I had worked with 3canal before on a show they did in DC, and had spent plenty time here in Trinidad on all my previous visits limin' with the guys, so when they asked if I would help them build and set up a studio for them to record their next album, I jumped at the chance. I didn't have a lot of info other than we were going to a house in southern Trinidad with a great view, and that after building stuff in town, I would have to go down for a day or two to help set up. The week sweet trini and i arrived, the band had gone down to the house to have a retreat, brainstorm some songs, and meet with the producer for the album who they had not worked with before. I was told about how everyone came in after dark and couldn't believe the view when they woke up in the morning, that the house was a magic place, that the location had its own energy and had driven them to decide to make the album there.
I spent three or four days in town putting together some pieces to help baffle sound, and organizing supplies for on site work. Working in the back yard at the house of a longtime friend of the band, I was excited for the work in that way that only someone who spent long months and years in winter climes can be excited to work outside, bareback, soaking up the sun(as best you can with SPF 30). I was introduced to Collin, who was helping to build things and making the trip as well, and we embraced both the work in the yard - sometimes fighting off Ronald's chickens who ran the yard - and the philosophy that ice cold beer always tastes better when you are sweating in the sun. Much like the lack of laws in the VT of my youth, Trinidad does not really enforce their open container laws here which allows runs for lumber and materials to be accompanied by stops for beer, assisted of course by the frequency of rum shops here and convenience stores that sell beer to go and offer to open your beers before you go back to your car. All in all, its not a bad way to work.
On Sunday June 1st we packed up the truck with our supplies, and some sound equipment and made the drive south. Trini time is whatever time, so despite this being work of a serious nature, we did not in fact start our trip until after 7pm due mainly to the fact that the English football team was in town for an international friendly match against T+T, and we couldn't very well work while the match was going on, so we waited until the game finished. Fighting traffic after, and being pulled over so a bus full of the English squad could make their way to the airport and eventually Tobago for a few days R+R, we headed East to Stanton's house to pick up his gear for the trip. Stanton, as one of the 3 in 3canal, was headed down for 18 days with the rest of the 3 and the 5 members of their band The Cut + Clear Crew - who were all heading down over the next day or two. Their production manager Cecilia drove Stanton, Collin and myself down that night. After a stop by Stanton's to pick up his gear, beers for the road, and a few other supplies, we continued east, then turned south and eventually ended up driving down the east coast on what is referred to as the Manzanilla Stretch. I made this drive on my first trip here and found it one of the most lovely stretches of road I've ever had the pleasure of traveling. Going south, there are groves of coconut palms on your right, with mangrove swamps beyond, just visible from the road. On the left are more coconut palms backed with the rolling rough and tumble waves of the Atlantic Ocean. These aren't your eastern seaboard waves - they are two and three full breaks deep at places and white capping for another 100 yards behind that. This is serious ocean that stakes its claim on man multiple times each year, but is stunning to behold for its beauty which belies the violent currents underneath. But after 10pm on a Sunday night, with only your headlights and no moon, the most you get is the occasional glimpse of white foam cresting through the shadowy palms.
We reached the end of the stretch, crossed the Manzanilla river which feeds the mangrove swamps, and turned left out toward the end of one of the three points that comes off the east coast of the island. One final stop for beers at the rum shop at the bottom of the hill - the Comfort Zone being a good name as the lights inside and out beat back at the moonless night- and we left what little civilization we had been in behind and began to climb the road up to the point.
From the rum shop to the house, is less than two miles, in a corolla with four adults full enough that we all had bags in our laps, it took us 15 minutes. First the road rises and falls enough that you have to switch headlights form high to low constantly just to see the contours in the road, which you must, since even going slowly and carefully I felt the road at times scrape the bottom of the car under my feet. In daylight, making the drive as i would numerous times, I never got above 15 miles per hour, so you can imagine the condition at night with a weighed down car.
Finally we reached the house to find that the caretaker had left it open for us with the lights and radio on. It was a beacon in the night after the dark slow road.
The truck arrived, we unloaded, then broke out the rum and coconut water and turned out the lights. The house is situated a couple hundred feet above the ocean, and we sat at the edge of the drop and looked up to see the milky way above us and out to see the dark on dark that suggested coast against ocean, dotted by a few lights, and the turn of a lighthouse on the next point north of us probably around 60 kilometers away.
The house itself is situated on 64 acres of land covering the end of Point Radix, which juts out into the Atlantic about 2/3 of the way down Trinidad's east coast. The house breaks down into a common room, that included 6 beds and the kitchen with an indoor bathroom and shower, two double bedrooms, an outdoor shower, and a massive wrap around porch looking out over the view. The view looks up the Manzanilla stretch to Manzanilla Point, and on clearer days all the way up to Galera Point on the northeast corner of the island. (see a map here) Beyond the Manzan' stretch you can watch the sun set over the central range and on those same clear days the northern range is visible in the distance. We actually treated sunset like a job while we were there. The view and the colors were so amazing that everyone stopped and sat and watched the sun set everyday, and we were never disappointed. A couple of people ended up sleeping inside, but most of us camped out in the back yard under the Flamboyant tree in our own tents, which was a great way to make sure you were up in the morning as the tents were not the most airily constructed things and the heat by 8:30 was unbearable, unless of course you like sleeping in a puddle.
