Wish me Well [Brooker / Reid] 

Gary Shepard [USA]

Gary Shepard – all instruments and voices

GS: After the LA Palers' Festival in July 2003 I was on such an incredible high I needed to try and capture that energy. Wish Me Well was one of the many great Palers' Band covers reverberating through my brain. The version we'd played at BB King's was taken from the Manchester Palers' Band show, with its Playmate of the Mouth piano intro from Roland.

I start with a basic drum track, to keep things neat. To simulate a 'live' feel, I usually replace this with two to three tracks of manual keyboard drumming, complete with crashes and flourishes later in the process. On WMW I next layered the piano, which really holds the whole song together. Sometimes I lay bass first (Grand Finale) or guitar (Juicy John Pink) depending what is the 'glue' in the particular song. Bass and organ followed, then I mixed down and began layering lead guitar. The last thing I record are vocals, largely so they could be easily replaced in the final mix by someone who can actually sing! That Roland didn't beg for another vocalist on this track suggests either that it really wasn't all that bad, or that he is losing his sensibilities... (I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on this last point!)

I record in my living room, the guitar at usually crashing volume, so thank God my neighbors are a ways away... I'm not so sure they're all Procol fans! I hope listeners will enjoy the energy and passion I've attempted to recreate in my studio recordings.

Paul Reed Smith guitar, Korg AX1500G effects processor, Carvin 8400 powered mixer, Boss BR-1180 digital recorder, Yamaha Motif 8 keyboard, and a nameless but useful bass guitar.

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