Vancouver blues influenced rock band Head of the Herd put a lot of miles into recording their third CD “ Birds on The Roof.”
They recorded five songs in Wales and England with Ian Davenport (who has worked with Band of Skulls, Supergrass and Radiohead's Phil Selway, some more in southern Georgia with Mark Neill (who produced the Black Keys Brothers GGGarth Richardson produced some others and frontman Neu Mannas produced three of them himself in the band’s hometown of Vancouver.
“This album is more like a novel than a twitter feed, so we couldn’t think of any one person who we wanted to do it,” Mannas said adding while it is not a concept album, they were able to divide it into chapters to be sent to the different producers.
“ A lot of bands just want to recreate their last album. We didn’t want to do that. So we split the album up and gave them to whoever we think could hit it out of the park,” said Mannas, who is excited about an 18 show tour with Finger Eleven, which stops by Soundgarden, Oct. 26.
“Finger Eleven are the first band I ever crowd surfed to,” he said.
“We’ve been friends with those boys for a while. They produced a few songs on the last record. So we’re pretty excited to play some shows with them. I’ve seen them a few times,” he said.
He said the band is grateful to have worked with such well known producers.
“You never know if you call these people if they will even pick up the phone, let alone ask you to fly half way around the world, he said.
He enjoyed spending three weeks in Wales and England working on “ I’m a Mother,” “Giving Tree, “Spend My Life on You, “This Could Be A Trap” and Fall in Love Again.”
“This studio, Rockfield Studios, was amazing. They’ve recorded Rush albums there and (Oasis’s album) ‘ What’s The Story Morning Glory” and even Bohemian Rhapsody,” he enthused.
“It’s one of the first rural studios. It’s literally a farm. There's the studio and the farm. So all you do is work all day and all night, he said, adding he sent Davenport pretty much completed demos of the songs.
“Our demos are usually completed songs, but the melodies still work just on a piano. He liked them. He completely dissected them and took them apart and started from scratch. He has some great ideas and they turned out even better,” he said.
He said recording with Mark Neill in southern Georgia because they could explore their vintage side. He noted they worked with a lot of vintage equipment.
“ All of the equipment there weighed a thousand pounds and Mark is of the school where you record one and you’re done,” he said.
“Response to the album has been unreal,” he enthused.
“From the start, people have been supporting it. It’s been wonderful,” he said.
It has been a few years since Head of the Herd played Lethbridge.
“It’s going to be live and loud,” he said.
While the band is moving forward, the essence of the band remains.
“It’s still me playing guitar and singing,” he said.
Head of the Herd and Finger Eleven play Soundgarden, Oct. 26. Doors open at 7 p.m., Tickets cost $40 in advance. Local band Cosmic Charley will begin the show.
