[audio:shotgun.mp3]
As you might have guessed from my piano playing…I’m a guitar player. This means, among other things, that I don’t know anything about synthesizers. The upside of this kind of total ignorance is that when I’m messing with an instrument I know absolutely nothing about, like a synth, my utter lack of technique leaves more room to come up with something simple and cool.
The synth lines on the intro and solo section of this song fit that description. I found a sound I liked, pushed record and just kind of fucked around, and the simple part I came up with dictated the way the song evolved from that point on (for instance, I really had to have a call & response duel with a guitar in the solo section).
This song is a lot sparser than most of the other Radio Nowhere songs by design, with minimal overdubs and less of the usual baroque frippery, but I loved the “queen of rock’n’roll” backing vocals so much that they just had to stay. As far as I’m concerned, the whole song could consist of that 1.5 seconds looped over and over for three-and-a-half minutes and that would be okay. I understand if you don’t feel that way.
Finally, unlike the rest of Days Between Stations, this song was mixed by Oakland production ninja Charles Stella, who is not only great at his job but will take you to lunch at a taqueria with excellent tomatillo salsa.