We were beyond excited to get in to the studio to record Dollar for the Man. The songwriting process was smooth and flowed very organically, and the song had mojo as soon as the band picked it up.
Spending the day at Roundhead studios is always a pleasure and the room was full of creative energy from the minute we got there, and it didn’t take us long to get into it. We gave ourselves a day in Roundhead studios for the cleanest drum and bass sounds we could get, and a day in the Stone Cold Records studio for vocals and detailing.

Grayson and Scott took creative control of the drum tracks - we wanted to incorporate the big rock sound that Grayson is influenced by, without comprising the “push and pull” and momentum that when combined with Devon’s bass walk provides almost a hypnotic feel. Guitar parts came after that - Jesse laying down the mids and Scotty giving the goods with a synth guitar skank.

Once we had that looked after, we were lucky enough to have some time with Roundhead’s beautiful upright piano, as well as an original 1970’s Hammond organ with a rotary speaker. Getting to play on instruments of that calibre is one of my personal favourite parts about heading into a top line studio like Roundhead.

Day 2 was a vocal heavy day. It’s make or break because no matter how the music comes out, if your message isn’t authentic and you don’t believe what you’re singing then it can be a long day in the booth. We had a fantastic vocal session. Jesse smashed out the choruses and I smashed out the verses, each of us doing our own harmonies. One of my highlights was hearing Scott lay down his guitar solo at the end of the song - the colourful and expressive lyricism and phrasing in his playing perfectly captured the feeling of shaking off the shackles and breaking free.

A couple of thank you’s - Scott Seabright for his creative wisdom and wizardry in production, Lukas Wharekura from Strangely Arousing for his beautiful perspectives and advice throughout the process, Chris Chetland from Kog Studios for the mastering, Ben Currie for providing the amazing artwork for the song and last but not least our manager, engine room, think tank and camp mother Stacey Henderson from Stone Cold Records for her consistently amazing work, her passion and her care. None of this would be possible without her.

Hope you enjoy the song!