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Southern Weather
Southern Weather is the debut album by Underoath drummer Aaron Gillespie's solo-project, the Almost.
In October 2005, Gillespie was in New York City and had the urge to do some straight-forward rock songs. After telling his manager, he was put in a studio where he started working on material. That evening, he received the songs from the studio and posted two demos ("I Mostly Copy Other People" and "Never Say "I Told You So"") on his Myspace profile. Gillespie was recording with Underoath (for Define the Great Line) at the time and, as their drummer and co-vocalist, was in a several week period between tracking drums and doing the vocals. To keep himself productive during this lull, he wrote a bunch of songs that differed from the band's sound and fit a more alternative rock vein.
Southern Weather was produced by Aaron Sprinkle; Gillespie was initially going to work with someone different until an A&R representative at Tooth & Nail Records suggested Sprinkle. Gillespie didn't know Sprinkle beforehand, but admired his work with Pedro the Lion. Recording sessions were held at Compound Recording in Seattle, Washington with Zach Hodges acting as the additional engineer. Gillespie tracked the drums on a kit made by former Pearl Jam drum tech Aaron Mlasko. Gillespie used a number of snares to achieve as many different tones as he could. For "Dirty and Left Out", the drums were recorded into one microphone with a tambourine taped to the bass drum.
"Dirty and Left Out" also features an additional vocal from Sunny Day Real Estate frontman Jeremy Enigk, who grew up with Sprinkle. Though Gillespie had considered the album finished by this point, Sprinkle recorded Enigk's part while Gillespie was busy touring with Underoath. J.R. McNeely mixed almost every track (except for "Say This Sooner") with assistant Lars Katz at Compound Recording. "Say This Sooner" was mixed by David Bendeth with engineer Dan Korneff at the House of Loud in Elmwood Park, New Jersey. John Bender handled additional vocal recording at the same studio. The recordings were then mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound in New York City.
Musically, the album has been described as alternative rock, emo, pop rock, coming across as less aggressive in both the music and vocals than Underoath's screamo stylings. Additionally, Alternative Press described the album's style as representing "scene music".
Though Gillespie received writing credit for all of the songs, Underoath guitarist Tim McTague helped him write one of the tracks. Gillespie performed nearly all the instrumentation on the record. Sprinkle contributed additional guitar and keyboards; Kevin Suggs adds pedal steel guitar. Discussing "Say This Sooner", Gillespie said: "I've had struggles along the way [growing up in the Deep South]. But I am very much informed by Southern values and I think the songs speak to that." Alternative country-influenced "Dirty and Left Out" was written after Gillespie and Sprinkle listened to Ocean Beach (1995) by Red House Painters. The track, along with "Amazing Because It Is", serves as a declaration of his Christian faith.
"Amazing Because It Is" sees Gillespie emulating the vocal style of Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carrabba, and features horns (performed by John Painter) and cello (performed by Matt Slocum), which were arranged by Slocum. Gillespie went to a church, which invited their youth groups at Calvary Fellowship (based in Mountlake Terrace, Washington) to add a choir singing "Amazing Grace" as the chorus. "Everyone Here Smells Like a Rat" has a mixed Thursday-meets-Oasis vibe to it, and features guest vocals and bass additions from the Starting Line frontman Kenny Vasoli. Vasoli also contributes bass to the album's title-track "Southern Weather". "Never Say "I Told You So"", which has guest vocals from Sprinkle, and "Call Back When I'm Honest" are musically reminiscent to songs on Taking Back Sunday's Louder Now (2006). Closing track "Everything That Makes Me Sick" begins with carnival-esque sounds before the guitars start.
On November 28, 2006, "Southern Weather" was made available for streaming via the band's Myspace profile. In January 2007, the band went on their first tour, a US headlining tour with support from Forgive Durden and Classic Case. The group's touring line-up consisted of Gillespie, guitarists Jay Vilardi and Dusty Redman, bassist Alex Aponte and drummer Kenny Bozich. Vilardi was friends with Underoath's drum tech and lived in Gillespie's area; Vilardi recruited the other members, except for Bozich, who was discovered by Gillespie's wife at a church. On January 31, Southern Weather was announced for release in April, and its track listing was revealed. "Say This Sooner" was posted online on February 7, before being released as a radio single on February 13.
