Twenty years ago today, March 17, 2006, we released our Subpar EP.

Recording for Subpar began in January 2005, just a few months after the release of our first record, Riddled with Flaws, and a short tour to Moncton, New Brunswick and back with our friends My Antonia. We rented a Boss BR-1600CD 16-track digital recorder from Musicstop without any real plan for what these recordings would become. We were simply excited to experiment. At the time, we had been writing a lot of new arrangements and wanted to approach recording differently than we had when making Riddled, which had been recorded in a studio.

We used whatever microphones we had on hand: mostly Shure SM58s, a few cheaper PGA58s, and an Apex drum mic set Chris had gotten for Christmas a few weeks earlier.

Over the course of a weekend at our jam space in Pouch Cove, we recorded instrumental bed tracks for six songs: “Mr. Mapex,” “Something Greek,” “Lost with Captain Kirk,” “Paper Hats,” “Superfish,” and an arrangement of the Christmas song “Do You Hear What I Hear,” along with one random improvised jam. Only the first three of those recordings ended up being used on Subpar, although the version of “Paper Hats” from that session was later used on a compilation album put together by Neil Conway as a fundraiser for the Peace-a-Chord festival.

To cut down on microphone bleed as best we could, we used couch cushions as crude sound barriers. For each song, we first recorded a full live take with the entire band. After that, we recorded bass and drums together, then added Mike and Joe’s guitar tracks right afterward. No metronome was used.

In the months that followed, we recorded vocals onto an Apple G4 laptop using a recently acquired PreSonus Firepod. We didn’t have a pop filter, so we made one out of pantyhose and an old coat hanger. It worked far better than it had any right to. Some vocals, like those on “Lost with Captain Kirk,” were recorded using an SM58 placed inside a Becel margarine container with a hole cut in the middle, which gave them a strange, echo-like presence.

Those vocals, along with the two acoustic tracks, were recorded at our jam space in Portugal Cove. We moved jam spots every few months to give each band member’s family a break from the noise. Joe used his recently acquired Ebow on the “Jamaican Duck” recording, along with the tremolo feature on his Traynor Reverb Master amp. We also added ambient noise to “Play by Numbers” to make it feel like it was being played in a small bar or at a house party. Right at the end of the track, if you listen closely, you can hear a reference to the G.I. Joe PSA parody videos that were popular at the time.

Once all the tracks were recorded, we reached out to Leo Bruce to mix the recordings. Leo had previously recorded Riddled with Flaws with us at his studio (later named Henge Studio), which was located off Duckworth Street in downtown St. John’s. The tracks were then mastered by MMS Atlantic, who also pressed the discs.

We had always had a strong relationship with Arnob Bal, whom Mike, Brad, and Joe had known since junior high. Mike and Arnob had also been recording wonderfully strange electronic music together at Arnob’s house over the previous few years. Back in 2002–03, we sold $1 demos at some of our first shows (mostly made up of four-track recordings we had made), which also included tracks created by Mike and Arnob.

The final two tracks on the EP are something of a continuation of that relationship. Arnob remixed a live recording of “8 Bars of F’n Energy,” retitling it “Ate Bars.” Arnob would later go on to record our 2017 album There Just Might Be Enough Time. “This Next One Goes Out To…” was created by Mike while he was learning a looping program called Taureg, using bits of live banter from a show recording. At the time, we routinely recorded our sets using a portable MiniDisc recorder plugged into the soundboard whenever we played live.

The album artwork was created by our friend Zack Rousseau, with the packaging designed by Brad. Although we can’t entirely remember what the original concept behind the artwork was, the title continued the self-deprecating naming style we had been using for our releases up to that point.

The whole project was deeply rooted in a DIY approach. Each of the 500 CD sleeves was screen-printed by the band and our friends over the course of two evenings. The inserts were hand-cut, and every copy included a random hockey card from one of our childhood collections. We joked that anyone who bought the album could sell the card for 15 cents as a rebate. The individual band photos were taken in the photo booth at the Avalon Mall.

The EP release show was originally scheduled for March 10 at Junctions, but it was cancelled because of a typical Newfoundland March snowstorm and rescheduled for March 17. Around that time, we were playing in St. John’s almost every two weeks. In the month leading up to the release show, we played February 3 at Primers with My Antonia and Trailer Camp; February 18 at an all-ages show at Junctions opening for a Fur Packed Action reunion show (we would later record their song “Middle Class”); and March 4 at an album release show for Elimination Dance at CBTG’s. We were also almost certainly in the audience at Junctions on February 10 for Children of Eve (Logan’s band), who were playing with Call the Ambulance. Not sure whether Logan was still playing guitar or had moved to drums with them at that point.

One of the bands that played our EP release show was the absolutely fantastic Funky Dory. We were thrilled to have them on the bill, but also genuinely surprised when, as part of their set, they played a medley of Roundelay songs. Hearing our songs interpreted by another band—especially one with horns and such a funky rhythm section—was an amazing experience.

After the release of the EP, we started making plans to record our next album. We would do most of that recording later in the summer of 2006 in a similar DIY fashion and in many of the same locations, but this time with the help of our friend, former bandmate, and producer Jeremy Kiehl.

Subpar is a document of the way we were learning and making things at the time, warts and all. The full-band recordings capture something very close to what our live performances sounded like in that era.

…Also, there are still five copies of Riddled with Flaws on cassette left on our Bandcamp. You can get it here!

Photos:
Top: Joe during the recording of Subpar, January 2006.
Bottom, left to right: individual band photos taken in the photo booth at the Avalon Mall; Mike, Brad, and Sam Pryse-Phillips screen-printing the album sleeves; Elyse Summers and Brad inserting pamphlets into the CD sleeves; Joe cutting the pamphlets; a stack of CDs from MMS Atlantic; Chris, Brad, and Joe during the recording of Subpar.