Stanton said we had to go to his studio.<\/p>\n
I would have passed but I’d gotten this e-mail from Stephen Budd saying his band Dry The River was recording there and what a coincidence!<\/p>\n
Not that I knew who Dry The River was, or Peter Katis, or even Stephen Budd.\u00c2\u00a0 But I do know Stanton, my whole life.\u00c2\u00a0 He stayed in Fairfield when so many leave.\u00c2\u00a0 He’d been regaling me forever about this hockey band the Zambonis he does work for and he was testifying about Peter and I got caught up in the enthusiasm and said LET’S GO!<\/p>\n
Because I love the studio.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s where records are made.<\/p>\n
But now a studio is a Mac Pro with Pro Tools, the records are made in one’s head and laid down in a bedroom and only the rich can afford to record in the big rooms of yore, those that are still standing anyway.<\/p>\n
So I didn’t expect much.<\/p>\n
But I was wrong. \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
IN BRIDGEPORT!<\/p>\n
Nothing cool ever happened in Bridgeport.\u00c2\u00a0 And in my mind, still never does.\u00c2\u00a0 But Peter Katis has got his studio there in an old Victorian and he makes National records there.<\/p>\n
Now that’s quite a calling card.\u00c2\u00a0 Because they don’t come any hipper, nor more critically lauded, than the National.<\/p>\n
But Peter’s first breakthrough was Interpol.<\/p>\n
And he made that solo album with the guy from Sigur Ros and he told me he’s got so many offers he’d need to clone himself six times to do all the work.<\/p>\n
IN BRIDGEPORT!<\/p>\n
He started off in his parents’ basement.<\/p>\n
Actually, after graduating from UVM he took classes at SUNY Purchase to learn recording.\u00c2\u00a0 And then he wrangled a paid internship in the city, at a place where they cut high end karaoke.\u00c2\u00a0 And then he realized he could do it himself, and moved to his parents’ basement in Greenwich.<\/p>\n
And then Schneider, from the Zambonis, convinced Katis he had to move to Bridgeport.\u00c2\u00a0 And about ten years ago he did.<\/p>\n
The edifice is staggering.<\/p>\n
Built in 1895, in Los Angeles it would be worth 8 mil.<\/p>\n
On the ground floor is the kitchen and the band lounge and Peter’s personal living quarters.<\/p>\n
On the second floor is the rest of his house and the band bedrooms.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the deal.\u00c2\u00a0 You make a record and you live in the house, although he insists you leave on the weekend, to get some perspective, so Dry The River was not there.<\/p>\n
And on the third floor was the studio.<\/p>\n
I was not prepared.<\/p>\n
This was real.<\/p>\n
There was a separate control room.\u00c2\u00a0 With a Neve board, used mostly for patching, and a Studer A 827 and a Studer half inch machine too.<\/p>\n
It was fascinating.\u00c2\u00a0 Peter cuts tracks to tape.\u00c2\u00a0 But what about the hard time getting tape?\u00c2\u00a0 He just uses the same reels over and over again.\u00c2\u00a0 Since he transfers the tracks off so soon, there’s no print-through.\u00c2\u00a0 Although Peter did tell me that the longer you let the tracks sit on the tape the more organic they become, they mellow, they get that analog sound.<\/p>\n
And there’s tons of outboard gear and the requisite Mac Pro and on the other side of the glass…<\/p>\n
Was a collection of amplifiers and instruments worthy of any "real" studio.\u00c2\u00a0 Old Silvertones and Voxes and fifties Gibsons and Marshalls and a bunch of manufacturers I’d never heard of.\u00c2\u00a0 Actually, Peter was raving about this tiny new Vox amp that when pushed yields amazing sounds.<\/p>\n
And there were these amazing headphone rigs.\u00c2\u00a0 With faders and…\u00c2\u00a0 I’d never seen anything like it, state of the art, but if you’re a studio rat, you know what I mean.<\/p>\n
And at first, Peter’s doing it for free in the basement.\u00c2\u00a0 Then someone says they like his drum sound and want to pay him. This is after playing in a band for ten years called the Philistines Jr.<\/p>\n
And then he got lucky with Interpol.\u00c2\u00a0 Not that it was a matter of luck, but it’s about paying your dues, following an uncharted course, where inspiration meets perspiration and the public reacts.\u00c2\u00a0 And suddenly, after ten years with your head down, you’ve made it.<\/p>\n
But you’ve always got further to go.<\/p>\n
Peter charges a grand a day.\u00c2\u00a0 All-in.\u00c2\u00a0 At least for now.\u00c2\u00a0 He doesn’t want an open-ended album fund, then the band works forever.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s one of the biggest problems acts have, they can’t let go, they’re in the studio once every couple of years and they want to get it perfect.<\/p>\n
But there’s no such thing.<\/p>\n
And despite living in BRIDGEPORT Peter’s done some shoot-outs on household name acts, mixing tracks.<\/p>\n
But mostly Peter’s operating in the indie world.\u00c2\u00a0 Working incessantly.\u00c2\u00a0 But claiming two nights for hockey.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got no perspective if you have no life.<\/p>\n
And I’d like to tell you I knew every act Peter talked about.\u00c2\u00a0 His personal breakthrough was his recording with the Mommyheads.\u00c2\u00a0 I know the name, but that’s it.<\/p>\n
But this is where the future lies.\u00c2\u00a0 At the intersection of the underground and the web surfer.\u00c2\u00a0 The company?\u00c2\u00a0 Not so important.<\/p>\n
No amount of publicity and placement can break a stiff record.<\/p>\n
And now, everything stiffs except a tiny sliver.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, you can stay alive, as a journeyman, but if you want to be ubiquitous, if you want to play Glastonbury, like the National, you’ve got to be really damn good.<\/p>\n
But what impressed me most about Peter was that he cared.\u00c2\u00a0 He took it seriously.\u00c2\u00a0 Despite being conversant in commerce, being represented by Sandy Roberton, it was all about the music.<\/p>\n
IN BRIDGEPORT!<\/p>\n
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