Resta: A Collective Collaboration
By Marshall Terrill
Among music producer Anthony J. Resta's dozen RIAA certified gold and platinum awards, are two releases by Collective Soul - Dosage (1999) and Blender (2000).
Most critics and fans agree that the platinum-selling Dosage is the group's best effort to date, which captures them at a blissful and creative time in their career. And while Blender doesn't engender the same warm response as its predecessor, it has aged well over time.
In the third portion of this epic five-part interview, Resta discusses his work on both releases, the group's ability to write and produce well-crafted rock tunes and his on-going admiration of the Georgia rockers.
Part III
Q: In addition to Duran Duran, one of
your most celebrated collaborations is with Collective Soul, who I think is one
of the most underrated American bands of all-time. Tell me in your own words
what is special about this group?
AR: I think Collective Soul writes really
honest and earthy rock songs that speak from the heart and shoot from the hip.
They also are a dying breed of band that isn’t afraid to push boundaries
sonically and try different treatments and styles all the while sounding
completely coherent as a unified personality regardless of those boundaries.
Publicity photo for Dosage, circa 1999
Q: Your first collaboration with CS was Dosage,
an album many fans and critics consider to be their best work because it took
them creatively to the next plateau. What do you remember about what they
wanted from the sessions, what you wanted from them, and how you got to the end
result?
AR: I drove to Miami with a van full of
toys not knowing what to expect. I had been working on Suze Demarchi’s solo
record Telelove at Long View Farm in North Brookfield, Massachusetts,
for a couple of months. At that stage we were going into mixing and they were
cool with Bob St. John riding solo during the mix and off I went. Turns out Ed
Roland was a fan of Nuno Bettencourt's solo record Schizophonic, which I had co-written
and co-produced a bunch of songs. Bob St. John put him in touch with me at
Longview. Ed wanted to see if my quirky “Dr. Rhythm Freak” treatment might gel
(no pun intended) with the band. So they sent me raw tracks for “I’m Not
the One”. I did a sonic treatment of synth textures, then sequenced and
programmed drums and a bunch of Mellotron stuff. Ed called me up and
said, “It’s super cool but man, where the heck is the one?” He said, “Can you
make the rhythmic end of this A LOT more user friendly? And that began
our long years of collaboration. I set up in a little room next to the control
room and began doing my thing, often dancing around like a cartoon character
hence my nickname ‘Dr. Freak.’ I had large racks filled with modules and Akai
samplers and FX processors. It was really a mad scientist looking lab for sure.
Dosage (Atlantic Records, 1999)
Q: Dosage was recorded over a
four-month period in Miami at Criteria Studios. Who made the decision to record
in Miami and do you think ambiance or a setting can influence the outcome of a
record?
AR: The band made the decision to work
there. It was an awesome studio and being right on the beach (I stayed in
Aventura) was really cool. There was this weird bar in the hotel open
till like 6 a.m. or something. The main form of entertainment was “Play-ooki
Karaoke” where people were not only singing, but playing real instruments
along. Every night it was like a scene out of a David Lynch movie. I brought Ed
once, and he just kept shaking his head saying, “Wow, this is quite the freak
show” or something to that effect. I can’t really describe how
odd it was, but my memories of it (clouded in rum and coke) was in that sort of
faded super 8mm film look. I’m not sure if being in the Caribbean or Alaska or
Switzerland really influences anyone’s playing, but it sure does set up a
mood.
Q: We’ve touched on this subject in the
past, but I think we’re both in agreement that Ed Roland is one of the greatest
songwriters to come along in the last 20 years, and certainly in my opinion,
he’s one of the Top 5 of all-time. What do you like about his lyrics and songs?
AR: I love how they speak to the listener
and touch them all at once in a million different ways. It’s an awesome gift
and I’ve learned more about songwriting from Ed Roland than anyone. He’s beyond
gifted. All the number one songs that people didn’t even know were Collective
Soul can attest to this. He is a fabulous producer as well. I learned from
getting more inside his ELO, Cars, AC/DC influences to find the roots of what
he eventually turned into something 100 percent Collective Soul. The band as a
team puts together the sonic fingerprint and makes it complete.
