In February of 2021, Blaqrock traveled to Portland, Oregon to record their debut record: Dreams Don’t Die, You Do

Week 1: Map Room Studio

Day 1 set up focused on getting bass and drum tones

Due to the monstrous strength of the Fender Bass Showman amp Austen was playing out of, Dominik actually had to set up in the hallway outside of the studio Meanwhile, Danny was assisted with setting up the drum kit inside the live room by engineer Sacha. The 4 of them spent around 5-6 hours alone getting tones before we even thought about getting rhythm section takes.

Austen is always particular about tone, but he was deeply meticulous when it came to choosing his sounds for the record. Austen, Dominik and Sacha spent a ton of time trying a variety of bass tones and effects to make sure that every bass line you hear on the record would stand out and be memorable.

Danny was just as meticulous when setting up his drum tones. He and Sacha spent hours going through different snares, kick drums and cymbals to make sure the set up was just right to capture the vision we were going for.

The hallway setup ended up being a pretty fun idea..

…But stepping into the hallway while a take was being recorded was a dangerous game. It was best to avoid it if you didn’t want to be attacked by the Showman.. (Evidence of this is shown with Myles in the back heating up a hot pocket before recording, knowing that would be the last chance to get food before the Showmans’ raw power conquered the area)

Let the rhythm section recording begin!

Over the next 3-4 days, Danny and Austen tracked the rhythm section for all 10 songs on the record. Myles and Gardner laid down scratch takes to supplement their parts.

“In between takes, Dom would sit next to me and fine tune my parts. This was a genius way to get me ready for my real takes even though they weren’t being tracked for another week. I wasn’t surprised by this in the least. Dom is a guitar guy through and through, and he was pushing me the entire way even when my parts weren’t being worked on. I take pride in the parts that I wrote for this record, but Dom’s vision and persistence played an important role in shaping the guitars for this entire project.” -Myles

Both Dominik and Sacha worked meticulously through every rhythm take to ensure that the vision was being captured. That combined with the immense talent and drive from Danny and Austen resulted in a record we can all be proud of.

Funny times and extras at The Map Room

Guitars - Dead Aunt Thelma’s Studio

Absolute Gear Heaven (For a guitarist - AKA Myles and Dom)

Myles brought his Victory Countess MKII amp head (Now known as “The Jack”) which is used for live shows and lead playing on recordings. The rest of the amps were generously donated by our producer Dominik to help diversify the recording. The vision for this recording centered around vintage powerful sounding guitars, so the gear that was used reflected that.

Many different guitars were used on this record to help fit the vision. We wanted things to sound BIG, so we spent many hours trying different amps with different guitars to bring color to every song. Myles’ main Les Paul Studio was played on almost all of the songs, but we also used Tokai Telecasters and Les Pauls, Vintage SG’s, and a Martin D-28 for the acoustic tunes.

Takes, Takes, Takes…

One of the many takes for the solo from “Icarus”. A song that was inspired by the early Alterbridge sound, this tune is very different from the rest of the album. Although, all of the songs have their own identity on the album which makes this project so unique. The solo for Icarus ended up being shaped while in the studio - be sure to listen for it on the record!

Every day, we came in early and left late at night. There were struggles, triumphs and 100’s of takes in between. Looking back on this, we couldn’t be prouder of how this all turned out and we can’t wait for you to hear not only the guitars, but all of the love that went into recording every instrument.

Dead Aunt Thelma’s Funny Times and Extras

Taking in the sights (and the food)

Portland was a great getaway for us 4 Chicagoans. The way was nature interwoven with the city itself was something we weren’t used to. It made for a great place to come record and be relaxed while doing it. Take a look at some of our favorite sights!

While in Portland, we took every chance we could get to experience the great food. From the legendary breakfast taco stand outside of The Maproom to PDX sliders to everything in between, there was little we didn’t indulge in.

We would have taken more pictures, but we were too distracted by how good all of the food was to capture it in photos. Though, we did manage to take a break from eating to capture our trip to PDX sliders (above).

Vocals (and acoustic guitar)

After finishing the main guitars at Dead Aunt Thelma’s, we went back to The Map Room to record vocal takes, acoustic guitar takes, and extra percussion. Unfortunately we don’t have any footage of us recording acoustic guitar and percussion, but they can be felt and heard on the record!

Each morning during vocals week, Myles and Dom would go into the studio early to clean up/add things from the previous week. This time would also be used to record acoustic guitar parts.

Getting vocal tones

As we did with each instrument added to the record, we took a good amount of time to get the right vocals tones. At this point it was all about adding the all important finishing layer to the project. We were almost at the finish line, but we had to make sure it was done right as opposed to just making sure we would finish.

Myles (Guitar) also stepped into the booth for a couple of songs

Wrapping up

10 songs. 14 days. 4 years of writing. If you were to ask us if this album was planned, we would tell you “most definitely not”. Not in the sense that we spontaneously decided to make a record, but in the sense that we didn’t write these songs with the intention of them all being a part of a singular project. From the earliest written song to the newest, we wrote this music because we wanted to write. We wanted to tell stories through our eyes. In the time span that it took to write these songs, we changed as people and evolved as musicians, and you can hear it through the unique identity that each song has. This record is a collection of 10 unique stories that are all genuinely different from each other and we can’t wait for you to hear them.

An Important Message From Dominik about the Record

A special thanks to the following people:

Dominik Schmidt: Producer

Sacha Müller: Studio Engineer

Hudson Hamilton: Former manager, friend of the band (A special thank you for capturing much of this footage)

Peter: Friend of the band who gave us a place to stay while in Portland

All of the fans who donated to our 2021 GoFundMe campaign we set up to raise funds to cover the mixing and mastering costs

Dreams Don’t Die, You Do will be available everywhere on April 21st

Bonus Content: The Making of the Album Cover

The idea for the design came from a ring that Myles bought in Cusco, Peru when he was 15. The actual meaning of the design is unknown (to us), so we adopted our own meaning. The 4 L’s represent the four members of Blaqrock. The rotating design represents our evolution as people and musicians through time. Myles wears this ring every day and it can be seen on his right pinky finger during shows. It also made its way on to the cover art for the “Call Your Bluff” single (Pictured on the right) that was released ahead of the album. The picture itself was captured by Orel Chollette at a photoshoot in Chicago in 2021.

Myles and Gardner collaborated on the final design for the album cover. Myles’ drafts are above and Gardners’ are below. The idea was to center everything around the L’s and feature and black and white color scheme.

The Final Cover

Thanks for checking out the behind the scenes highlights for our upcoming record: Dreams Don’t Die, You Do. Want to share your thoughts with us? Let us know here!