POSSESSED frontman Jeff Becerra has given the clearest picture yet of where the follow-up to 2019's "Revelations Of Oblivion" stands — and of how much faster he intends to move from here.
"We have all 10 songs recorded, but they're just scratch tracks," Becerra told Laughing Monkey With Shawn Ratches. "So now we have to go over the scratch tracks and re-record the instruments and the vocals."
The context makes the next part striking. "Revelations Of Oblivion" was POSSESSED's first studio album in 33 years. Becerra now wants the gap between records measured in months.
"My plan, if all goes right, if I can work out this method of recording where I'm not having to go into debt for 20 years every time I make an album, if we can do that and we can make it efficient and quality, then I'm just gonna try to pump one out every year," he said. "So next September I hope to be in the studio again, and the September after that I hope to be in the studio again… And that's only because I feel like I've got a system now. I'm really, like, feeling like I'm in the pocket. I've got the band I want, and I just really am absorbed into the lyrics and the creation process, and it feels like I'm just coming into my own."
The system he is describing is largely remote. Bassist Robert Cardenas has been tracking bass over the same recordings against a hidden click, guitarists Daniel Gonzalez and Claudeous Creamer have been laying down their parts, and Chris Aguirre has been replacing the electronic drums with real ones to build a usable scratch track before the band books proper studio time. Vocals get cut in Becerra's basement with Gonzalez, then drums go to a larger room for the sound, with guitars, bass and vocals handled in a second studio.
Asked how a band finds an identifiable sound, Becerra kept the answer short. "There's really no rhyme or reason. I just write what I feel. And I've been lucky enough to have kind of a unique sound. At the risk of sounding like I'm tooting my own horn, it's like when you hear MOTÖRHEAD, you know it's Lemmy. When you hear King Diamond, you know it's him. When you hear POSSESSED, you know it's me. And it's hard to have a unique sound."
His advice to anyone chasing it is simpler still: "There's only one of you. Just be yourself, and that unique individuality will come out in your music."
Becerra has asked for patience on the timeline, but not on the results. "I know it's been seven years, almost seven years, but I'd rather put out something really viable and really good. I don't wanna put out any shit for you guys. It's really different, but really POSSESSED and really fucking heavy."
Source: blabbermouth.net