Q: It should also be noted that CS’s
arrangements are amazing. They have been criticized for their overtly
commercial sound but I contend that not many artists are gifted in this
way…certainly the Beatles and the Stones were commercial. Your thoughts on
this?
AR: Selling ten million records as a rock
band doesn’t happen very often. People forget that success and being commercial
need to meet somewhere for music to appeal to millions of people….if that makes
any sense at all. Critics love to hate successful artists unless they are
Radiohead or Sigor Ross or whatever they deem “critically acclaimed and hip” at
that given moment. It has nothing to do with the music.
Q: Let’s discuss some of tracks on Dosage.
“Tremble for My Beloved” is just so out there. It’s unlike any other song they’ve recorded before or
since. What do you specifically recall about the making of that tune?
AR: I tend to put long intros and outros
on songs as a rule and then they can either become concept records like Pink
Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon or get trimmed down to a few seconds
during the mix. I think all of the songs on Dosage have this treatment,
some more subtle than others. I remember special moments where Ed would be
listening to the four ADAT’s I was overdubbing onto with my own mixer and Aux
sends of FX that were most often printed. He would be so thrilled about some
things and just as many times he’d shake his head and say, “Nope, not a
chance.” I love working with artists that KNOW WHAT THEY LIKE. It’s the best
way to work. I can be relentless and will try a zillion things until a few
special ones connect. Ed helped me learn what was special enough to be in a
song and what was just me having too much fun with all my toys. It was a
period of growth and experimentation. I was lucky to be given wonderful
opportunities like this. I am grateful to this day for that wonderful
opportunity.
"Tremble For My Beloved" by Collective Soul
Q: The intro to “Tremble” is a perfect
example of your 'soundscaping' technique that Will Turpin, their bassist,
pointed out in a recent interview. How did you come up with the intro sound for
“Tremble” and merge it with the music?
AR: I would always put down way more
crazy things that didn’t really fit the music… just for my own head and for me
to come up with the right stuff. Lots of wrong stuff needs to happen during and
before you get to the right stuff. Ed would often filter and still does filter
what fits and what doesn’t. I think he was really open for experimentation at
that time and it shows not just in my parts but the bands parts, the guitar
tones, the vocals, etc. Bob St. John and Shawn Grove and Tom Lorde Alge all had
amazing sonic input on the record as well.
Guitarist Dean Roland
Q: The next track, “Heavy”, was a No. 1
hit for 15 weeks straight. In the case of songs that become big hits, can you
recognize when a song is going to be big or is that an art form in which no one
can predict?
AR: Honestly, no. One never really can be
sure with what will connect with the masses. It’s an equation that has never
been solved. I hear of record companies spending millions to promote what they
thought was a “one listen, no brainer, home run, bona-fide smash hit” only to
have it fall flat. And other things that were not even supposed to be singles
ROCKET to #1.
Q: There’s supposedly a very
off the wall version of “Heavy” that was different from the released version.
Do you remember anything about that alternative version, which Ed once said,
“Needed to come back down to Planet Earth.”
AJ: I don’t recall a version
like that. I remember Bob St. John doing an earlier mix of it and some of the
stems he used got printed and used by other mixers. I don’t think he got credit
for coming up with that gated guitar intro… Bob and I had been doing that sort
of stuff for years before "Heavy."
"Heavy" by Collective Soul
Q: “Needs” sounds like it was
a big production. Tell me your memories in putting that song together?
AJ: I don’t hear it as the
“biggest” production. Just because it has a lot of strings doesn’t really make
it the biggest. I love the video to that song. A bunch of the later songs we
worked on at Tree Sound and Bopnique Studios (BTW we definitely cut “Dandy Life” at Bopnique) are a little cloudy in my memory. We were passing around
2-inch tapes, hard drives and ADAT’s. Lots of overdubs were done in Ed’s basement
in Atlanta. It was a really nice cozy place and we had some of our best
creativity flowing on post-production stuff there. I guess I can’t really
answer that properly…
Q: “Generate” is one of my
favorite songs because of the drum track. I remember in a past interview with ModernDrummer where Shane Evans mentioned that Dosage really pushed his
abilities because he was introduced to electronic drums, loops and percussion
textures. At first he saw it as a threat, but then realized it could be used as
a tool to expand his drumming abilities.
