Tess in Toulouse – Presentation for Release party
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Monthly Archives: January 2011
Release Preparations
Date of release is drawing nearer- only two weeks to go!
It’s been an intense fall for Tess in Toulouse and there are many times when people have thought us mad. Most of these times people were probably right.. For example we booked the releasedate/party long before the cd was ready! But then again it’s kind of typical for this band, we decide to do something and we do it, without worrying too much about if it makes sense in someone else’s eyes. It’s a bit of gambling at times, sure- but moreover it’s an attitude based on great trust in our joined ability to make things happen.
Life of Tess in Toulouse right now you see would remind you a lot of santa’s workshop, or at best even a long episode of the Fantastic Four. Each with our own (nerdy version of) superpower we make an efficient team working hard to make this release happen the way we want it to. Sending out pressreleases, sorting out distribution, rehearsing with the guest artists, arranging the party, planning surprises, etc etc. Madness? At times. Fun? Always.
Releasing an album is a dream come true -for us as for most musicians- and we are celebrating it BIG surrounded by friends, family and fans on the 30th of january in Stockholm. The party will be held at Boulehallen close to Nytorget (Södermalm area) and we hope to see you all there!
No entrance, live performance, cd’s for sale. Come join in!
Fall 2010- Recording our first album!
Little did we know what it involved, that sunny day in june when we decided to record an album… We’d been playing live a lot, in Sweden and on tour, and gotten asked many times “Don’t you have a cd? Can we buy your music anywhere?” The truth was we’d never entered a studio together and most of the songs were never recorded at all. So, it was time.
Tess drove straight from Berlin to Öregrund for that first rehearsal in august and from that day it’s been full on! Firstly we spent lots of time diving into each song, rearranging them to fit a recording rather than a live streetperformance which has been both satisfying and scary. All of a sudden every detail would be noticeable, ever decision to be spread across the world! We’ve then done many hours of recording and learned that no matter how prepared you think you are, there are always surprises and new decisions to be made along the way. Should there be guests on the album? How do we want the backing vocals? How do we find a balance between the possibilities of recording and staying true to our acoustic sound? Since we want to be able to do at least most things from the album, live and on our own, we’ve tried not to overdo the extrastuff though temped many times. Studios are magic places, run by wizards…
We recorded almost all instruments at Ola Håkansson’s studio in Rågsved, Sthlm. and most of the vocals are recorded by John Hårleman who’s also mixed the album. Mastering was done by Peter in De Betou at Tailormaid and printing/duplication through Mats Dahl at Dicentia. These people are all brilliant at what they do and a great part of why we now have an album to be proud of.
Alongside this work vocalist and songwriter of the band Tess Mellberg started her own record company, named Step Forword Productions, to make sure we could release the album independently and on our own terms. Together with graphic designer Anton Björklund, the album cover was designed from photos taken by Robert Tärnell, and sent off to printing right before christmas. Another 2 brilliant men added to the collection of amazing partners in crime.
We thank these people from the bottom of our hearts for their outstanding work and we thank our friends and families for their invaluable patience and support. This fall we’ve done what some said was impossible. Without you it would have been.