Announcing Salvation, the new album by Bernie Griffen and The Thin Men. On tour over Labour weekend to Hamilton , New Plymouth and Taupo
Sometimes Bernie Griffen thinks he should have called his new album Redemption instead of Salvation. Salvation is finite, he says, it’s a one-off, whereas redemption means saved again.
“In my secret Catholic heart, that’s probably more the way it falls, having to redeem myself time and time again.”
The line, “I’ve been looking for salvation,” is from the title track of this collection of eleven songs of redemption which speak of experiences as diverse as a car crash, one’s dark secret place inside, the gold rush and that of the lover who is leaving not left.
The album was recorded at The Lab Studio in Mt Eden in May 2014. “It was one of those serendipitous occasions when the right people lined up and something very cool just happened,” says Bernie.
In collaboration with Olly Harmer as engineer and Jol Mulholland as producer, it was then pretty much a straight line to recruit the musicians to play this set of songs. From Bernie Griffen and the Grifters, Steve Roach plays lead guitar, Chris O’Connore on drums (Phoenix Foundation, SJD) Mike Hall on bass (Pluto, Nightchoir) and Matthias Jordan on keyboards (Pluto, Nightchoir). “Once we started, it was clear that Jol Mulholland couldn’t resist playing too.” Jol (Gasoline Cowboy, Mulholland) plays bass and guitars.
“In the first rehearsal the songs just grooved and into the Lab we went.” In the beautiful Lab Studio, the former ballroom of the Crystal Palace Picture Theatre, Olly Harmer set up three and sometimes four musicians recording live over a day and a half, with Bernie singing and playing acoustic guitar. It turned out most of the tracks had finished vocals. “We pretty played through the songs once or twice and then recorded - it was that fast.”
There was a further day and a half was spent tracking in Jol’s small adjoining recording studio, The Oven, with a couple more days on guitars, banjo, vocals (with Kirsten Warner featuring on The Circus Song) and fiddle (Louise Evans).
“Then Jol went into his cave and mixed the album.” Salvation emerged as a unique collection of songs. “With all its live dynamics and unwitting victories… the record was done.”