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Southern Weather
Southern Weather is the debut album by Underoath drummer Aaron Gillespie's solo-project, the Almost.
In October 2005, Gillespie was in New York City and had the urge to do some straight-forward rock songs. After telling his manager, he was put in a studio where he started working on material. That evening, he received the songs from the studio and posted two demos ("I Mostly Copy Other People" and "Never Say "I Told You So"") on his Myspace profile. Gillespie was recording with Underoath (for Define the Great Line) at the time and, as their drummer and co-vocalist, was in a several week period between tracking drums and doing the vocals. To keep himself productive during this lull, he wrote a bunch of songs that differed from the band's sound and fit a more alternative rock vein.
Southern Weather was produced by Aaron Sprinkle; Gillespie was initially going to work with someone different until an A&R representative at Tooth & Nail Records suggested Sprinkle. Gillespie didn't know Sprinkle beforehand, but admired his work with Pedro the Lion. Recording sessions were held at Compound Recording in Seattle, Washington with Zach Hodges acting as the additional engineer. Gillespie tracked the drums on a kit made by former Pearl Jam drum tech Aaron Mlasko. Gillespie used a number of snares to achieve as many different tones as he could. For "Dirty and Left Out", the drums were recorded into one microphone with a tambourine taped to the bass drum.
"Dirty and Left Out" also features an additional vocal from Sunny Day Real Estate frontman Jeremy Enigk, who grew up with Sprinkle. Though Gillespie had considered the album finished by this point, Sprinkle recorded Enigk's part while Gillespie was busy touring with Underoath. J.R. McNeely mixed almost every track (except for "Say This Sooner") with assistant Lars Katz at Compound Recording. "Say This Sooner" was mixed by David Bendeth with engineer Dan Korneff at the House of Loud in Elmwood Park, New Jersey. John Bender handled additional vocal recording at the same studio. The recordings were then mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound in New York City.
Musically, the album has been described as alternative rock, emo, pop rock, coming across as less aggressive in both the music and vocals than Underoath's screamo stylings. Additionally, Alternative Press described the album's style as representing "scene music".
Though Gillespie received writing credit for all of the songs, Underoath guitarist Tim McTague helped him write one of the tracks. Gillespie performed nearly all the instrumentation on the record. Sprinkle contributed additional guitar and keyboards; Kevin Suggs adds pedal steel guitar. Discussing "Say This Sooner", Gillespie said: "I've had struggles along the way [growing up in the Deep South]. But I am very much informed by Southern values and I think the songs speak to that." Alternative country-influenced "Dirty and Left Out" was written after Gillespie and Sprinkle listened to Ocean Beach (1995) by Red House Painters. The track, along with "Amazing Because It Is", serves as a declaration of his Christian faith.
"Amazing Because It Is" sees Gillespie emulating the vocal style of Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carrabba, and features horns (performed by John Painter) and cello (performed by Matt Slocum), which were arranged by Slocum. Gillespie went to a church, which invited their youth groups at Calvary Fellowship (based in Mountlake Terrace, Washington) to add a choir singing "Amazing Grace" as the chorus. "Everyone Here Smells Like a Rat" has a mixed Thursday-meets-Oasis vibe to it, and features guest vocals and bass additions from the Starting Line frontman Kenny Vasoli. Vasoli also contributes bass to the album's title-track "Southern Weather". "Never Say "I Told You So"", which has guest vocals from Sprinkle, and "Call Back When I'm Honest" are musically reminiscent to songs on Taking Back Sunday's Louder Now (2006). Closing track "Everything That Makes Me Sick" begins with carnival-esque sounds before the guitars start.
On November 28, 2006, "Southern Weather" was made available for streaming via the band's Myspace profile. In January 2007, the band went on their first tour, a US headlining tour with support from Forgive Durden and Classic Case. The group's touring line-up consisted of Gillespie, guitarists Jay Vilardi and Dusty Redman, bassist Alex Aponte and drummer Kenny Bozich. Vilardi was friends with Underoath's drum tech and lived in Gillespie's area; Vilardi recruited the other members, except for Bozich, who was discovered by Gillespie's wife at a church. On January 31, Southern Weather was announced for release in April, and its track listing was revealed. "Say This Sooner" was posted online on February 7, before being released as a radio single on February 13.