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For Slandol, I write everything on my Yamaha BB435 5-string bass first. That bass lays the foundation — it’s what I wrote the songs with — and then I take what’s in my head and add layers with my Ernie Ball Music Man Kaizen 7-string guitar. A lot of the time the guitar parts are already in my head while I’m tracking bass, but honestly, sometimes I’m not even sure what I’m going to do on guitar until it’s time to record them. The whole record lives inside a Cubase template I built and use for everything. I want my records to feel harmonious between songs, so I keep the process, plugins, and settings pretty much the same across a collection. Song ideas hit me at random times (doing the dishes, whatever), so I’m always making voice memos — just recording catchy lines and rhythm sounds before they disappear. They’re pretty funny sometimes, honestly. For The Colour of Grey I also used my Korg Minilogue to make a dark choir-type sound, and I used that same patch on every song to keep one more consistent tone running through the record. Then there were the drums… without a real acoustic kit on this one, I tried every method I could to get the drums I wanted. And that’s when Cubase becomes the instrument: routing, gain staging, and everyone’s favourite topic — plugins. I love all that stuff. Testing mixes in the studio, then killing them after they fail the car test over and over haha. Produced, Mixed & Mastered at the River Rock Cottage overlooking Georgian Bay. It’s a pretty great place to obsess over details, but Slandol is less about perfection and more about getting my ideas recorded with a vibe — without dragging things out.