FUZZ, the raw power trio comprised of Los Angeles-based Ty Segall (drums, vocals), Charles Moothart (guitar, vocals), and Chad Ubovich (bass, vocals), have announced “III”, their first album in five years, to be released October 23rd on the label In The Red Recordings.
“III” was recorded on 24-track 2″ analog tape and mixed at United Recording with renowned engineer Steve Albini shortly before the Safer at Home order was issued. Keeping the focus on the live sounds of the band, the use of overdubs and studio enhancement were kept to a minimum. Albini’s mastery in capturing sound gave FUZZ the ability to focus entirely on the playing, while knowing their distinctive sonic signature would remain.
“We’ve recorded with Steve a few times over the years with Ty’s band,” recalls Charles Moothart. “We recorded with him at his Electrical Audio studio in Chicago for the first time a few years ago, and then again the following year. Steve also engineered a session at Ty’s home studio in between those two sessions, and then we had him fly out to engineer a live record for Ty’s Freedom Band at the beginning of 2018. So over the years we have gotten really comfortable working together.”
Steve Albini has recorded more than 1500 albums, including LPs by Nirvana, Pixies, PJ Harvey, Cheap Trick, Veruca Salt, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.
Since the early 1990s, Albini has been best known as a record producer; however, he dislikes the term and prefers to receive no credit on album sleeves or notes. When credited, he prefers the term “recording engineer.”
Albini has stated that putting producers in charge of recording sessions often destroys records, while the role of the recording engineer is to solve problems in capturing the sound of the musicians, not to threaten the artists’ control over their work.
Charles Moothart of Fuzz concludes, “Ty had done a mixing session at United Recording, so that is where the idea of recording at United with Steve came from. We wanted to record in LA to stay close to home; we wanted to be able to go in and get live takes and not stress too much on mixing, and we wanted it to be fun. All signs pointed to working with Steve at United.”
Cover Artwork by Denée Segal.
Pictured in United Recordings Studio B are (L-R) recording engineer Steve Albini explaining an obscure analog recording technique to Chad Ubovich, United staff engineer Scott Moore, Charles Moothart, and Ty Segall. Photo by David Goggin