Preroll: Before One Opens a Studio

How Jackpot! Recording Studio had so many national and international connections when it opened. -by Larry Crane

This post contains a lot of specific information. When I write End Rants and bits for Tape Op Magazine, I tend to keep the writing a bit less self-referential. But at the end of the day, Jackpot! Recording is my studio, and the path it took to get there has everything to do with what I did beforehand. It wasn’t goddamn luck that made it happen.

Even back as far as my first 4-track cassette recorder setup in my bedroom during my Chico, CA, Vomit Launch years (1985-1992), other folks would be on tour, rolling through town, sleeping on my floor, and sometimes utilizing my “studio.” I recall Nice Strong Arm spending a few extra days at my home while dealing with a broken down van, and bassist Jason Asnes borrowing my equipment to put down some song ideas. Some of these demos ended up being considered (or used?) for the band Saturnine in New York City right after this, but we’ll get back to that (Versus) connection next post. Many bands would come play Chico and stay at my various homes over the years: Glass Eye, No Man (feat. Roger Miller of Mission of Burma), Volcano Suns (feat. Peter Prescott also of Mission of Burma, plus Bob Weston on bass), The Jesus Lizard, Helios Creed, Tragic Mulatto, Beat Happening (opening for Fugazi), The Walkabouts, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 (all the time!), The Cat Heads, Weenie Roast, Half Blind, Girl Trouble, Danger Mouse (feat. Donna Dresch whom I would record some 30+ years later, and John Goodmanson, who I accidentally sent away, cancelling their show, but would later record Sleater-Kinney with)), Honeymoon Killers, Holy Sisters of the Gaga Dada, and likely many, many more!

When I moved away from California and set up a home studio, Laundry Rules Recording, in Portland, OR, in 1994, I was under no delusion that anyone else would wish to record in my basement. That didn’t last long once locals like John Moen’s The Maroons, Stephen Malkmus, The Spinanes, Sean Croghan, and Elliott Smith started coming in. Once I had an 8-track, reel-to-reel deck word seemed to get out.

Bruce Greif was the co-owner of Ozone Records downtown, and in the early years of Undercover Inc., he was part of that label with JJ Gonson. He brought in Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, to record two songs for a 7-inch of cover songs – she’d been housesitting a friend’s place nearby, as I recall. I remember it took a number of takes, but that Chan’s vocals were always cool sounding and the cover songs were good choices; Dead Moon and Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), plus a Pavement cover done at KBOO. According to the inner label, we did these June 1 or 2, 1996. Someone even noted that my studio was $10 an hour on the label!

I had played a show with Mecca Normal in Eugene (Oct 1989) during the Vomit Launch days, and after moving to Portland, somehow Jean Smith and David Lester had begun to stay at my home while on tour, even joining for Thanksgiving once even though they’re Canadian. When Jean formed 2 Foot Flame with New Zealand luminaries Peter Jefferies and Michael Morley, they decided to stay at my home and record half of their album, Ultra Drowning, with me for Matador Records. I was a huge fan of the New Zealand bands that had been around in the ‘80s/’90s, and Peter and his brother, Graeme, had been in the amazing This Kind of Punishment. Michael Morley was part of The Dead C, and had been in the perfectly-named Wreck Small Speakers on Expensive Stereos. Both were a treat to work with, so creative, and whenever you get the chance to record a true artist like Jean Smith on vocals you are having a good day! But it was pretty crazy to have one’s home taken over by people staying with me (plus my wife at the time and housemate) and having recording sessions going on. This album came out on Matador Records. Co-founder Gerard Cosloy (Homestead Records, Conflict magazine) and I had been in touch for years; he even booked Vomit Launch’s only CBGBs show in 1992, where we headlined with openers Grenadine, Dustdevils, and The Magnetic Fields.

In order to explain how SMALL this underground rock world was I must elaborate: Grenadine contained Mark Robinson of TeenBeat Records/Unrest who had put out Vomit Launch releases, plus Jenny Toomey (Tsunami/Simple Machines Records/Future of Music Coalition). We were doing a number of shows with them on the East Coast in Spring of 1992, and Mark booked most if not all of it. Dustdevils were on TeenBeat/Matador and Mark Ibold played bass. They’d stayed at my house in CA once (with Unrest), and Mark and I hit it off, staying up all night listening to Television Personalities and The Monochrome Set. Then he joined Pavement, and I helped my pal Adam Wakeling (a Seattle mainstay for decades now) do live sound for them when they played Chico. The Magnetic Fields were awesome, but I do not recall talking to them! The drummer, Claudia Gonson, would turn out to be the sister of my future Portland friend, JJ Gonson (see above)!

Now, if you do not see the connections and legwork that set me and Jackpot! Recording up for what would happen in 1997, I don’t know what to say. Also, please realize, this is only part of my story. In California, I was running a cassette label (Pink Noise Tapes 1981-1988?) that put out my solo electronic music, then concurrently started our band’s label (Rat Box 1985-1993), writing for ‘zines - many on the East Coast, volunteering as a radio Music Director (KCSC), booking and running shows in Chico, booking Vomit Launch shows/tours, doing publicity for the band/label, helping Devil in the Woods put out local cassette compilations, and I even had a zine called Chicohell for a couple of years (1985-1986). And this was all before I moved to Portland.

When I opened Jackpot! Recording Studio in 1997, we had a fun little party. A friend brought a guest that I didn’t know quite as well, and they kept saying, “You’re so lucky!” My credit cards were maxed out, I hadn’t had a good night's sleep in months, I was worried as heck that I’d made a stupid business decision, and Tape Op was making zero income (and wouldn’t for a number of years).

This is all the preroll one must do before it (eventually) happens overnight.