 |
| Samsara rock boys in early Big Snuff Studio. Berlin-Weissensee, December 2009 by Martin Albrecht |
First of all, perhaps an all-clear to those who expect a somewhat crazy (drug-) story behind this milestone of my career, maybe it's better if you don't read any further ;) because most of the making of this album has nothing to do with drugs or such in any way. Even with all the efforts to make waves with SBE, the success of this album is hard to explain logically. Okay, the cover may have been very well chosen in a scene that was 95% just boys then ;) but hey, I really loved Art Nouveau at the time. I couldn't pass by any Klimt or Mucha book, and was a poster artist myself for quite a while, more or less successfully. Then the iconic title, Long Distance Trip, while the working title was already "Mystic Trip", which seemed too bland for the others in the band, and with the ambiguity in the final name, perhaps really something like a conceptual work of art had emerged from all its naive origins.
 |
| We went to a professional studio ... and I hated the result! SAE Studios Berlin, February 2009 |
After our previous two-track demo got really good feedback, I was anxious to receive a bit more than just formal applause with my music, and we didn't let too much time pass to record the debut album. Some of us later thought that we should have waited a little longer, but now it is what it is. Already during the demo recordings of "Double Freedom" I had a hunch that "something big" could happen with this new band. And even while I thought that more often later, it should come true at least with the first album ;) But a good amount of time had to pass before, and I still think that the cover and the initially favorable Youtube algorithms contributed a significant part to the popularity of the album, and the band. Maybe I'm just telling that to myself, because these days I find the realization of these certainly somewhat special songs rather mediocre, but I won't bother much more with my opinion.
 |
| Up and away: Heading off for our first tour, perhaps the biggest trip of our lives! Amsterdam airport, March 2009 |
Back then, our demo was followed by the much-discussed USA tour, which was a small miracle not just for us. If you've read some of my earlier writings here, you know where I'm coming from and that even a gig in nearby Dresden (150 km from Berlin) seemed difficult to arrange back then, and now two freaks from sunny California offered us to arrange a couple of concerts in their land of endless promises. What a trip, just to think about it! A period of discussions followed: Should we do this, or wasn't this all just crazy, with only the demo in hand and honestly, not even a full set of songs to present live! Half of the songs we played back then were actually pretty immature. "Center Of The Sun" for example was a completely loose jam, with hardly any structure, and I really couldn't sing at the time. The fact that "Double Freedom" grew up to more than twenty minutes was no accident either, but rather due to the fact that our set was otherwise too short. Of course, later we didn't know about the limitations of a vinyl record, which explains why the album was released in such different versions.
 |
| Beware of the East Germans: SBE & crew on our way to the gig in friggin' LOS ANGELES, Highway No.1, March 2009 |
So while we decided to hit the road for that first USA tour - the band's very first real tour, by the way - some of those tracks formed a little more into a usable song structure. The tour in America was one of the most impressive experiences of our lives for all of us, forever. Most of us had hardly left Germany before and knew some little bits only from movies or series. The Internet was also still in its infancy at that time, and somehow there is a veil of youthful nostalgia over all of this today. A special musical influence of that time was the band Mammatus, but also other Californian groups (Earthless, OM, Ancestors) had taken a grip on me and also bassist and sound engineer Richard. So shortly after our return from America, we were to begin recording the album. And with those influences and memories of "our trip", I don't think drugs were even necessary because we just came back so naturally euphoric and excited for all the things to come.
 |
| Everything was kind of magical over there. I had no clue why we had to stop at Pismo Beach though ... |
Richard still had his little 15" Macbook, but for the album he decided to rent at least a bigger interface and microphones to give the drums enough space, and also all the other instruments should be recorded more properly this time. We played all the basic tracks live again, but this time with four people in the room. At this point I also have to make a correction, which on the one hand is kind of important for me, but on the other hand is perhaps a little embarrassing, because you hear very little of Hans' guitar on this whole album. In later reviews, the "guitar duels" were often highlighted, but at the time it was more my oversized ego or that kind of euphoria, depending on how you take it. I'm not even sure anymore why I felt like there had to be multiple lead guitars, and all had to be played by myself. As I said, the songs were only half finished and Hans was very shy at that time. I didn't take enough time to work things out better with him back then.
