I recently asked Brian Wurschum, Jude Kastle, and Co-Producer Bruce Driscoll to give me an update on The Voyces' upcoming album, "Let Me Die In Southern California."1.) How is the new album coming along? Almost finished, I assume?Driscoll: It's at that stage now where we're just making mix tweaks. Like, 'guitar in second verse up 1db' or 'vocal louder.' You know, little things. I've played it at least ten times in every boom box, iPod, speaker set that I own and it's passed the test. It'll be mastered very soon.Wurschum: If it were a cake, it would be cooling on the stove top.Kastle: Couldn't be better. Yes, it's almost done.2.) What, if anything, can you tell us about it now that you could not before?Driscoll: Probably that now, hearing the near-finished product I think we really achieved what we set out do - which was to make a classic sounding record. Talking to Brian and Jude I think we all couldn't be happier with it. I'm excited for more people to hear it. So far the feedback has been great.Wurschum: There are eleven songs on it.Kastle: I haven't had the opportunity to answer this question, and would love to gush on how this album was recorded. In this case, bragging is truly required. We started out on a Sunday to record the drums. Most people need a rough track of guitar and vocals to do this. Brian, on the other hand, lays down drums start to finish with just a click track in his head phones. He hears the whole song in his head: fills, crashes, and dynamics. This is Remarkable. This one take, start to finish, was the norm with almost every guitar part (acoustic and electric), and Bass line. Vocals, too. On this album Brian sang better than he ever has. Now for Bruce: Half way through the recording, Brian and I were wondering where to find a Cape. Because of course, every super hero needs a cape, right? Bruce would hear frequencies in digits. Making adjustments in where a part sat in the mix or slightly changing the EQ of one hidden part that would make everything else fall into place, leaving Brian and I jumping up and down asking, “How did you do that?” He would also mix each song as he went along. It was mind bottling (see blades of glory) to watch. All in all, the process was amazing. It was a very special time.In between all this was the gut-splitting laughter, a comedy show at all times.3.) What are your favorite tracks, and why?Wurschum: My favorite song on the album is King of Castle
. Jude sings lead, and it is just beautiful. She does this twirly, "I am from the South" thing with her voice, which kills me.Kastle: I guess my favorite tracks are Let Me Die In Southern California
, It Whispers
, and La Lomita.
