Album Notes

Studio floods, lack of sleep, too many late nights, too many early mornings of trying to get all the eyeliner off before work, too much Mr. Daniels, countless shows, countless nights of heartfelt singing, slamming and pushing as much emotion as possible into their music, a decrepit PC from 2002 and little more than a shoestring budget couldn't stop the Samurai Cab Company EP from being born.

Springing from the unlikely forested foothills of Connecticut comes four songs crafted by three serious music professionals. Known for touring and/or recording with 80's hard rock legends Dokken, House of Lords and many others, Lead singer/bassist Chris McCarvill and drummer/backing vocalist BJ Zampa joined forces with local Connecticut guitar legend Chuck Beckman to deliver this raucous and colorful EP.

The songs were written by McCarvill who, during all the touring and traveling, had been honing his songwriting and recording abilities, eventually formulating the basis of SCC's direction. He came armed to the recording sessions with around thirty songs for the band.

Chris' studio flooded midway through the recording of the basic tracks, quickly grinding the recording process and hopes of making a full length release to a halt. With no budget or facilities to record live drums elsewhere, SCC made the decision to release an EP using the drum tracks Zampa had already recorded, and continue recording a full length album once the studio was repaired. Luckily, the first song, "I'll Be Fine" had been completed, as the band felt that that was the strongest one.

Recording the rest, the bass, guitar, keyboards and vocals progressed in the cramped and half-destroyed studio. With Beckman running the board, McCarvill blasted through all the lead vocals for the whole EP in one night, with the help of an adult beverage or two.

Next came the daunting task of mixing, mastering, and getting all the sounds working for maximum emotional impact. Pushing the limits of the old computer, it took McCarvill two months to mix and master the EP, sometimes doing more than fifty mixes per song. During this time the band played countless shows, and even made a four part video highlighting Beckman's initiation into the band, and consequent makeover. Included in the video was footage of ace photographer Jerry Angelica shooting the band's photo that was used for the back of the EP.

The last day of mastering happened to fall on Zampa's birthday, July 31. That also turned out to be the day that the studio renovations were complete. McCarvill created and finished the EP artwork, designing the band logo (on the front of the EP) the day before the EP was sent out to get manufactured.

The Samurai Cab Company EP captures the raucous beginnings of this new, yet professional, modern melodic rock band.