 |
| Headliner at our first US-show at The Echo, Sunset Blvd LA (Seriously wtf!!) Pic by Alric Kaczor |
So this album was more of a chaotic continuation of the demo, and also a very short visit to the SAE studio in Berlin, where we had a brief chance to record "For The Lost Souls" in just one afternoon, but held it back out of some embarrassment. The long period of overdubs for LDT cannot be described with any other adjective than CHAOTIC! Despite the fact that Richard had studied sound engineering, this was his first major production and I'm sure that he frequently despaired over my ideas, and first conflicts arose. Thomas and Hans were completely left out of the overdubs. A drummer's job always ends after the basic takes, more or less. But the whole band was really my vision back then, and three younger guys kind of trying to follow it. I don't want that to sound as egotistical as it probably was. Well, at the time I really loved stoner rock and 60's psychedelic and drew everyone around into this great passion for the genre. At the time I was also running a fanzine with Generated X and was deeply rooted in the still very underground scene.
 |
| Our first real tour and we're about to enter friggin' SEATTLE, where we even played twice on that trip! |
The work on overdubs then stretched over several months! At that time we had just moved into a new rehearsal room, where Richard still runs his Big Snuff Studio today, with some spatial differences. For example, our direct neighbors at that time were the motorcycle club Bandidos, a bunch of rather unpleasant dudes, and many seemed to run on crooked tracks. There were actually two police interventions in our rehearsal room, which was mistaken for the Bandidos' room! Armed to the teeth policemen stood once in the room, while Richard's Flanger Hoax-pedal oscillated merrily. And also during the mixing of "Army Of Ignorance" there was a big operation of the Berlin police, right next door, not even ten meters away from Richard and me and that little Macbook with the "big album" on it. Gun shots were fired and I nearly peed my pants, but as you see we managed to get away without damage. I will never forget the sight of about twenty grown men in handcuffs sitting on the floor when we finished our work that day.
 |
| Back in our backyards in Weissensee, back to normal, but ... how?! Pic by Martin Albrecht, Dec 2009 |
Somehow funny was also how we went through the overdub sessions. As I said, it was all rather sporadic and spontaneous, depending on when we had time and desire to work - I still was in a regular full-time job back then. So some of the vocals for example were done in Richard's then still youthful room with open windows and me with my sketchy "Jim Morrison memorial renditions". Most of the keyboards I had done in my own apartment, without any plan, with free synthesizer, organ & mellotron plugins. Just briefly before I had discovered this whole world of plugin instruments, thanks to Richard. Oh that was all such a funny naive time ... but we actually had little problems finding a label. The demo and the first gigs, plus the "Rock 'n' Roll-fairytale-like" American tour had already gained us quite some attention. In fact we already had three offers from labels, but I really wanted to be on one of the well-known scene labels, Elektrohasch or Tee Pee to be precise. The latter never got back to us, while I had a rather embarrassing run-in with Stefan Koglek of Elektrohasch.
 |
| The sky is the limit? Berlin-Weissensee, Long Distance Trip-promo session by Martin Albrecht |
He had justified doubts about the album. Yes, not everything was really that well played, although I saw it differently back then. Elektrohasch was pretty much king of the stoner labels at that time, even if not everything there was ultimately so outstanding in my opinion. But Koglek didn't want Samsara, and had explained this in great detail, even with minute marks of playing mistakes, whereupon I wrote a somewhat teasing answer and that was that. But he still invited us to play at his Swamp Room Mania festival, so there weren't any hard feelings. In the end we went with the "smaller" World In Sound-label, which turned out the much better choice financially and remains an important part of my life. Without this I would hardly be able to now live as a free artist, far away from my home country and under palm trees, so thank you Wolfgang!
 |
| Long Distance Trip release concert, Arcanoa Berlin on April 4 2010 by Martin Albrecht |
Thanks also to the many fans of SBE - I and the others in our band put a lot of effort into this whole project, dedicated time and all our passion, spent most of our vacations from work for touring etc yet few of what we experienced in the final years can be taken for granted! Thank you very much!
