Atlantic Records

Welcome to B-Side Asides, where your favorite musicians explore the records that define them as artists. Inside you'll find commentary straight from the artist on the deep tracks, the personal tracks, and the intricately-structured tracks that they rarely get to discuss.

Today, indie rocker Colin Frangicetto of Circa Survive tells us about two tracks off of 2010's Blue Sky Noise, and bayou soul king Marc Broussard dives into the deep end of his catalog!



#1 - Glass Arrows
From the album Blue Sky Noise

Colin: This song was based off of a full band instrumental I wrote during the On Letting Go writing period. I called the idea "Sting Is The Man," because the opening chord riffs reminded me of The Police. Needless to say it didn't get worked on for that record, but it did sit atop the pile of ideas I wanted to mess with for the next record. When we started to write Blue Sky Noise we were producing ideas by the truckload. This was the first "old idea" to get jammed on as we were searching for fresh sounds and trying to avoid anything that would be a rehashing of the past. I remember that it immediately stuck out because it was in 5/4 but felt really smooth. The guys picked up the parts I wrote very quickly. Within minutes we had made all the parts a million times cooler. Shortly after, we wrote the Yes-ish drum roll and it immediately became the glue that held the song together. The drum roll got us in and out of each part seamlessly and it gave the song a proggy sound that we loved. The part where the kids chant on the album was originally just Anthony screaming as he held the mic up to his throat rather than mouth. Brendan was originally the only one playing the guitar "chickas," and I was banging on a snare drum. At that point the song felt awesome; I remember just barely being able to hear Anthony sing random melodies over us rocking but what I COULD hear was giving me chills. Jamming to that idea for the first time felt amazing.
Sidenote: The original chorus was about 3 times longer than it is now. It was a chord progression that didn't repeat at all. It was slightly mind numbing but pretty cool. Unfortunately, it really stumped us all for a while and made the song feel unresolved. We didn't know what it was, or what to do with it. I think it was Chris Foitle, one of our A&R guys for BSN that suggested shortening it. Once we tried it we loved it and were shocked that a "suit" could have such a great idea! Haha. Goes to show you, don't judge a book by its cover!
There are some great stories about recording it, and the subject matter of the song's lyrics. We'll save that for another time... It's become one of my favorite songs to play live and always seems to get the crowd's blood to boil.



#2 - Dyed In The Wool
From the album Blue Sky Noise

Colin: This was easily one of the most collaborative writing processes in Circa history. The instrumentals started from the verse drum groove I had recorded and looped it in the headphones. I’d listen to that and start writing guitar parts over it. Eventually bass was added, and then I had this one really dreamy part going on - I loved it. It reminded me of Codeseven and pretty much anything that reminds us of Codeseven rules, but I digress.
Eventually I accumulated the pre chorus (guitar break) and the chorus. Once it felt like a full idea I sent it to the guys and remember everyone digging it. Before I knew it, Brendan sent out an mp3 of him singing these words and melodies over the verses. A lot of it was really awesome so it was bookmarked in my mind as "work on soon". Soon after, Steve sent an mp3 of this vocal melody idea for the chorus. It was a cool melody, but was also really funny because he pitched his voice up an octave to mimic Anthony’s range hahahaha. It sounded like a chipmunkish Steve - nothing better than a great idea that can ALSO make you lose your shit in laughter. Anyway, the only words we could make out were "nothing's gonna change."
The next day Anthony came to my apartment with a ton of amazing ideas incorporating Brendan and Steve’s ideas and a bunch of new stuff he wrote. We tracked the vocal idea and remember thinking there was just something missing in the chorus. The "I know, I know" thing just kind of popped out. Anthony said he loved it. We tracked it, and boom it was one of the stronger demos we had at the time. Once in the studio, we wrote the bridge and really supped up the guitar parts. David (Bottrill) made me really push to find the most interesting stuff possible on those verses. I made them so interesting that I couldn’t figure out how to play it live. (I eventually figured it out.) ;)
The Kids: Oddly enough both of these songs feature the Sterling Hall School Boys choir. It was an idea that both David and ourselves had separately during the recording process. I think the Pink Floyd vibe was heavy and so we thought it would be appropriate and different. When we went there it was literally the last day of recording. We had already packed up the studio, and were going to head home to Doylestown as soon as we finished recording it. So we went to the school, and once the chaos of school ending had passed, one by one these young dudes started walking in looking mostly excited, but some seemed rightfully terrified too. I pretty much sat back and watched as David and Catherine (the choir instructor) tried to get these guys to sing the "I knows" for “Dyed In The Wool”. They sounded great but there was definitely a bit of uncertainty in the boys eyes... like "Is this cool? Or is this lame?"
Eventually we got to the “Glass Arrows” yelling part. Anthony took the role of teacher for this one. He got up there and started screaming the part; immediately all the boys’ eyes opened super wide and smiles covered their faces. I remember him yelling at them right before the last take, saying "THIS IS IT! THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE!! I WANT YOU TO GO CRAZY!!!!" He sounded like he was singing for 25 ta Life. Now it was the choir teacher Catherine who looked uncertain! The last take was so epic, they were almost attacking each other, climbing on the risers, throwing chairs... we were all dying in the corner,laughing in total satisfaction as we watched these well-behaved boys choir rioting to our song. It was a great way to end the recording process.



For more information on Circa Survive, visit their official site!



#1 - No One Knew My Name
Unreleased

Marc: I've always loved this song and it's gotten a great response live. It was written at the beginning of my career and the subject matter of the song really needed to be sung by an artist with a few more years of maturation. Maybe that time has come.



#2 - Start Over Again
Unreleased

Marc: I wrote this song when I was very young and very stupid. None of it makes sense anymore. Yet I still like the sound of the tune.



Visit Marc's official site for music and tour dates!