A Plea For Purging | In The Studio
Written By: Jeremy Seick

Plea For Purging is back in the studio to release their third album, titled The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, on Facedown Records June 6th. Plea, being the rad d00-d00-dudes that they are gave us a sneak peak into the studio (with Andy manning the camera) as well as gave us an inside scoop on the writing and recording of the new record! Enjoy!

Andy on The Studio…

How does Plea work in the studio? Is it all business or is there a fair amount of goofing off still?

Andy Atkins: Well, if you know much about PLEA you know that we aren’t serious about much.  We are just five dudes trying to have a good time all of the time, so the studio is no exception.   Joey definitely is a perfectionist in his field so that is good for us cause it keeps us from accepting mediocre takes but there is a fair amount of goofing off.  I personally have Joey sing, with auto-tune, everything that has to be said to me through the talk back mic in my headphones.  This allows the stress of trying to get perfect takes to be calmed a bit with some laughter.   Joey is just as much of a “good time guy” as we are, so we work great together.  I think he likes Blake the best though.  I’m trying to win him over.

How much would you say a given Plea song changes from entering the studio to the final product? Give us an example?

AA: Our songs go through many stages before they end up on the final mix of a CD sittin’ on the rack at Hot Topic or whatever killer record store you shop at.  We have probably rewritten a song a good 5 times before it even hits Joey’s desk.  With Depravity, Joey had a lot of input on the songs and the overall record.  He took the songs we had written and turned them into what we all wanted them to be.  So, obviously we are excited to be working with Joey again.  We were writing with the mindset of Joey’s production skills and what he could do for these songs.  As I type this interview out right now, I am hearing Joey’s mastermind being put to use with some gnarly sounding guitar effects.  I can’t wait to get in there and see what they are doing (laughs).

You worked with Joey Sturgis on the last album and it came out amazingly. Was there any question about going with him again on this new album?

AA: Well, I just touched on that in the last question but I will expound.  Joey is our favorite producer we have worked with thus far.  He really knows first off how to make you feel comfortable in your task and then knows exactly how to pull the best from you that you have.  We had no doubt when going into this record that we wanted to work with him again.  We were just worried he was getting too big time for us.  I mean, Joey is a household name in the metal scene now.  We just gotta keep him on our good side so he doesn’t blow up and forget about us!

Talk to us about the musical direction so far.

AA: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell will in fact be the heaviest record that PLEA has released to date.  I think that this record is the record we wanted Depravity to be.  We just weren’t mature enough in our writing last time to pull it off.  I think these are all around better sounds and a better record.  We have kept the general sound of what we did on Depravity but just honed our sound a bit better.

When you say it’s your heaviest album to date, how does that process come about? Is it the lyrical content that determines the music or do you feel like the heaviness just comes along organically?

AA: We knew going into writing this record what we wanted to speak about.  We all have some things on our heart that need to be said.  Depravity was maybe a turning point for our band in the fact that we finally allowed ourselves to be honest with our listeners.  So the writing of this record was easier because we feel we have already opened that door of honest communication between us and our fans.  With that being said, yes, the lyrical content of this record will be the heaviest subject matter our band has spoken about publicly.

The music is naturally going to match the subject matter.  If you’re writing angry lyrics, then you’re gonna get angry music.  I think the feel of the music on this record matches the lyrics its backing up.

What do you do in your free time at the studio?

AA: Ah, you had to ask this question didn’t you?  You couldn’t just let it remain mysterious and let kids think we are having a blast the whole time?!?! (laughs).  Well, to be honest to all of your readers, we are a bunch of boring dudes when it comes to this matter.  I’ll break it down for you.

First, the setting is Connersville, Indiana, a smaller town with a population of below 15,000.  There is a Wal-Mart, not a super-center mind you.  There are a couple grocery stores and you got a handful of fast food joints.  This is a one horse town compared to our home of Nashville, TN.

Being that there isn’t a lot to experience in town, we spend most of our time at Joey’s home, which has a built in studio. He’s got a great set up with band bedrooms and all.

A normal day for anyone not tracking his parts would be something like this:

Wake up lets say around 2:00pm.  Stumble into the kitchen for a breakfast/lunch/brunch of something tasty like some cereal or ramen noodles.  Grab a spot on the couch in the living room/hang out room, open up your laptop, and surf the web until there are no more waves left in the ocean of MySpace comments and Facebook wall posts.  If it’s a wacky day, someone might lift weights on the weight bench we brought, or heck if we’re really feeling crazy we’ll even walk outside on the front porch for a breath of fresh air.  Then back to the living room for some episodes of The Office, maybe a movie, then some more internet surfing, make up some dinner from various frozen foods in the freezer, and then back to the bed where it all started.  Sprinkle a few phone calls, texts, and the occasional Taco Bell run and you have yourself a fine day at Foundation Studios.

Is the whole band there for the whole process? Or do you kind of come in, do your part and go? Is everyone contributing to each part?

AA: The entire band is here for the majority of the time.  Aaron, Blake and I have the most actual tracking to do and spend the most time in the studio but everyone is here to have input on the songs.  Tyler took a break right when we got back from Europe and missed the 1st week of drum tracking and editing.  He’s back and i-chatting harder than ever and now John is gone visiting his girlfriend after she had some surgery but he’ll be flying back in later this week.  He’s not missing much, just some vocal tracking and some guitar tracking.

Blake on Gear…

What equipment are you working with on this record?  amps, pedals, guitars, etc…

Blake Martin: Well we’ve been using a lot of Line 6 modeling via podfarm on the record with a mix of onboard effects. For such a low tuning, the digital amp modeling really preserves the clarity. As for guitars, Schecter has been really good to us. We have some Hellraiser and ATX Blackjack models we are quite fond of right now.

Is there any new element in the production on this new record that you are really stoked about?

BM: Well Joey himself gets better and better with every record so we are stoked about that. Plus he’s a sweet dude to hang with. He bought a new API preamp and some new Neumann mics right before we came and I think its made a pretty big difference, especially in the drum tracking. As far as the band goes, we are trying a new tuning and a lot more groove-oriented songwriting on this record so that’s opened up a lot of ideas for us.

How will your live equipment setup change with this record?

BM: Well I’m really getting into the whole Line 6/digital amp modeling thing so during the recording process I bought a Line 6 Vetta II HD with the FBV longboard foot controller. I’m still deciding if I want to use them live, but so far it sounds great. Also, I’m able to emulate all the crazy stuff we do on the record almost exactly. That is a HUGE plus for me on top of the clarity for lower tunings.

Is there anything you’ve drawn influence from for the sound of this album?

BM: Low-tuned groove is what we really enjoy playing so naturally Meshuggah is a major influence along with bands like Sevendust, Deftones, Bury Your Dead and The Acacia Strain. I’m trying to focus more on songwriting as well so I draw a lot of influence from Dredg, Keane, Thrice and David Bazan. For the weirder sounds it’s Radiohead, M83, Idiot Pilot and MGMT.

Joey Sturgis on Producing…

How is it working with the dudes in A Plea For Purging?

Joey Sturgis: Great as always. We have a great working relationship and we are all part of the top secret doodoo club. You can join…For a fee.

Last time you made a guest vocal appearance on “Motives”, did you make it onto this new album?

JS: That is a surprise. Wait and see!!!

Being given a second chance to work with Plea, is there anything that you decided to do different in retrospect?

JS: I’m trying to go for more of a raw, angry feel to reflect the mood of this record. I’d like to add a lot of thrash elements throughout. This band is the best band on the planet so I gotta be on my A-game.