Heaven Man, As One
Heaven Man goes deep about the making of their new album, As One
A few weeks back Heaven Man got together and discussed our thoughts and feelings about As One before release day. What follows are questions from Julian Booker of WXPN here in Philadelphia that we each took turns answering about the making of the record.
DUSTIN HIMSWORTH
Q: What track are you most proud of and why?
A: “Scary Joy”
The initial idea for the song started with a couple riffs and was always meant to have Jeff play lap steel on it. The idea was to make it somewhat of a rollercoaster. It took a decent amount of tweaking to get the song where it is now. Lyrically, I always knew I wanted to dedicate it to my girlfriend, Sarah Joy (hence the song name). She saw the song morph over time and even helped to hash out some lyrics. The playing by everyone is so good on that song. We’re very proud of it.
Q: What was the most organic part of writing & recording the record?
A: “As One”
I wrote most of this song very quickly in my kitchen with my classical guitar. It’s a pretty simple tune, which is maybe how it poured out so easily. Even lyrically, the song was written in maybe 20-30 minutes. It’s a love song about falling in love and about how sometimes it can happen easily. My partner, Sarah Joy, was the first one to hear this song when I played it to her in our living room. I think only a few days or weeks later, everyone else learned the song and that’s when the song really came together! Robbie’s mellotron and the increased intensity of the second verse is one of my favorite moments on the record.
Q: What was the most challenging?
A: “Scary Joy”
This song took the longest for us to finish if I remember correctly. The final product is extremely rewarding for us. Recording guitars for me was quite a doozy. I did more takes than any other song for the second half of Scary Joy. It’s also a long song so recording all of our parts was a little exhausting in some way.
Q: How does this release build upon your last one?
A: The last record was so rushed. For this one, we were able to take our time and really get into experimentation. We had most of these songs hashed out for a long time before we started to record. So that made it quite easy when getting basics done. Having two home studios to work at was also very nice. We could just take our time and not rush it! The last record took probably 5 or 6 sessions. This one took much longer, so it almost feels more rewarding than the last because of that. To Yous will always be special, but this record shows how we have matured as a band and definitely captures our band at a time where we have found ourselves. Jeff brings us to a new level as well. He has years of experience and I don’t think I’ve met another guitarist that I’ve gelled with as much as I have with Jeff. It’s really special and I believe it’s just the beginning.
Q: Were there any songs, albums or artists that played a particularly heavy influence on the songs and / or sound of the record?
A: 60’s and 70’s psych rock in general, Dungen, Trad gras Och Stenar, Television, Fleetwood Mac (Danny Kirwan era), Pretty things, Thin lizzy, Stephen Malkmus/Pavement, Steve Gunn. Those are artists/music that I’ve listened to mostly while we made the record. I think bands like My Morning Jacket and Dr Dog will always be ingrained in my musical mind as well. They were my favorite bands growing up.
Q: Any other points of context you feel that are important for people to know before hearing it in full for the first time?
A: It’s been a while since we released anything but we’ve really stayed busy. Right before the pandemic, we started to jam with Jeff. The pandemic really halted all of our momentum just like it did for other artists. We eventually figured out that we needed to get to work to get these songs out, but before we even started recording we rehearsed and jammed with Jeff for a solid year. The whole process required tons of patience, but now people can expect us to keep things going!
ZACH ROUMAYA
Q: What track are you most proud of and why?
A: “Shebby”
I think musically, it is “Shebby” - I think it’s a total combination of our older, garage-rock sound mixed with our newer direction of jamming/psychedelic stuff.
Lyrically, I am proud of “Yearning.” It is one of the first full songs I wrote words for, and it holds a lot of personal emotion/catharsis.
Q: What was the most organic part of writing & recording the record?
A: Much of the songwriting process felt very organic. We write and finish a lot of our songs as a band, and as far as structure, work a lot of things out in the moment. These guys are solid collaborators and everything came together very naturally.
Q: What was the most challenging?
For me - tracking. I’m still getting used to playing in that set up, and as a bass player, tracking songs directly takes away some of the natural vibrations/feelings of playing live.
Q: How does this release build upon your last one?
As One is a huge step forward for all parts of this band. Sonically, it contains many songs that we wrote after To Yous, which show us finding more of our own unique sound. As One will also be our first release with Jeff as a full-fledged member of the band, which has only expanded our sound in a naturally fitting direction. We are taking more risks, but also doing it in a way that feels more put together than the first record.
Q: Were there any songs, albums or artists that played a particularly heavy influence on the songs and / or sound of the record?
