Seattle's the Quiet Ones have three brothers from Tennessee in the band. The Tottens: John, David, and Chris. Being brothers, they argue and curse at each other. But they also write and play some of the finest songs an ear can hear. Solos and melody rip and make love to an indie rock sound. They have a new album coming out called Better Walk Than Ride Like That. They recorded it themselves, mixed and mastered it themselves, and are releasing it on their own label In Advance Records.

Album release: June 18th at the Crocodile with Marty Marquis (Blitzen Trapper) and Kinski.

The Quiet Ones: "Girls and Uniforms"

Brother John Totten (vocals, bass, guitar) talked about recording the album:

How did Better Walk come together?
John: All sorts of ways. We started recording a long time ago back when we still lived in Tennessee and the recording continued across the country as we gradually made our way to Seattle. It’s co-produced by myself and Mason Neely. We started out with portable hard disk recorders. I had a Korg 16 track and Mason would dump the tracks into Digital Performer. Then I switched to 4 track cassette for a while. Then I got this thing called a computer and it was like that song from Aladdin, "A Whole New World". I started on Logic. Then I met Better Walk engineer and future Quiet One bass helper John Herman (who also mastered the album) and we started recording with this big board and Sony Vegas in his bedroom upstairs in my house. The next step was Pro Tools. We went over to Phil Peterson's (Kay Kay & His Weathered Underground) house and recorded some more. And seeing as how technology is cyclical, my brother David and I went back to 4 track cassette for the most recent song on the record "Valerie". Our mantra when recording is, "There is no shitty recording gear, only shitty performers.” We used all kinds of crappy mics and preamps. Sometimes, we would put one Radio Shack mic on the drums and we would keep that take.

One Radio Shack mic for the drums? Get off. Which song is that? What was the mic placement?
A new song actually, called "E.K.G.” Yeah, one Radio Shack mic. To me, it creates this Bonham-esque sound. The placement was just on the other side of the room.

The Quiet Ones: "E.K.G."

Where did you mix the album?
In my bedroom. Our friend Troy Brandt who also worked on all the BOAT records came over and was gracious enough to sit in my underground bedroom with me for months and mix. The rumor goes that the first U.S.E. record was recorded in that exact bedroom in West Queen Anne.

What was the hardest thing about doing the album yourself?
The biggest challenge was how much time it took. I retook vocals so many times. And bass. And guitar. Convincing people who are playing the instruments I don't to come sit with me in my bedroom for hours and let me engineer their drums or whatever. Also, when you record yourself, you know that it's free to keep working on a song. So sometimes, it can lead to working on a song for years. I think "Biggest Loves" went through about forty-three different versions. It's still not perfect though. And it shouldn't be.

Why did you decide to do it yourselves?
Money. I don't think we'll ever pay for studio time. We recorded one time at Bear Creek in Woodinville, not for the Quiet Ones but for a different project. That was the closest I've ever been to selling all my records to pay for a studio, but in the end I realized I can record an album for basically free. I'd rather do an album on a mini-cassette recorder than pay for a studio. If anything was ever good enough for Robert Pollard, it's more than good enough for us.

When you all set out to record the album, what type of album were you going for? Did you have anything specific in mind?
We never have a concept for our albums. We record on a song-by-song basis. After a couple years of doing that, ideally we realize we have a coherent album on our hands. It usually hits me in the shower. I'll be lathering up or something and a bell will go off and I'll say to myself, "Oh shit, those songs go together real good." And then there's the album. I guess I wanted this album to be really eclectic and it ended up being so.

What kind of 4 track do you use? And I love the word lather. Thank you.
I think it's a Yamaha. It belongs to Double D (brother Dave). He recorded all of Valerie on it and when I heard it I begged him to put it on the album. But there was a lot of tape hiss. So we decided to re-track it using the 4 track as much as possible. Even if it's just running the audio through the machine into Pro Tools I like it better. Must be the preamps or something. When I say we used 4 track, I mean it was a very mixed media thing. Eric from Blitzen Trapper told me that all of "Wild Mountain Nation" was recorded on the same exact machine and I kind of challenged myself to use it more but to do a whole album on it requires a magic touch that I'll never have.

(John breaks down the recording of a song after the jump. He also talks about fighting one of his brothers, and the South.)

Picture: Kaija Cornett

How is the album going to be released?
CD, digital, and VINYL.

Break down the song “Sound of Fog” for me. What guitars are used? And the organ sounds?

"Sound of Fog"

I engineered Baine's drums up in John Herman's room in our house. I'm not much of a drum tech but I think Troy mixed the right sound out of it. Most of the guitars are either my brother Chris' Jazzmaster or John's Musicmaster which is basically a Mustang with only one pickup. I think it's a '64. I like it because it has no frills. For a while when John was playing bass in our band it was my rhythm guitar of choice. The organ is Chris on his Nord Electro and the Moog sound is this keyboard that also belongs to John. He kind of swooped down like an archangel during this recording and moved into our house with all of his sweet gear and knowledge. My favorite piece of gear that belonged to John that we used was his Roland Re-150 Space Echo. You can hear me turning the knobs when that noise comes in after the song is done. My favorite part of this song though, when all is said and done is the guitar solo. My brother David (Double D) did this awesome Abbey Road homage, a dueling solo where he traded fours with himself.

What type of things do you and your brother's argue about?
All kinds of stuff. Usually someone is being a dick. And the argument always ends up being more about what was said during the argument than the original issue. We rarely argue about musical stuff. I guess one time Chris and I got in an argument over what key a certain song was in. Some metal song, I forget which one. Usually, the arguments are just symptoms of brother issues and the band is the context in which they surface.

Do you and your brothers ever wrestle and curse at each other?
One time, when David and I shared a one bedroom on Capitol Hill, the fight got physical. I tackled him and hit him. I called him the next day to apologize and he said it was okay because it didn't hurt. We also curse at each other a lot but we try to curb the pejoratives more the older we get. Telling someone to fuck off doesn't make anything easier. My brothers are my best friends and there are three of us within three years of each other so things can be really intense. Sometimes our practices are more like scenes out of Some Kind Of Monster.

How long have y'all been in Seattle? What is Tennessee like?
David and I have been in Seattle for four years. Chris joined us about three years ago. Tennessee is a beautiful place but there are lots of Republicans and Wal-Marts. It's true what they say about Southern hospitality though. People are more welcoming there. Also, the last call is a soft 3 AM. And you can smoke in bars. I went back there for the holidays so while all y'all were freezing yer asses off and sledding down Denny, I was smoking cigars, enjoying a pint of Yuengling, and shooting pool at 3:15 AM. Southern girls are a special breed. But I definitely got homesick for Seattle.