ATP! Track By Track Exclusive: Anthony Raneri - New Cathedrals EP
Alter The Press couldn't be more pleased to present this exclusive track by track guide to Anthony Raneri of Bayside's debut solo EP 'New Cathedrals'.The EP, which is set to be released via Raneri's own label, Gumshoe Records drops on January 17th.
Disclaimer: I have never been into track by track explanations of a record. I don't really think you should be able to explain the meaning of a song and what you were going through when you wrote it in a paragraph. Furthermore, I song should mean whatever it means to the listener. Since this EP is a collection of songs that I wrote over the years, I thought I'd write a little background on the songs instead of writing about their meanings.
1) Sandra Partial
I wrote the verse idea of this song in 2004. We were staying at a friends house in Ohio while on tour and he had a home studio. I recorded a couple of ideas I had around over there. 7 years later, i listened to it and remembered how cool the verses were so i decided to write a chorus and a bridge and include it on the solo EP. The chorus originally ended with the "I'd wait here all the time" line but I added the extended "time" part at the end of the chorus with the piano melody the night before I recorded the song. Recorded this one at the Hurley Studios in Costa Mesa, CA and my friend Davey Warsop from the band Beat Union recorded and mixed it. Steve Choi from RxBandits played piano and Jarrod Alexander from My Chemical Romance, American Nightmare and Dead Country played drums. The baseline in the bridge I wrote on the spot while recording it and was real proud of it
2) Charleston
This was the most recent song I wrote for the EP and the only song I actually wrote specifically for it. After I decided I was going to make the EP, I had 4 songs that I was really happy with and wanted to try and write 1 more to include. I wrote the intro/verse bass line and melody and the pre-chorus in the dressing room of the Music Farm in Charleston, SC a couple of months ago. The pre-chorus where it says "It's worth a second look" was originally the chorus but I thought there should be a rhythmic change in there somewhere so I added the "Alone" reggae chorus right before I recorded it. Recoded this on in the mountains in California about an hour outside of Bakersfield. Steve Choi from Rx Bandits engineered, mixed and played drums and keys on it.
3) The Ballad of Bill the Saint
Had this one around for a long time. I recoded a demo of it at Chris Kirkpatrick from NSync's house in Orlando. Andy from Hot Rod Circuit engineered it. When I was recording at Hurley, Davey asked if I had any songs lying around other than the ones that we were already going to record and he took a liking to this one. We decided to have Jarrod Alexander come in and do some rockabilly style drums on it and turn it into a full band song.
4) Lead, Follow, Fall
I wrote this one while we were writing the 'Killing Time' record with Bayside. Everyone dug the song but we didn't think it fit in well with the band's style and the record we were making so I just saved it. The verse always had a reggae feel to it. Steve Choi played keys on tour with The Specials for a while and I ask him to just do "The Specials thing" on it. Basically we added a real bubbly bouncing clarinet part. In the second verse, the key changes halfway through and then goes back to the original key a few measures later. I wanted the bridge to be slow down and have a drinking song style to it.
5) Please Don't Leave
I wrote this song years ago and just never knew what to do with it. I played it live a few times but never released it until now. I had the idea of just building some percussion behind the acoustic guitar and keeping it very simple. I've always hated hand drums but for some reason the bongo worked in the chorus. I had most of the lyrics written but I reworked them last minute in Norm's Diner in Costa Mesa while eating chicken fried steak at 4am the night before I recorded the vocals.
'New Cathedrals' is available for pre-order here.