MMJ, Meat Puppets, Steve Gunn, Oh Sees, Dinosaur Jr, Grateful Dead, and Pink Floyd.
Q: Any other points of context you feel that are important for people to know before hearing it in full for the first time?
No song sounds the same - Heaven Man is a band that knows no singular sound, so it’s a mind-massager for those who want to hear something that isn’t really being replicated in many modern acts.
ANDRES GALLEGOS
Q: What track are you most proud of and why?
A: “Scary Joy”
I feel that it sums up our band’s current sound all in one song. I have a lot of flash memories tied to this track, more than others on this record, and feel deeply connected to its sound. We also nailed the basic tracks in the first take!
Q: What was the most organic part of writing & recording the record?
A: Many parts of this record came out of pure improvisation when the songs were first written.
It felt really nice to get to that moment where a song is 90% complete and you have a melody pop in your head that reminds you of what you love most about a certain song or a band you love, practice it all night, and then record it the next day exactly how you pictured it.
The record was recorded and mixed between our apartment and our guitarist (Jeff White’s) home. Humongous thanks to Jeff for his decades of experience in sound engineering.
Q: What was the most challenging?
A: Being patient with the recording process. Knowing the difference between when you’re sure you can cut a track better and when you're chasing your own tail over something that sounds fine.
Q: How does this release build upon your last one?
A: We wanted to make a solid record that was a level up in quality and musicianship from our first and I truly believe we did that. We took our time with it and did it our way - without pressure from a studio.
Q: Were there any songs, albums or artists that played a particularly heavy influence on the songs and / or sound of the record?
A: Yes, many… To hardly scratch the surface I'll name only a few.
Ty Segall, Dungen, Daniel Rossen, John Dwyer, Kikagaku Moyo, Jonathan Wilson, Jason Molina, The Meat Puppets, Karen Dalton, Dr. Dog, Alabama Shakes, Wilco, My Morning Jacket, Kurt Vile, War On Drugs, Cass McCombs, Fruit Bats, Chris Forsyth, 70’s American/British/European Pscyh Rock & Krautrock. I know there's for sure a little southern rock twang flying low in there.
Q: Any other points of context you feel that are important for people to know before hearing it in full for the first time?
A: This record has been a long time coming! About five years. We wouldn’t be putting it out right now if we weren’t extremely proud of it. Half of these songs were written around the same time as our first record. Of course covid put a halt on many things, but we're back baby! It’s a confirmation that we’re here to stay and we’re a serious band to be considered.
JEFF WHITE
Q: What track are you most proud of and why ?
A: “ Scary Joy”
First of all, I am REALLY proud of As One and all of the work that we did as a group in order to bring it into the world. Every song sounds so different from the next, but together they sound so cohesive, like an album should. It’s my favorite record that I’ve ever worked on. We worked our asses off on this thing, but we kept it relaxed the whole time. It feels lived in; a year in the life, so to speak.
As far as the track that I am most proud of, it's definitely the second side opener, “Scary Joy.” It really set the tone for this record. Classic ‘70s psychedelic. It is all our own but definitely is heavily influenced by classic British, German, and Scandinavian psych bands. It takes you places. Traveling while sitting still.
Dustin, Zach, and Andres nailed the basic song structure in a single take. We were all like “That’s IT!” The band was so well rehearsed before we hit record. After basic tracking for the whole record we spent a few nights last summer getting all of Dustin’s guitar parts done for “Scary Joy.” He finished the lyrics and recorded his vocals in November. I finally recorded the steel guitar parts on my birthday in January on my 1956 Fender Studio Pro Console Steel. I installed Certano Palm Benders on it, which is how it sounds like a pedal steel. My other electric guitar parts were finished a few days later. Interesting gear detail… the Roger Mayer Octavia that I used on the middle section, my guitar solo, and the fuzz guitars at the end was sold to me last summer by Cory Hanson of Wand. He used it a ton on Wand records and his solo records. Kind of like passing the psych torch in a way.
Q: What was the most organic part of writing & recording the record?
A: Again, we just all play together so well and really gel as a band. These guys all grew up together and have been friends and bandmates for a long time. I'm the new guy and I couldn’t ask for a better group of dudes to make music with. I’m a bit (laughs) older than them but we are all on the same wavelength. A natural fit.
Backstory… I was a fan of Heaven Man before I started playing with these guys. They were fans of my previous band, Mesmeric Haze, as well. I really love their first record and was psyched to start something fresh with some new friends. Robbie Simmons, who engineered To Yous, their first record, did a great job capturing where they were at the time. Their first record was about a year old when we got together. We jammed and immediately formed a new band called Cave of Brahma back in Feb/March of 2020 (more on that later).
