THE MAKING OF INTERNATIONAL DANCE MARATHON

3/26/2000

As I reflect back over the last year, in readying myself to tell you about the making of our latest full-length CD, "International Dance Marathon," I see a young, naive, 3-piece rock 'n roll band, newly adrift from the comforts of its well-built nest in Omaha, Nebraska, suddenly and wickedly wrapped in the virgin throes of its new home in Los Angeles, California, with a grand desire to make anything happen, but only a vision to see it through.

I see a band with three distinctly different people and personalities that have survived together, nearly every day of every year for four years, through the toughest of circumstances and situations, and managed, through it all, to still appreciate and respect each other the same as we did the first months we were together. I see a band whose greatest strength is its diversity.

I see a band born with the spirit of a thousand face-painted warriors, born of the belief that anything is possible, born of like mind and with faith in the unknown, and... I see a band born to rock...!

The beginning of the making of International Dance Marathon takes us back to the 3rd week of June, 1999, almost a year ago. Grasshopper Takeover was in Omaha and the Midwest playing shows and, with a few days off before we headed back to LA, we decided to squeeze in a couple sessions to record "Esta Vida" and "Pick It Up." We recorded both songs in 2 days, with all the music being tracked on the first day and the vocals on the second. The sessions went well and both songs ended up sounding great. Those recordings would mark the beginning of International Dance Marathon.

A couple months after that, around the middle of August, I was having sushi at Miagi's on Sunset Blvd. with friend and rock star Nick Hexum of 311. Somewhere in between our discussions on women and... well... more women, Nick expressed that he and Chad Sexton wanted to record Grasshopper Takeover. Specifically, Nick wanted to record "Purpose" and "Noel," as those are his two, more-enjoyable, Grasshopper Takeover tunes. I appreciated his interest and "offer," and within a week we were recording the songs at 311's Hive Studios in Burbank, CA.

Not only did we have a lot of fun together, which made for a great vibe and recording session, but this was the first time we had recorded exclusively onto a computer hard-drive. Since then, we will probably never go back to recording on tape. Hard-drive recording is now our method of choice for many reasons. To name a few, we like it because it gives our brand of rock 'n roll a futuristic sound; it's quick moving (ie. no tapes breaking, no bad ADAT problems, no tape rewind time, no patch bay, etc.) so it helps to maintain the vibe and flow in the studio; and, though some would say differently, we think digital recording sounds as good as analog -- in its own way -- and you don't have to pay $200 for a reel of tape! Now that the 311 session was completed, we had four songs ready for "International Dance Marathon."

Our next move was into Asylum Studios in Los Angeles with producer/engineer, Gabriel Mann, to record 2 more songs, "Hit Song," and "Forever Young." We were introduced to Gabe through a mutual friend at Universal Music Group and, though we could have never foreseen it at the time, this introduction would open our eyes to an entirely different plane of musical creation. We again recorded onto hard-drive, where Gabe was able to fly through Pro-Tools like an eagle through air. Not only did he prove himself to be exactly the type of long-term producer/engineer that we had been looking for all along, he also became one of our closest friends and musical comrades. Always good for a great idea, and always the first to say the idea was "straight-up stoo-pid," Gabe helped us take our music and ideas to new levels as he pushed us to sing and play in the studio like never before, while always paying great attention to detail.

Upon completion of all six of the songs mentioned above, we decided to release a six song, pre-promotional preview of International Dance Marathon -- an EP/CD titled, Echo Park, which was named after the area of Los Angeles where we currently reside. Echo Park was released over Thanksgiving weekend, November, 1999. The release was hugely successful both in sales and radio play and helped us to garner national attention from fans and industry alike.

While we were back in Omaha playing shows over the Christmas break promoting Echo Park, we recorded 3 more songs, "Sailing," "What a Wonderful World," and "The A-song," at Ware House Productions in Omaha with Jim Homan. All the songs were recorded to completion in 19 hours and a re-mix of "Congratulations" for the album was done at a later date.

Upon our return to LA after our "vacation" in Omaha, we went back into Asylum Studios to record three more final songs with Gabe, "Bonecrusher," "Tell Me," and "Take Me With You," -- the band's personal new favorite. We moved quickly through recording and mixing and, again, this was a good thing as we were hearing the songs develop through to their completion in hours instead of days or weeks and the excitement that that generated translated fully onto the recordings. During one of the sessions, as we were finishing up vocal tracks on "Take Me With You," we had the privilege of seeing and hearing our friend Tony Field sing a scale at the end of the song that went through 3 octaves and, at its highest note was so intense that it cracked the studio monitors. It was a fantastic display of raw talent.

With these songs finished, International Dance Marathon -- Grasshopper Takeover's first bonafied national release -- had become a reality.

Through the entire process of recording International Dance Marathon, opportunities presented themselves that we could not have dreamt of in most other lifetimes. The talent we have been fortunate enough to have worked with, and witnessed, has been a true blessing. Overall, we recorded 12 songs with 7 different producer/engineers in 5 separate studios from all different parts of the country! It's amazing how it worked out... :)

Don't stop chasing the dream 'cause it's the only thing that keeps the dream alive! Good luck to all. You have our best.

Curtis Grubb / Grasshopper Takeover