Gramophonium

This album was recorded under difficult circumstances…

It began as a project for the 2011 RPM Challenge - the challenge being to record an album in the 28 days of February. A tall order, but not impossible. Getting through a series of small disasters (computer failure, exhaustion, etc) was the easy part, somehow music was written and recorded. The lyrics were completed in the first week. At 12:51pm on February 22 I was setting up to record the vocals when a massive 6.3 earthquake hit Christchurch.

Game over.

Or so you might think…

Many of the lyrics were written as the result of a 7.1 earthquake that hit us 6 months ago, but did far less damage. This earthquake was closer to the city and much shallower, resulting in massive destruction. The studio I was using was destroyed by liquifaction, but I managed to save most of the instruments and my computer which promptly got set up in my parents house, where I was able to hurriedly complete the vocals and mixes in 2 days. If it sounds rushed, it was. If it sounds ragged, it is. The fact that it’s finished at all still amuses me, and we could all do with some cheering up right now.

This album is dedicated to those that lost their lives in this horrific tradgedy.