October 1, 2019

The boys at work (minus any current members of Dalton & the Sheriffs)

Scully: We had just been through the beginning of a lineup change. We had a bit of a disconnect on expectations between the band and the team, which happens. Bottom line is that we went on a pretty big tour and it sort of fell apart because our agent was not the most scrupulous individual. Once that happened, it was doomed. There's a lot to be said about the importance of teamwork and leadership in bands. Most bands fail. And most bands breakup. So when shit goes wrong, it's not much of a leap to get to that result. I've always tried to innovate and be aggressive, while sticking to our values, but a lot of the stuff that I do is pretty abnormal for the mainstream industry.

At the same time, I had been talking to Jay and Dennis about the song "You Ain't Her." Jay had always loved it (I had actually asked Jay if he wanted to be in the band a few years earlier when a previous lineup had started falling apart, but he had just returned from a tour and was focusing on the music shop). Jay had a guy in Maine, Kevin Billingslea, who worked at a great studio called The Halo. He wanted a shot at making a different version of "You Ain't Her" up there.

Jay:  I was at a bar with my then girlfriend listening to Scully play solo acoustic. We had met a few times, he had been in my shop a few times buying strings, but we weren't friends yet, just sort of aquaintences. He played a few random covers, a few Dalton tunes and then played "You Ain't Her". I immediately went up to him after and asked who that song was by, thinking it was a cover. He said it was his song and then the wheels in my brain starting turning.

Denn: I don’t know if I had many actual “ideas” at the time, but Jay and I had kind of become a duo from playing in our own original band and at the time and in a cover band, as well. We’d written pop rock songs and recently worked with Kevin on an album and all had a nice fresh chemistry going. I certainly knew of Dalton as Jay had just opened acoustic for them and definitely knew of the song “You Ain’t Her,” so Jay proposed working on an alternate recording of the tune to try to make it -- for a lack of a better industry word -- “bigger sounding”. At that point, we’d kind of come into it feeling like “writers” or “session guys” without a huge expectation of actually being in the band, too. I don’t really know why….it was pretty long ago now haha but it was kind of a different direction for us of seeing a song from an outsiders perspective that I think really fueled what the eventual end product was.

Scully: We made the plan to head up to Maine and record on October 1, 2019. I didn't feel too bad about re-recording it as a test, because I had tried to get the previous band to hit the song again and they all passed. There were a couple of members still hanging on, but by the end of recording this song, it was sort of over.

But, things went haywire from the start.

Jay: Denn and I had an early start to Maine. We're musicians so we weren't known to be up super early, but the studio is always exciting. We were maybe halfway to Maine and I think it was around 8:30 AM or so I get a text from Scully that says "Dude, the van just died." 

Scully: I was cruising along the highway and suddenly it was just pandemonium in the drive train. It turns out that there had been an underpublicized recall. No one ever addressed it during the regular service, which saved us tremendously, because all the repairs ended up being covered. They used a rubber coupler to tie the drive train to the transmission. Apparently -- at some point -- they just give out on those early Transit vans. It would have been fine if I was going slow, but the drive train just ripped free, snapped the transmission, and tore through the bottom of the van. I was able to coast to the shoulder, but it was cooked.

Jay: We had the day booked already, so instead of wasting it, we figured we'd at least start the recording process. At the time I was thinking just some basics, then Scully could come later and we could get the rest going but the van had other plans. The fact that we didn't really know how to play the song was the only issue, haha.

My original thought was Scully would be there, and we would let him do his thing on acoustic guitar and vocals and Denn and I would build around it. Instead we did the opposite and recorded everything, figuring it out as we went. Dennis and I even recorded keys. We barely knew how to play keys so I took the right hand and Denn took the left hand parts. The studio drummer at the Halo, Jake Wertman, was also there and he layed down drums (as most of you know, Jake later joined the band for a few years after!). I even did the worst Scully impression ever with a scratch lead vocal so we could get all the backup vocals done too. Once we left, we had everything except Scully's voice which he came and did at a later date!

Denn: I immediately kind of panicked when we got the text about the van. My mind went straight to “Oh no this day isn’t going to happen”…. ”Scully needs to be here for us to do anything, it’s his band etc…” etc., but then we got the second text of something along the lines of…”You guys know how you think the song should sound….go ahead and record it and I’ll come do my pieces when I can be there.”

