The most important thing for me at the time of this record was to make sure it was spacious and that the overdubs (if any) were subtle. I had just done what was for me a "big production record" which was what I needed to do at that time, to balance out my previous records.But now making a record that was raw was very important to me. It was also important to me to record it quickly and to lower the bar of perfection I had raised so high for "Shadows". I think at the time of Shadows I was so excited about doing a record in a real recording studio and I was so sick of people dismissing my records as being fucked up and un-professional. On Shadows, I wanted everyting exactly the way I heard it in my head. But after that album, I started noticing that albums I had loved my whole life had tons of things I would have (at the time) insisted upon re-doing. Slightly off pitch vocals, instruments going slightly out of time with one another, as well as straight-up-mistakes-all of these things prevail triumphantly on Velvet Underground, Talking Heads, Rolling Stones, Van Der Graaf Generator, Butthole Surfers and countless other records (even The Beatles)that I have always loved. I had always perceived those records as being pure perfection and when I realized that I had sharpened my sense of perfection to the point where, were they under my supervision, those records would have been cleaned up to the point of being inferior. I realized that I needed to re-evaluate what perfection meant to me. I figured out that when a recording session is focused on, and a flow of energy goes from the second you walk in until you leave, and you know the songs well, there is a good vibe and some laughs, the imperfections that appear are very desireable and the right number of them spaced out well, is one of the most beautiful types of perfection there is. So on this record I became more comfortable with welcoming things that were unintentional, rather than making sure everything was exactly as I had intended
Approaching, things this way, along with not being intimidated by the studio, has made it possible for me to record very quickly. Hence, I have recorded a new album every moth this year. The Will To Death is the first one. For me it has a very free relaxed feeling to it because it was the first time that Josh and I realized how great of a feeling it is to record in a studio when you are fast and efficient and relaxed. While recording the basic tracks ( drums and guitar) we were sometimes so sure that our first take was good, that we'd move on to the next song without even listening to playback. It is such a great memory and it started us on a roll.