By mid/late March 2020 my previous band Mesmeric Haze went on semi-permanent hiatus as soon as the lockdown began. I spent the first year of the pandemic mourning the loss of “The Haze” and dreaming of playing and recording with people again. I made a droned-out meditation record called The Astral Planes of Elsewhere. I got super close with my girlfriend, now fiancée, Jessica, and we got out of Philly and moved down to the South Jersey shore part-time in the summer of 2020.
Fall 2020… I was invited to help Heaven Man out with some things. We did a couple of singles remotely for pandemic-era Philly music scene holiday comps in 2020 and 2021. I played guitar and steel, mixed, and mastered them. We got together and jammed a bit in late spring/early summer 2021 and I officially joined Heaven Man at that time. Since the same four guys that now make up Heaven Man were the same four guys in Cave of Brahma, we just merged them together. (Note: their part-time live drummer wasn’t with them any longer and producer/live keyboardist Robbie Simmons moved to Los Angeles.) Due to the pandemic, however, we all still laid low and didn’t start jamming again on the regular until Spring 2022. We rehearsed for almost a year before we played a show in March 2023. Then we started recording As One.
How I spent the pandemic… I upgraded my whole studio between 2020-2023, all the while dreaming of making a record with these dudes! I built Dustin and I custom Strats, plus a bunch of other guitars including the Eyb bridge outfitted sitar Strat used on the first solo on “A Gathering.” I built and bought some fuzz pedals, mic preamps, and built the Micparts T-12 condenser mic that we used on all of the vocals and most of the percussion on As One. I restored a vintage 1969 Gibson ES-335 that I bought in 2019 from Joe Reinhart of Hop Along. It’s all over the record. Lots of other pandemic studio upgrades. I could write a book about just that. We got to break out all of the new toys for As One.
The pandemic really put a hold on things, but once we started playing together again regularly in spring ‘22, the As One record just came together more and more each week. By the time we went to record we just had the basics and then some together. In Late April 2023 I moved my recording gear into their band house, we spent about a week’s worth of nights getting sounds, and then we tracked 9 songs at night after work at a relaxed pace / atmosphere for a few weeks in May 2023. Very chill, zero arguments, fun memories, great hangs. Basics between May-July happened really fast once we got going. After that we went right into recording Dustin’s guitars. We even ended up with a few songs that didn’t make the record but that will be integral to the next EP or LP.
Q: What was the most challenging?
A: Well, all things must pass, right? Their sweet house cat, Shebby, passed away while we were writing the record and jamming. It was a really sad thing to see those guys go through. I got a kidney stone the day after I moved gear into the band house in late April, which pushed basic tracking back for a few weeks and was not fun at all for me, to be honest. On top of that, my 14 year old sweetheart Collie/Shepherd Nilsson passed away in late May in the middle of tracking basics while I was still healing up. It was like a 1-2 gut punch for me. Not a good time. We had to get the drums done because Andres was heading to Belize for work for 5 weeks, and we wanted to get the record done before October. We just all pushed through and got the work done before he left. The work kept me sane.
Then I had a weird arm issue happen late summer due to overuse, overplaying, and repetitive motion injury. It delayed my ability to track guitars for a few months. Acupuncture saved me. We never had any real challenges, collectively, as a band; we all get along and love playing together and being creative. Everyone shows up and pulls their own weight. It all went smoothly and was a lot of fun. We all have our personal stuff to deal with, and I know that these things seeped into the writing and playing on As One. It’s all in there. The world doesn’t stop. Coupled with the events mentioned above, I guess that working on this record, at least from my perspective, was a true solace from the outside world. I spent the fall and winter lost in the process. And once I could play guitar again at the level needed for the record, I just got the work done.
Q: How does this release build upon your last one?
A: I wasn’t involved at all with the first record, so I’ll let the other guys discuss specifics.
I will say that as a fan first, as a new member, and as the dude hitting the record button I was really determined to capture their/our growth as a band and make up for lost time due to the pandemic. I believe that we succeeded in doing just that.
Q: Were there any songs, albums or artists that played a particularly heavy influence on the songs and / or sound of the record?