He kind of phrased it as he already had a recording of this and anything we did was an added bonus, with nothing to lose. Jay and I all of a sudden had a whole studio to ourselves with instruments we didn’t exactly know how to play, a song we knew just the basics of and a blank canvas. It was terrifying and awesome at the same time. Before we knew it though, it felt like we had written this song. Every take ended with someone else being like YEAH! and then this part should go like this! Met with another YEAH! …while at the same time stopping to ask…but…..what if Scully hates this, haha. Then, we knew the song needed keys….and we’re both terrible at them so somehow figured out I could play the bass octave while Jay played the melody sitting on the same bench. If those outtakes were ever recorded on video, we’d probably be shunned from music forever, but we got it. Jake, the studio drummer at the time -- who would then join the lineup too -- tracked the drums on it and we all of a sudden had a new version of “You Ain’t Her.” We were playing with house money, in a sense, and I think that trust and the van situation actually played a huge role in letting loose.

Scully: I never really got too upset that day. Jay and Denn are pretty easy going guys. I just sort of switched into "deal-with-the-problem" mode.

Jay: The funny part about it was I wasn't even doing this to join the band, or take anyone's place. I just knew that song could sound better than it did. And this was not a slight at the guys who did the previous version at all. I just had a vision in my head when I heard Scully playing it solo acoustic. Between me hearing Scully in that bar and us doing the recording a few years had gone by, as well. The band was playing for bigger crowds and this song was always so huge live. I thought a bigger version of the song would give the band the boost it needed. When we got the final mix back for our new version I was like.... ok... well this doesn't suck. I forget what happened after that. I think I got kidnapped or something and here I am five years later wearing my own bands merch. [Note from Scully: I am also quite proud of introducing Jay to the sartorial value of baseball jerseys on stage, as well.]

Denn: When Scully showed up it kind of felt like an episode of whatever that house remodel show is where they hide the new house behind a sheet and pull it away while the camera crew holds their breath. Jay was definitely biting his finger nails and, thankfully, Scully was super into the new direction/sound along with a couple tweaks we’d suggested. He went in and crushed his guitar and vocals quickly and I think that whole process -- with a little bit of acknowledged luck -- almost set the standard for the way and order we actually record all of our records now.

Scully: Since that day, we have released 37 tracks across multiple singles, EPs and albums, not including two full length live records. It's the most successful writing and recording period of my lifetime.

Jay: The studio was something I had always loved and hated at the same time. It made me nervous, but it was exciting. This project was what made my love for the studio grow. We started with nothing but a good song -- that we didn't know how to play -- and ended up putting our spin on it and created something we were proud of. As Scully mentioned, we had a whole lot more studio fun since that session almost five years ago!

Scully: That track has almost 200,000 plays on Spotify. We don't buy plays and we don't get radio play, so that is a huge number for us. I'm not sure -- if the van hadn't broken down -- that we would have ended up with the same product. I think that the trust I have in Jay and Denn to create in the studio is a key piece of why this band works and I think it's kind of cool that -- on this first one -- it was just the two of them creating without worrying what I thought. I think an element of that still exists today and is super important to our recording process. They're very talented and you've just got to let them drive.

Jay: Having the recording be so successful was something I sort of expected, but I didn't think it would have much to do with me and Denn. I thought we did this fun studio project, pass it off to the band, and then work on something new. Like I said before, I never meant to join the band. I had already toured and played in bands for over 20 years at that point. The last project I was in was based out of Philly and we grinded and I was burnt out. I was done with that life. But... there was some magic there that was inescapable. We ended up doing another song or two in the studio, and then everything in my life sort of lined up to make it work and I was all in. I am so glad I followed through because it's been 5 years of great memories!

Denn: Man, everything kind of happened so fast after we left Maine. All of a sudden we were playing our first show as this new lineup to a whole crowd of people who had no idea who we were. They’re pretty much all our close friends now. I had played a couple of shows with the band in San Diego and such before, but Jay took a little more convincing to actually join the stage with Dalton. If you know Jay though, Bud Lights and beaches was an easy sell.

Soon after, we were all on the Paradise stage playing this new version we recorded at one of the coolest shows of our lives (to that point). The Pandemic hit a day or two later and the (new lineup) band was faced with a whole list of challenges (that is a story for another day) but when we’re talking about this recording, “You Ain’t Her” certainly stands out as the starting point to a ton of different things. This was the launching point that even through all the lockdowns etc, did kind of change our lives at the same time our lives were changing haha. I feel like I’ve lived four different lives just since being in that studio but I’ll never forget it. (Random bonus fun fact…I met Sue through a photo of me recording this, so the Van’s the gift that keeps on giving.)

Jay and Denn took care of almost everything on the track, including piano, where Denn took left hand responsibilities and Jay took right hand.

What remained of the rubber coupling... 

It was an expensive tow back.

-30-