Greg Puciato’s new album Mirrorcell comes out today and we asked drummer Chris Hornbrook to tell us about each track. Check out his commentary on the album below!

IN THIS HELL YOU FIND YOURSELF

This is the intro opener to the ‘Mirrorcell’ and I’m actually not featured on the final version. There was a recorded version of this that featured roomy heavy tom and percussion overdubs. I actually used a bunch of Taylor Hawkins Gretsch blonde concert maple toms (since we were tracking drums at Studio 606, might as well!) to accompany my Q Drum Co. steel toms. It was massive and fun to track, but Greg wanted there to be just guitars on the intro so that the first song hit you like a ton of bricks when it came in. 

REALITY SPIRAL 

“Reality” was the very first song that Greg sent to me after wanting to work on a new solo record. He usually puts together the idea with an arrangement, scratch vocals, demo drums and then sends me what he has. Normally it’s about 95% - 98% done arrangement wise. I don’t need to do much if anything, aside from maybe smoothing out a transition or two. I’ll normally just go to town on the drums. I’ll listen to what he has maybe once or twice to get an idea and see if there are any bits that jump out at me.

I normally starting hearing basic versions of my ideas in my head and then go from there. “Reality Spiral”  turned out great, not too many adjustments from the original demo,  just a few little things here and there. I think I simplified the opening beat a little bit as I was asked for it to be a bit more “Cave man”, haha. 

NO MORE LIVES TO GO

So I only had the “No More Lives To Go” demo for a little bit before we hit the first session and only had time to jam out the chorus and bridge. I had envisioned somethings a little different for the verses but Greg knew exactly how he wanted them to be, driving on the floor tom which made sense once we had the take. I just did a few passes and improvised all the fills. I had to say I was pretty wrecked by this point in the session. This was song four of the day. We had about one day at 606 to track five songs to tape with a set up, sounds and tear down. 

NEVER WANTED THAT

“Never Wanted That” was the second idea that Greg had sent me. It was pretty barebones at first arrangement wise, just that main riff and scratch vocals. I really took my time with the song to really craft the parts to really support the song without going too over the top or distracting from the main vocal and guitar melody part. It’s mostly about feel, tone and putting the right fill at the right time. This is one of my favorites off of “Mirrorcell” and was the very song song that we started tracking on session one. A bunch of the songs were done to 2” tape and this was the first. I’m really pleased with the final version.

LOWERED

I remember Greg sending me the demo for ‘Lowered” and I remember thinking that it was really cool and catchy, but the drums were way different then what he was originally intending. I think I had a little time on my hands that day and jumped right into the song. Rather than going to my studio and hammering it out on my kit, I decided to program all the sections in Logic. This has always been a secondary preferred method if I’m trying to get something different from my normal “go-to” approach on the kit. As I drummer, I have a tendency to lean into my normal habits and strengths.

Approaching from more of a compositional and objective point of view can really allow me to focus and do things that might be out of the normal or my ability. The version you’re hearing is about 98% what I programmed that first day. The only thing I did differently once I jumped on my kit was spice up the end of the bridge with more drum fills to help build tension and add a closing fill at the end to tighten up the ending. One of my favorites as well.

WE

This was one of the last ones that I tracked for the second session. I had a bit more going on based up the original demo that Greg had sent me. We ended up keeping it super simple and I just mirrored the static drum loop he had going on throughout the song. I think that was the second take that was the keeper. We were done within 20/30 minutes max.

I, ECLIPSE  

This one is my favorite song, hands down off of Mirrorcell. I love how everything turned out, especially my drum performance. What was a first for me was Greg had tracked the final vocals over my drum demo I sent back to him. The tempos were the same so Evetts could just easily build upon it. He was telling me that he knew what he was hearing and wanted to get the performance down and capitalize on energy/excitement he was feeling at the time.

Most of what you hear drum wise is what’s on the demo. Evetts had a few suggestions for tweaks which were great. I think this was the very first song we stated with on session 2. Great stuff.

RAINBOWS UNDERGROUND

“Rainbows Underground” was the third of the first batch on five songs we tracked. I really loved the feel and vibe right off of the bat. This one is a bit of a slower tempo so while getting ready for the session I had to be really aware not to push the beat, but lay back into the groove of the song.

Most of what’s there was from my original demo with the exception of a section 3:47 where Greg kept trying to explain to me this beat mixed with syncopated fills. For the life of me I couldn’t wrap my head around what he was saying, haha. I was starting to tire out at that point but we kept pushing on. I eventually got the song and it turned out awesome. 

ALL WAVES TO NOTHING

The final song of the record and session one! At this point I was totally cooked. I messed around with the demo of this a little bit but wasn’t sure if it was going to make it into tracking until a few days before we started. I had the second half close to what I wanted it be but not much for the first half. Pretty much just jammed through it and got what we needed. The first part of the song that’s in 5/4 has this feel of chaos and exhaustion which I didn’t full get until I heard Greg’s vocals over it.

I really love that the first half of the song is predominately room mics. 606’s drum room sounds so killer! I think this is the perfect song to end Mirrorcell. Overall I’m super happy with the final product and the fact that tracked all these drums in two days. That’s a first for me.