Here’s Part 3 of our interview with Chris Thile and Chris Eldridge (a.k.a. Critter) of the Punch Brothers. In this third, and final, installment, we’ll be discussing the actual process of recording the new Punch Brothers CD, Punch, and in particular the major composition, The Blind Leaving The Blind.

Brance: Your last CD, How To Grow A Woman From The Ground, was recorded live with only two microphones. How about Punch?

Chris:

We recorded live again on this record. It’s my favorite way to record. This time around we did multi-track, but in a minimal way.

The main tracks were recorded with a setup borrowed from orchestral recording called a Decca Tree. We just gathered around that setup in a semi-circle and and recorded totally live. But we didn’t want Noam and Gabe to have to lay back too much, we wanted them to be able to play dynamically they way they normally would, so we did set up some spot mics so we could give a little boost here and there when needed.

A Decca Tree is a method of recording that combines three microphones positioned spatially in a “T” shape. It is most often used with omni-directional microphones. Chris told me they used three Neumann mics for their set up. The Tree is positioned above the assembled musicians and provides a pleasant sounding stereo recording.

Brance: Using a set up like that requires a bit of room. What size space where you in?

Chris:

We cut the tracks in New York City, in a large orchestra room with a very nice natural room sound.

Brance: Recording a CD live is hard enough, how did you handle recording such long compositions?

Chris:

Well, we didn’t record it all in one day! We tracked one movement, or two songs per day on average. The music is fairly intense, and recording has an intensity of its own, so it takes it out of you to record something like this live. We went in to the studio knowing the music was hard to play, but our goal was to make it sound easier than it is!

Considering Chris’ statements about combining classical composition disciplines with the vibrancy of bluegrass songwriting, keeping the music intense and engaging, and making it sound easier than it is, I’d say they guys did a fantastic job with this recording.

Punch is released this coming Tuesday, February 26, 2008. I’m sure we’ll have a post or two with some comments on the music itself by then, but I’ll go ahead and give you my recommendation. Go get it!

Be sure to read Part 1 and Part 2 of this interview.

When we left our dynamic duo yesterday, at the end of Part 1 of this interview, they had just engaged in a small snowball battle. Having concluded that brief engagement, we returned to the interview.

Brance: What about the other four songs on the CD?

Chris:

We basically co-wrote those tunes as a band. Those four tracks actually contribute to the overall presentation of The Blind Leaving The Blind. We introduced them in that particular order purposefully.

But you know, we’re really just getting warmed up on the mutual creative process. Looking ahead to the future with this band is pretty exciting.

Brance: What is the context for presenting this new material live in a show? What other material is being performed alongside these new compositions?

Chris:

We’re still performing material from How To Grow in the shows. We’re also doing some tunes from my various solo recordings as well.

Critter:

We do a few interesting covers as well. And the show is really different each night. We try to mix it up so that if a person comes to more than one show, they’re going to hear something different each time.

Brance: Chris you mentioned earlier that the composition of The Blind Leaving The Blind was colored by the players. (more…)

With the release of the new Punch Brothers CD only a week away, Chris Thile fans are eagerly awaiting the latest entry in his musical diary. This one has been a long time coming.

I had the opportunity to speak with Chris, along with guitarist Chris Eldridge (a.k.a. Critter), last week and ask them about the new CD. We spoke in the early morning hours (11 AM) the day after a show in Vermont. The pair were on their way to Starbucks for a cup of java while we chatted.

The new CD coincides with the new band name, Punch Brothers, and is named simply, Punch. Scheduled to be released next Tuesday, February 26, 2008, the recording is centered around a Thile composition over a year and half in the making, The Blind Leaving The Blind. The work is presented in four movements, each a separate track on the CD.

Brance: Chris, tell us about the composition of The Blind Leaving The Blind. It seems quite an ambitious project to write something that large in scope, for performance by a bluegrass band.

Chris:

Yeah, it’s big. I spent a year and a half writing it. Not that I worked on it every day, but I probably spent about two and half months worth of days in actual composition, over the course of that year and a half. I worked with a music composition software called Finale.

The finished piece is about a 70/30 mix, through composed material vs. something that looks more like a jazz lead sheet or a written out fiddle tune. My goal was to fuse the formal disciplines of jazz or classical composition with the vibrancy of bluegrass or folk music song writing.

When I started composing, we were still doing the Nickel Creek thing. I was having trouble with certain aspects of the work because I didn’t know at the time who would be playing it with me. So parts of it had to be put on hold until I had put the current band together. The composition is absolutely colored by the players.

Brance: The finished work is in four movements totaling over 42 minutes of music. Do you perform it as one continuous piece of music, or do you take breaks in between the movements?

Chris: (more…)

The folks at Flatpicking Guitar Magazine have posted an online clip from the most recent DVD release, Guitarmageddon. It features Josh Williams, Andy Falco and Chris Eldridge tearing up Cherokee Shuffle on stage at the Station Inn in Nashville.

As you might expect, the boys pick it solid throughout, and surely do so throughout this one hour production.

The Guitarmageddon DVD was shot and edited by our own Brance Gillian.