This must have been an interesting process to witness?
AR: I think Shane was super
open and cool to me, coming aboard and introducing electronica into the mix. I
think he added some things like the broken glass loop in one of the songs. He
was really open to playing to my sequences, and it's way more fun than playing
to a click! I love Shane...he has a great pocket.
Drummer Shane Evans
Q: The other single, “Run”, is considered
one of CS’s greatest hits and a concert staple of theirs. What do you recall
about this track?
AR: Ed introduces me as the co-writer of
the song occasionally and that is very kind of him. We had just finished reworking “She Said” at the very end of
the project at Tree Sound Studios. I was playing with beats and sounds and Ed was
walking around playing an acoustic. I asked, “What’s that? He said, “I don’t
know.” I said, “It sounds like the Beatles...keep going. I put all the beats
together and began putting downs some raw orchestral loops and stuff and it
just fell into place. The band had to come back at a latter set of sessions to
play on it and turn it into what you hear now. I love Tom Lorde Alges treatment
of my programming and beats on that track. He’s a master mixer and moves things
around and reinvents things in a creative way that makes you excited. He’s not
lazy just throwing up the faders and mixing…that’s been my experience. Bob St
John and Karyadi Sutedja and Paul David Hager are the same way. I love mix
engineers who roll up their sleeves and dive in to their elbows and ELEVATE the
music to the next level.
"Run" by Collective Soul
Q: You’ve mentioned before that “Crown”
is your favorite song on Dosage. Why does this song resonate with you?
AR: People that know my history and
influences realize how much of a Pink Floyd freak I am, and on that track Ed
just let go and let me run free. I took his scratch acoustic and ran it through
a lexicon vortex and some other stuff and built the track on top of it. The
synth bass alone is made up of something like twelve different sounds. Shawn
Grove and Ed watched me record the drums with maybe two or three mics and VERY
expensive vintage U47 VERY CLOSE to my head to capture the drummer perspective.
I played through the song about three times and cut up the pieces in my rack of
Akai S3000’s. I sequenced it as stereo mix blend, so that is what you hear on
the record. There is one fill in the outro that’s based on a triplet
displacement to the pulse that I literally fell off the drums playing. It’s in the
outro. We laughed and laughed, so I used it. It’s a cool moment. There is a
constant push and pull to the various sections because of how the various parts
fit together. We had Pro Tools but I did things in this sort of OBLIQUE
strategy way, trying to think like my heroes of the time. Mainly Brian Eno at
that particular moment. I love the vocal and the lyrics to crown and my synth
solo is so Pink Floyd. Something in the message connects to my dad, who I lost
in ‘97. It will always be one of my favorite collaborations of all time.
Bassist Will Turpin
Q: “She Said” was released on the Scream
2 soundtrack and ended up as a bonus track on the album. What’s your
recollection on the recording of that song?
AR: That song was a technical nightmare
because the time code for the orchestra was at a different rate or drop frame
or something, so much trouble syncing the new stuff. I added to the old master
it was a very long three-day mix session at Tree Sound Studios and Bob St. John and I
were pulling out our hair. It was really stressful. We eventually got it all
working. I like the version on Dosage a lot. It’s a great song.
The lyrics are so uplifting. I put some weird Mellotron guitar in the pre-chorus that I still can’t figure out why sounds like a Wurlitzer piano.
Guitarist Ross Childress
Q: Collective Soul recently finished a
tour where they sang Dosage in its entirety. How does this make you feel
and looking back, what was special about that record?
AR: I’m so honored and proud to have been
a part of Dosage, and they have been so kind and gracious to mention me
in press about it. I think it sounds more
contemporary now than when we made it. It’s a classic for sure.
Dosage Tour 2012 commemorative poster and VIP pass
Q: If Dosage was pushing the band
in a new creative direction, then it could be said that Blender pushed
them further into a more modernized and electronic sound that started with Dosage.
