How to record a bomb...

We were all having a blast.  Zyon was perfectly perfect.  He was so chill we could take him anywhere.  He was tiny when Nailbomb went in the studio, and I was staying home and going to the studio everyday to check in.  I was working on the Chaos recording arrangements.  No cell phones, or email in 1993, so we spent a lot of time on landlines.

Max and Zyon

Once the Roadrunner Records deal was done on paper, we were ready to rock the planet, and put the finishing touches on the record.

The only studio I knew in Phoenix was Chaton Recording.  Chaton was the studio that donated the time to Bootleggers for the Battle of the Bands.  The prize gave birth to Flotsam and Jetsam’s Metal Shock demo, which snagged them a deal with Metal Blade Records. 

I knew the owner of Chaton, Ed Ravenscroft.  I rang him up and he was happy to host the recording.  His engineer at the time, Rusty (Otto D’Agnolo), was a valuable person.  He was full of patience, humor, and had a good ear. He also could work at a fast pace. 

I will never forget the day we rented the Uhaul Truck to get the gear to the studio.  It was super hot out and Max and Alex had to haul the gear because we had no crew.  It was comical, I must admit.  As soon as the gear was loaded, we drove about 6 blocks and the truck broke.  We all had to sit and wait for a replacement.  This one came with a redneck driver.  Alex and Max cracked some rude jokes all the way to the studio.  I think the driver growled a couple times.   Dana was videoing the conversation. The driver kept quiet but his expression said it all. 

We invited a couple guests to play on the record…..Dino Cazares, Iggor Cavalera, and Andreas Kisser.  Our friends, Mike “Fatty” McArdle was also hanging in the studio.  He was the president of the Sepultura fan club, at that time and throughout the Max-era.

Danny Marianino

Alex and Max came up with the idea to play a phone trick on someone and record it.  Fatty suggested a person he had just met named Danny Marianino.  They pranked Danny and it was a riot!  You may know Danny; he eventually formed North Side Kings and also clocked Glen Danzig after a show.   Danny was perfect for a phone trick.

One afternoon, Alex and Dana called me on separate occasions and complained that Max was too drunk to work.  They said he drove up to the studio, drinking a fifth of rum, wasted.  I asked them to put Max on the phone so I could try and talk some sense it to him, but it was useless.  I had to go there.  While Max was sitting in the studio, he blurted out “Feels good to be a punk loser,” and luckily the tape was rolling.  Haha, art was just spouting all over the place…..

Class dismissed.