SDCXTRA RADIO

Friday, August 3, 2018

Garth Adam



Garth Adam – I Remember Everything

Garth Adam’s new 4 track EP “I Remember Everything” has been just been released as a CD and on digital platforms.

Garth’s music is a mixture of his influences and life. Born in the UK, he spent his early childhood in Africa and Fiji before his family settled in Australia, where he eventually worked his way as a songwriting bass player through a variety of Australian bands.

The songs were recorded in a studio where 90% of the equipment was made pre 1975. Producer Melvin Tree loves this studio because it can give you the sound of those landmark seventies albums like Born to Run and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. It’s all tube amps and overhead mikes in a great sounding room.

“I Remember Everything” was recorded at Linear Recording in Sydney and Bondi Beach Studios, Sydney and produced by Melvin Tree. Mastering was by Kathy Naunton at Db Mastering Camperdown Sydney.

Guitar, bass and vocals by Garth Adam, Drums, Piano and David Kelly, drums by Theo Katsantoni, keyboards, bass and backing vocals by Brendan O’Brien. Additional backing vocals by Lisa. For more information please visit:
www.garthadam.com
www.garthadam/facebook.com

Contact email is gaaath@yahoo.comand ph. 612 9363 2107 or 61 0413298019
 The new EP is called “I Remember Everything”. I usually only comment on how and where it was recorded but this time I want to use this moment to talk about friendship, recording, and guitars.


https://www.garthadam.com
The first three tracks of the EP were recorded at Linear Recording in Leichhardt, Sydney. I love this place and I have been going here for many years. My friends Theo, Dave, Brendan, and Doug have been helping me record here for almost a decade. For all their incredible time and effort I have really only been able to pay them in wine and dinners.

As I was getting ready to record this EP, I found a note written to me from a guitarist in the US in October 2010. At the time America was in the height of the last recession and people were selling their stuff just to keep afloat. I bought his Gretsch 6120 in candy apple red for the bargain price of USD $1,500 which was about $1,000 off regular retail. He needed the money and I had always dreamed of owning one of these. I knew it was a difficult decision for him to make and he vetted me pretty well on eBay before he agreed to sell it. I hope this recording and the others over the past years since then feel like I have made good use of his guitar.

The last track on the EP called “Seawall” was an unexpected bonus. On the insistence of my partner Shannon I bought $20 worth of raffle tickets at a school music fundraiser and won 5 hours of recording time with an engineer at a community-owned studio at the Bondi Beach Pavilion in Sydney. I called my friend Dave and said why don’t we do a co-written track here for the fun of it?

I contacted David Walsh who he told me used to be an engineer for many years but gave it away a few years ago to sell bikes and so he could have a life with ordinary hours for his family. Only Vampires spend more time working at night than studio engineers.

I sent him a track from the last EP and set up a time to record. We met him at the studio, shook hands and almost immediately he revealed that he had been nervous about doing the session. As a fellow school parent, he had totally been talked into being part of the prize. He told us that when he heard the earlier track he said to his partner, “What have I gotten myself into? These guys are professionals!” That summation may be up for debate, but we all sure got on well from that point onwards.
At the very same time we were in our soundproof recording booth behind Bondi Beach, a bar mitzvah for more than 200 kids was going on in the courtyard right outside the studio door – replete with large jumping castles and DJs pumping out sugary pop music. In addition, there was an open-air concert onBondi Beach featuring the John Butler Trio and Xavier Rudd to another 5,000 people. Bondi was certainly the entertainment centre of Sydney for that brief afternoon.
Once the “Seawall” tracks were done Dave assembled and edited them at his home. He is usually a film editor so this music edit was a new thing for him. Once his job was done, he sent it on to my producer Melvin Tree to complete the final mix with the other three tracks and it was done. I hope you like it. – Garth

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