ALDERTONE is a solo project from bassist Russ Aldertone. Essentially a bass and drums attack with Aldertone playing bass tracks and one of three drummers -- Tom DeVito, Michael Hoffman, or Dave Hower -- drumming and playing percussion. Aldertone explores a wide range of tones generated with the electric bass and run through a few pedals. The result is a noisey, post-rock blend of music, sometimes jagged and angular, other times soothing and melodic, drawing from the likes of Ui and Lightning Bolt, amongst others.
Russ Aldertone has lived in New York City since 1991. Russ has played bass with many NYC acts, including The Ghost Shirts, The Wobblies, Cop Show, Parashi, and Rembert Block and The Basic Goodness. This is his first solo effort.
ALDERTONE was recorded at Moon Studios on Staten Island, NYC by Henry Falco. We did three separate tracking sessions, one per drummer. In each session the drums were close mic'd at one end of the room and the bass amp was placed at the opposite end. My SWR Basic Black amp had a mic on the 15" speaker and one on the horn. We also used room mics. The separation was fine, the drummers and I were able to be in the same room to stay connected through each session. Each drummer played a different kit including snare drums, yet there is a nice consistency in the drum sounds overall and each player's nuance in style comes through.
I generally used my '71 P-Bass for the basic tracks and did overdubs with my '68 Telecaster. In both scenarios, I run it through a Sans Amp. For distortion, I use an Ibanez Tube King because the low end records so nicely. Other effects that appear are the E-H Baseballs, E-H Bass Microsyth, and the Akai Headrush for loops and/or delay.
The drummers are the three guys I've played with the most in my life as a bass player. I had played in bands with each of them for at least five years. I have been fortunate to have played with such quality musicians over that amount of time.
The mastering was done by the master, Alan Douches at West West Side in Jersey.
No guitars were harmed in the making of this record.
By the way, "For the Thunderbroomers" means: Cheers to all my bass playin' heros and colleagues. Thanks to Mike Watt for the vocabulary word.