Despite the fact that it wasn’t the most popular CS album, it does have a very
strong personality. As a whole, what do you think of Blender today?
AR: I love Blender and so do most
fans of Dosage. It’s a great record. I wish songs like “After All” and
“Turn Around” had been released as singles. I think that might have made it a
platinum album instead of a gold record.
Blender (Atlantic Records, 2000)
Q: “Vent” is certainly a highlight for
me. What’s your memory of that song?
AR: To be honest, I don’t really remember
all that much about it. I did have fun making the djembe and conga loops and
some goofy turntable work here and there. I was just getting into using two
turntables and messing with white label vinyl from shops in little five points. In retrospect, I’m not so
sure it really fit Collective Soul’s sound of the time but we loved trying new
things and it was fairly tasteful. I like the scratching at the very end of
“Turn Around” into that little classical piano bit I did. I added some weird
robot sounds from a contraption that used to be at Boston’s Logan Airport and
it became a segue way into “Boast.”
Q: “Why Pt. 2” has an opening sound that
has your unmistakably signature. I’ve tried to figure out for years what it
is…what the hell is that noise?
AR: It’s a drum sequence from an Akai
S3000 through a Lexicon Fireworx unit. Ed bought two and gifted me one. He’s
very generous like that. It’s all over that record and Dosage as well.
The "Why Pt. 2" video was filmed at publisher Larry Flynt's estate in Los Angeles
Q: “Why Pt. 2” features a blistering
guitar solo by Ross Childress. He has a very individualized style of playing
and was interesting to watch. What was he like to work with and what did he
lend to the group?
AR: Ross kept to himself a lot. He was
always very quiet. He was set up in a different room and we only saw him when
he unveiled one of his massive solo textures. Ed used a ‘50s white Les Paul
that looked like an SG 3 gold pickup and PAF’s on that song. That guitar has a
sound like nothing else. We were shaking the electrical room that we used as an
amp booth. I coached Shane to do one of my signature over the barline
outro fills. Ed kept it in, which is usually not his favorite thing. I think he
threw me a bone on that one. Thanks E!
Ross Childress working on a track in Anthony J. Resta's Bopnique Studios
Q: “10 Years Later” is one of the group’s
most interesting songs, though I can’t tell you why other than the sound and
tempo is so different. There’s also a sad quality to the song. What do you
recall about the session?
AR: “Ten Years Later” is sort of the
“Crown” of Blender for me. I really heard something very clear and
psychedelic Beatles on it. There are tons of crazy textures like cymbals
swelling in tape echos and walls of Mellotron flutes play re-harmonized chords
to the song. I also played the slowest drum track I’ve ever recorded on that
song, giving it the best ‘Ringo’ I could muster up. That track moves along at
55 bpm. Very hard to play. I can’t remember why Shane didn’t play on it. I
think it was pre-production that we just got attached to and left alone.
Ed Roland and Anthony J. Resta at Tree Sound Studios in Georgia
Q: “Perfect Day” is really cool. I love that
squawky circular guitar riff. How did you get that sound?
AR: That was all done with turntable bits through FX. That song
was a nightmare. I think we recorded it at three different tempos it was very
hard to put together. It all started with the main drum loop that was actually
recorded by Paul David Hager in Nashville at East IRIS when I was playing drums
on a Megadeth remix to “Crush ‘em”. The guitar mics were left on and it created
this wild Jeff Lynn sounding drum room. I cut it up and it became the
foundation for “Perfect Day” in pre-production. It remained in for the duration
and had a really odd swing to it. That was hard to overdub, too.
Q: Of course, “Perfect Day” features
Elton John on piano. What do you recall of that session and what was he like to
worth with?
AR: Elton was brilliant and his parts
were done in an hour. We were told by some Nashville folks that it would be
tough going on the piano. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? He nailed it in two or three
takes. I’m sure a lot of it was from the second take. Elton was funny, telling
a lot of jokes and we all had a “perfect day”. OMG – that’s so corny but you
might leave it in:)
Anthony J. Resta with Sir Elton John
The best story was about us going to
dinner with Elton that night. After he
left, someone came up to us and said, “Not half an our ago Elton john was
sitting at this very table.” We were obviously completely invisible. Ed said,
“NO WAY! Don’t you know they have lookalikes for everybody these days?” The guy
walked away mad muttering, “No, no… it was him.” HYSTERICAL!