The point of using the house, beside the inspirational view was the quiet and the ability to unplug and help the band gel while they created their new music. During the day there is no sign of civilization, no phones ringing (people weren't even bothering to charge their cell phones at times), no Internet, no dogs barking, no cars, horns or alarms. Occasionally there was a passing helicopter, but that was it. At night, you could see the lights on the Manzan' stretch, both houses and the occasional cars, but that was the only sign of the outside world. This removal worked brilliantly and everyone was taken with the space, the time, the experience. The location, the house itself, had its own energy and that, combined with the positive, excited energy created by everyone being brought together to just be creative, with no distractions, was almost tactile. You couldn't help but be caught up, inspired, and lifted by it.
I spent the first couple of days setting up the studio with Collin and input from the guys and Richard, the producer. I was expecting to be there for two or three days, to be heading back with Cecilia mid week. The album was to be recorded "live" with the band playing together on every track, with only drums, percussion, and some backing vocals being recorded to be dubbed over. The benefit from my end was that every time they worked on a song, I got to hear the whole things a couple of times while they made multiple takes. As they started to work, and everyone settled into a routine - which included morning exercises, group meals, afternoon trips to the beach, afternoon and evening jam sessions, evening Tai Chi, and the aforementioned sunset pause - the two to three days turned to four, turned to five, turned to "Cecilia's leaving today and I can't leave yet so I can't come home til Sunday night or Monday morning, since I won't have a ride until then" to "Please pack a bag with some extra clothes and things to send back with Cecilia this weekend- I'm staying through."
I took my camera to try and get some pictures of the process, and being myself helped to cook meals during the day, and as the studio set up slowed down, and we found the right set up for the recording, I ended up becoming camp cook and was dubbed "the scribe" for keeping a visual history of the recording. My job became making runs to the grocery store and pharmacy in Mayaro daily or every other day when I could swing it. I had help in the kitchen, but generally was preparing at least two meals a day and shopping, and occasionally making changes to the studio. I was cooking for a variety of palates which made the job none too easy. I cooked for anywhere from 11 to 15 people each day, as some of the crew came and went, and of those, there was one who ate no beef or pork, one allergic to seafood but not fish, one allergic to fish but not seafood, and one vegan. We managed not to go hungry, and the band was able to work while I made sure there was food to eat.
The routine, the relaxing environment, are not to suggest that this trip was all for fun. There was an album to make - 12 to 15 tracks to cut and often create from limited memory of jam session weeks prior. The guys worked for hours each day, two or three songs a day, four if they pushed, creating, tweaking, jamming. Sean, the engineer, was the ever driving force as the days started to dwindle. He was repetitively heard over the sound of between track limin and joking shouting from the recording booth what would become the mantra of the retreat - "Let's go Motherfuckers!!!" Taken in good stride and echoed by the band as they resumed their places by instruments and mics, it also became Sean's personal harassment whenever he was late coming to table at meal times, said in the same semi-serious jest by different hungry musicians. The routine, relaxing as it was, left plenty of time for people to relax on their own, to clear themselves, to open themselves up to input and to take input, creating a fantastic working environment. It all resulted in 12 (maybe 13) fantastic tracks. All in all, a very good couple of weeks I think.
At a meeting on the first day they started to record we all talked about why we were there, and I realized that I was doing what I always do - working backstage, making sure the production goes on, letting the artist do what they needed to do and not worry about little shit. I have, it seems, embraced the role of the enabler, the facilitator. I said that morning that if they had told me 6 weeks prior that I would come to Trinidad to cook for 3canal, I would have laughed, but in the end, it was exactly why I came - to make good art, to be part of a creative energy that is so often hard to find, and to find a bit of paradise.
Take a look at the pictures . I'll post more in the next couple of days, but from these I think you can see why I wasn't keen to leave in the first place, and how sometimes, in the right time and place, different peoples energies can come together and create amazing work. This was no accident, but a well planned adventure.
Sunday night, Stanton watches as the truck finally arrives.
The first (of many) sunsets. Each different, all spectacular - everyone's day stopped for half an hour every day as we watched the sun set over Trindad and the Central Range. It was part of the job - required, inevitable, unbelievable.
Cecilia prepares dinner on the first day.
The first supper. The establishment of "family meals."
Yoichi and Keshav sort out Kesh's station.
Kiwan tapes down his cables. Besides being a guitarist, he also surfs - so I felt this picture captured him perfectly.
Keshav makes some beats while Corey helps Simon check his set up.
Looks like a studio... but there would be changes.
Wendell captures the sunset on his camera.
Another beautiful end to a beautiful day.
Wendell listens, contemplates, as the band begins to jam.
Stanton works on lyrics.
Yoichi, Sean, and Richard go over the set up in the booth. Will we actually have enough channels?
Afternoon Tai Chi on the beach.
A place like this makes it easy to find your center.
Kiwan climbs back up from the beach.
Keshav - Processor/beats
Corey - bass
Kiwan - guitar
Simon - keys
Stanton - vocals
Wendell - vocals
Roger - vocals
Afternoon jam.
Catching kicks between takes.
Kiwan watches another one.
Keshav laying down beats while Simon plays.
Kiwan and Richard discuss changes between takes.
Working out Roger's song "Take Me" under the Banyon Tree. Sometimes things like the loss of electricity can have an unexpected reward.
"Take me, into your bliss"
Wendell looks on as they work it out.
Stanton does the same.
Listening to a couple different takes.
Stanton, Roger, Wendell - 3canal.
Thus ends another day...
Jammin'...
The Flamboyant Tree lives up to its name.
Morning meeting, post breakfast.
The last sunset.
Left to right, back row: Zane, Kiwan, Corey,Simon, StewartyMiddle: Keshav, Roger, Richard, Wendell, Sean, Redman, Collin, Yoichi, Me
Front: Cecilia, Mrs. Redman.
