Alabama Motel Room's 25th Birthday

[Shepp]

Greetings All! This is John Shepp, Producer/Engineer/Multi-instrumentalist.

I know, too many hats to wear.

On July 1, 2020, it will be exactly 25 years to the day the lead off single "Alabama Motel Room"
was tracked at Utopia Parkway Studio B. It was one of the last songs we recorded in the span of time
between early 1994 (a year and a half) and completion some time in August of 1995.

Three different band lineups, an award winning demo (Euphony), an EMI publishing deal,
a management deal, a ground breaking indy debut, a record deal... and poof, the Astronaut
was launched to become the Underdog.

You know I've never told my part of this story to the interwebs, just to people who wanted to know.

Perhaps I should?

[adam_777]

6 hours ago, Shepp said:

Greetings All! This is John Shepp, Producer/Engineer/Multi-instrumentalist.

I know, too many hats to wear.

On July 1, 2020, it will be exactly 25 years to the day the lead off single "Alabama Motel Room"
was tracked at Utopia Parkway Studio B. It was one of the last songs we recorded in the span of time
between early 1994 (a year and a half) and completion some time in August of 1995.

Three different band lineups, an award winning demo (Euphony), an EMI publishing deal,
a management deal, a ground breaking indy debut, a record deal... and poof, the Astronaut
was launched to become the Underdog.

You know I've never told my part of this story to the interwebs, just to people who wanted to know.

Perhaps I should?

Great to have you here John! Any time we can hear stories about any aspect of Matt's career from someone who was there first hand it is always greatly appreciated.  As you can imagine over the years so many stories have gotten mixed up or details crossed and so any time someone can set the record straight so to speak it's of immense value to the group here.  And of course there are I imagine so many stories and details that just simply haven't been made widely available to people outside the small group of people involved in the creation of the music, so I'm sure you have a great deal to share that would be a revelation to us here.  Especially in the early days of the band so much remains unknown to the fanbase at large.  Before the days where MGB were basically the MUCH MUSIC house band, there simply wasn't much ever discussed online about that era, leaving many of us fans (most of whom became fans during the Underdogs era and later) to speculate without much fact to base that speculation upon, even things as simple as release dates of the albums and EP's from that era aren't something set in stone.  

So welcome to the forums, I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say it's great to have you here and I very much look forward to anything you share! 

Hard to believe Alabama Motel Room is 25 years old.  I remember buying the In a Coma greatest hits compilation in 2005 and thinking the Ghetto tracks on it were 10 years old at that time and thinking it seemed like an entire lifetime ago haha.  

[Shepp]

Thanks Adam for the welcome. I think my preferred approach to this is to YouTube it, like modules in a course, but don't fall asleep, there will be homework. Kidding. I have created a timeline from studio records to describe the development phases of this artist. It HAS been 25 years yes, so I can't vouch for absolute accuracy, but honesty. Watch this space.

J

 

 

[patrickjnixon]

Welcome John!!  I am very intrigued!!!  Please tell your story!

[Outtahere]

Hello John,

Welcome to The Bored! :)

So, to answer your question "Perhaps I should?"

YES!! YES PLEASE!!!

That is all, thank you!

PS: If you can include stories about everything you've done with Matt, videos, pictures, storyline, etc. That would be amazing.

[Stwlegend]

Thanks for taking the time to stop here John.  

3 different lineups and an award for Euphony?  Already some stuff I didn't know about that era. 

Would love to hear, see and/or read anything you have on that era as well, welcome.

[gursky]

This is incredible, thanks for stopping by and offering to share stories and experiences you have.  Like all previous posters said this is content we are all interested in and would be happy to relive this time through anything you can offer.

[daniel_v]

While I can imagine some people not being into this because looking at the past is seen as a pejorative exercise, I've always said I don't think there's anything wrong with appreciating both the past and the present at the same time (especially for a 25 year anniversary). For example, even though I admitted I wasn't a huge fan of Moving Walls at first, that album has definitely grown on me and I also absolutely love the creativity in the Crisis Airline tracks that Matt released a couple months ago. To that end though, I definitely do not think there is anything wrong with appreciating where an artist you respect and appreciate came from either, and I've always said it boggles my mind that Matt is not a fan of LOTGA and some of the even earlier stuff. The perfect bass lines that Geoff came up with for that album, and some of the songs from Euphony/15 hours are just straight up timeless and I couldn't ever say no to learning a bit more about that time period since, as Adam said, so little is known. 

So obviously my hat goes in the "Yes" pile too :)  

[trufflepigs]

Welcome, please do tell your story.