Q: “Over Tokyo” was a song written and
recorded by Ed in the early ‘90s. He dusted it off again for Blender.
Both versions are good but it shines a light on the issue that there are a
hundred different approaches and ways to do a song. How do you personally decide
which is the right one?
AR: You just try stuff and trust your
instincts. You could do “Over Tokyo” as a bossanova and it would still be
a great song. That’s another one that the tempo was just impossible to get
right. We had to speed up the analog half-inch to speed it up even after it was
all done. Crazy. I love the Japanese girls in the break, which was also Ed’s
idea. I love that song!
Q: Collective Soul had some personnel changes
when they returned for Youth. What was your role on that album?
AR: For Youth they hired Dexter
Green to produce. Ed had me come in and add some of my flavor during the final
stages. I was not present for the tracking.
Youth (El Music, 2004)
Q: Any other interesting stories
regarding songs from that album or those sessions?
A: I remember at one point I was supposed
to fly home for the weekend and I was feeling behind. So I said to Ed, “There
is some party that I don’t want to go to” and he said “GO!” I’m so glad I did
because it ended up being a massive event with all Bopnique artists. It was all
day and all night, and I was to be the MC. I did it on maybe two hours sleep. I
slept at the board that night.
Q: Afterwords is the last record
you did with Collective Soul. I thought it showed a new maturity and depth in
their songwriting. I find myself listening to that album more than any other CS
record.
AR: I think because the drums were
recorded at Bopnique by Karyadi Sutedja with Ryan Hoyle (a real master session
player) and we built INCREDIBLE foundations for the songs. Its so organic and warm
and phat. I LOVE the sound of that record. It was also the first time I added
any guitar stuff on a CS record. Like the George Harrison sounding signature
lead line on “Bearing Witness.” It was a really quick little idea that ended up
getting used. I to this day can’t figure out how I got that sound. Everyone
asks if it’s a slide but it was just a Les Paul direct into an API mic pre. Not
sure what was going on with the compression but I think it was a dbx 160 and a
Joe Meek SC2 fighting each other for supremacy.
Anthony J. Resta with master session drummer Ryan Hoyle
Q: “Hollywood” was a great single that
emerged from the album. Ed said he wanted to write a “summer song” with an ‘80s
feel. It truly hit the mark.
AR: We tracked most of that at Bopnique
as well. We wanted a last '70s new wave flavor and we got it I think. Some of the stuff Ed had me remove at the mix
(we mixed that track at Bopnique) because it was T00 much of a Cars ripoff. In
retrospect he was right in toning that aspect down a bit. A couple of the parts
I added I’m really proud of like the harmony arpeggio sid station bit that goes
with Joel’s guitar in the chorus. And my Baritone guitar that does contrary
motion to the rest of the band in the outro. I love the sound of that record. I
got chills seeing the ads for “American Idol” where it was featured.
"Hollywood" by Collective Soul
Q: “All That I Know” is another great
tune and seemingly another surefire single.
A: We used the worlds only known Solid
Walnut Optigan and a homemade drum loop to build the song. I love all of Ryan’s
drum parts – he really orchestrated some amazing grooves on that record. We had
a great Boston Pops player but down a clarinet solo over the whole outro that I
just LOVED. But it wasn’t kept. I don’t remember why.
"All That I Know" by Collective Soul
Q: You haven’t recorded with Collective
Soul since 2007. Any plans to work together again?
AR: You never know! I really would love
to do another one. It would mark the 15th year anniversary when I
first started with them. I think I would be out to top everything. I’ve learned
so much and am so much more into “space” and simplicity. I think we would craft
another platinum record.
In part IV of this interview, Anthony J. Resta will discuss his other artistic collaborations such as Blondie, Perry Farrell and Missing Persons.
For more information about Anthony J. Resta, visit his website at http://bopnique.com
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