It was all a bit depressing.

GF: I think there's a lot of strong songs on there, though. You really need to hear those songs live to get the full impact.

JK: It's the beginning!

Tr: The songs are the foundation of the band and have made us what we are today. The album represents where we were at the time and those songs continue to be a strong point in our live shows.

GF: The energy of the songs overcomes any technical imperfections. Cruizzin', Swamp Angel, Oz....Those are classic songs. And we've come a long way. If you buy this cd and buy our new one and compare them you'll definitely hear it.

Tr: There was a song called "Life's what you make It" that we recorded at the Platinum sessions that was one of our standards and one of the only ballads that we had. It was a very good song but some how it got lost in the transition of switching studios and was never rerecorded so it didn't make it on the album.

JK: I would like to record those songs in a live setting because that's really what that album is. It's a LIVE album.

Tr: You can tell that by the way most of the songs end, but that 's the case with our recent songs, also.

"A Game on Earth" was actually taken from the Platinum sessions and includes Big Tim on the bass. "The Oz" (munchkin version) was recorded there as well so that's a version is a totally different recording. Bud entered the band again to complete the bass parts for most of the album.

Tr: The cover art is neat. It was where TC made his debut and the first thing to bare the name 'Trouble Clef'.

GF: It gave us an identity and melded the band together...instead of being Shit out'a Luck like we were for so long --

JK: WE WERE NOT SHIT OUT'A LUCK! Come on now.

Tr: Yeah we were. Actually John introduced the band to me as Sŏl

JK: Sol. The sun. Why? Because we live in the sunshine state of Florida, that's why (laughs). Treble is what it is.

GF: It's a stepping stone

Tr: I think I slipped off that stone. Seriously, though, I'm glad to have it in my collection. You just have to accept going in that the sonic quality isn't as nice as the other albums but the songs are real. And great. Real great. Well, Oz appeared twice. What more could you ask?