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Don't They Look Smart?
12/17/2001 4:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Rob O'Connor
Countless journalists have tried to capture the excitement and drama of being in a recording studio when a band is making an album. Countless journalists have succeeded in transforming a long, slow, laborious process into something of an emotional rollercoaster ride that whiplashes its unsuspecting victims with its flash and fury. The simple fact, however, is that the recording studio is one of the most boring places in the world to witness a band in "action." The process is hardly slam-bang; instead, it all balances on a million tiny decisions that only a true obsessive notices. Most musicians present can be found reading, sleeping, or picking the lint off their socks at any given time. But in Garbage's case, the process can be even more unpleasant, as three-quarters of the band are admitted tech-geeks and their photogenically sexy singer, Ms. Shirley Manson, isn't one to keep quiet, either. They don't pick the lint off their clothes--they pick fights with one another. But "the important thing is that we all show up as friends again the next day," guitarist Steve Marker explains.
"It slows us down tremendously," Marker also admits. "That's why for this [new album] we got Billy Bush to engineer, and we sat on the couch and played musicians." Marker figures it could have taken another six months if the band hadn't passed the buck of responsibility.
Beautifulgarbage is, as its title implies, a mass of contradiction, misleading innuendo, and subtle, slinky pop songs that caress one's ears as they jack one's butt into gear. The album, says Marker, "is all Shirley--it's got the sound of one person speaking." And while her personal stamp is all over the album, it's foolish to think that guys named Erikson, Marker, and Vig didn't put their own footprints on the sound as well. The songs, after all, are written in the studio.
Garbage can work like this, since they prefer to record at their own Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin, away from the "sushi bars and hot tubs" of L.A. and in the rough-hewn terrain that most of the band members call home. Smart Studios began with Marker and Garbage bandmate Butch Vig saving up money from mowing lawns to buy a four-track machine for $1,500, and continues (albeit with slightly more sophisticated gear) to this day as the playroom for these longtime friends. In such private and comfortable surroundings, Garbage carve out a sound, playing with effects and the modern Pro-Tools computer setup until they have something that affects them all.
In today's fickle pop music universe ("The business is just horrible now," gripes Marker), even a band like Garbage--with a strong image, powerful songs, and sizable industry connections (like opening for U2)--is "hanging from the cliff," according to Marker. The group that initially didn't even want to tour, preferring to just sit back with "some ideas of making up pop songs and seeing where they take us," has ended up touring more than 33 countries over the past few years. And like everything else these tech-heads attempt, they've managed to recreate their lush studio vibe onstage with the help of samples and a state-of-the-art sound system that allows them to plug their instruments directly into the board and hear their own performance in earpieces instead of monitors. The effect, says Marker, is "like being a very large recording studio."
Which, in essence, is home sweet home to Garbage.
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