A: I’m into a lot of music, and this band has a lot of influences in common. Some artists who I personally thought about, read about, and listened to critically for inspiration while making As One were Future Games & Bare Trees-era Fleetwood Mac, Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson-era Fairport Convention, Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin, David Gilmour’s first solo record & ’70s Pink Floyd, Gentle Spirit-era Jonathan Wilson, Wagonwheel Blues and Slave Ambient-era The War On Drugs, We’re Already There-era Mazarin, The Deathcapades-era The Cobbs, The Ngozi Family, Top Drawer, especially “Song of a Sinner,” Cream, Traffic, Europe ‘72-era Grateful Dead, Traden, Dungen, George Harrison solo and with the Beatles, The Stooges, Ty Segall, Chris Forsyth, Cory Hanson solo records & his band Wand, Amorica-era Black Crowes, early Humble Pie, and Radiohead.
I also read and thought about Jimmy Page, Alan Parsons, Glyn Johns, Andy Johns, Jimmy Miller, David Briggs, Nigel Godrich, Jonathan Wilson, Jeff Zeigler, and Adam Granduciel as engineers and producers while in the process of making As One. I find their production work inspiring.
Q: Any other points of context you feel that are important for people to know before hearing it in full for the first time?
A: I was definitely trying to get in the headspace of my favorite records that were recorded outside of traditional studios. Classic ‘70s records where they pulled up in a mobile recording truck, or dragged a tape machine and a console into a barn or a castle somewhere. We recorded this record in four houses. Although they aren’t European castles, they proved worthy. The basic tracks, guitars, bass, and drums, were recorded in the basement of the band’s row home in Brewerytown, Philly. We did the bulk of everything else at my fiancée and my row home in Port Richmond, Philly, as well as some guitar overdubs down at our beach bungalow outside of Cape May, NJ. Robbie Simmons guested on the record and overdubbed keys on four of the songs out in Los Angeles where he now resides.
I went for a dry drum sound that I could put in a virtual vibey space later on, so we hung blankets and deadened the basement jam room. We spent about a week getting drum sounds and it really paid off for us. All of the bass and drums on the record are recorded together live, with no click track, no time-alignment to a grid, and maybe a half dozen timing edits of those tracks over the whole record. I like to use digital recording like I used to use tape. Example… “Shebby” is the three of them live, with additional guitars by Dustin and I overdubbed. But the basic recording of the three of them made the song’s vibe what it is..
I also wanted complete separation with zero bleed while recording, so I didn’t mic anything on the record except for drums, percussion, and vocals. All of the bass and guitars are direct, but recorded using real vintage tube guitar amps. I used a bunch of vintage Fender amps, a Fryette Power Station (PS-100), a few Sansamp pedals, and a Cabzeus IR speaker emulator. We were able to do basic tracks with everyone in the same room playing off each other but achieve the separation of a large commercial studio space. And after that we were able to record guitar overdubs by getting great sounds to sit well immediately within the mix and monitors without volume being an issue for great tones. I love micing guitar amps, trust me, but the Fryette PS-100 + Cabzeus setup is life-changing for home studio recording. The results are incredible.
I used a lot of vintage sounding echo, delay, and plate reverb plugins, as well as a few tape emulation plugins, for a classic ‘60s and ‘70s vibe. No autotune anywhere. It is recorded digitally and I love modern digital’s workflow. My analog front end before the Metric Halo and Lucid converters is made up of a bunch of nice mic/line preamps. I captured vintage amps with old school ‘70s flavored mic/line preamps and compressors. Drums were recorded with three channels of CAPI VP26 and four channels of Sytek MPX-4A ii preamps. Nearly every overdub on the record is a Hairball Lola mic preamp with a dbx 560A or 160X compressor. I also used a few plugins as preamps for sounds while mixing, especially the Waves REDD.17 plug-in. We also mixed it out through analog using Dangerous Music analog summing, CAPI VP28 line-level preamps (basically the sound of a vintage ‘70s API console), and a Tegeler Audio Manufaktur Creme analog EQ/compressor. I am really happy with the way that it sounds.
Carl Saff at Saff Mastering in Chicago did an outstanding job of pulling it all together in mastering. We’re all very happy with his work and we’re looking forward to working with him again later this year.
As for the immediate future, we have another record coming out this year, a double-record under the name Cave of Brahma, recorded live in my studio, the Spacement, before and during the pandemic. I believe that we are going to put it out as a Heaven Man / Cave of Brahma album, with Cave of Brahma as the album title. The specifics may change, we just want it out in the world. The record is all longform improvised instrumental jams. Very heady. It’s actually the first notes that we ever played together. I just happened to multitrack record it. We all knew then that when we play that it's more than the sum of the parts. It’s a very special record to all of us. Heaven Man’s current form started with these jams, so I see it as a companion record to As One. I’m currently at work mixing it.
These people, these places, this time period, this journey, these experiences, this gear, and these influences all added up to make the sound of As One. We hope you enjoy it!