A Song Called "The Skies Above"

Covering The Equals because that's how The Clash did it, man

Here is a song I recorded in the last couple days, an old classic, the B side of 'I Get Excited', deep cut from the 'Baby Come Back' album. You know the one.

     I first heard about The Equals from Tony Kiewel, Sub Pop's own (a good guy!), at a bar in Seattle in the mid aughts. Linda's Tavern? Let's say it was there, just to help paint this picture. Sub Pop wanted to release an Equals compilation but they couldn't secure the rights. I guess somebody at President Records, whatever form it took in modern times, was holding those long forgotten masters close to their chest. Tony told me the story. It was Eddy Grant's first band. Yes, 'Electric Avenue' Eddy Grant. 19 years old, the late 60s, wearing a blonde wig. Proto-glam, racially integrated, preternaturally cool. Eddy not the singer though! That was Derv Gordon. Eddy sang as well, just want to give Derv his due. The most mind-blowing thing I found out was that ‘Police On My Back’ was not written by The Clash, it was The Equals! You can do your own research here. My favorites exist in a cool space between The Foundations and The Troggs, occasionally something close to Love at their most garage, circa first LP. ‘Help Me Simone’ is a monster of a song. ‘Laurel And Hardy’, ‘Hold Me Closer’, so many bangers. The other detail I remember from that night in Seattle was that Tony Kiewel was there with a friend named Scientific Gary. Strange guy. He wasn’t a scientist. When I asked about the name, he and Tony just looked at each other.

So that’s some backstory. Why did I record this song? Because I was listening to the bed tracks of a New Pornographers recording (I’ll tell you more about it when it’s done) and I thought to myself “this reminds me of ‘The Skies Above’ by The Equals”. Something in the bass, something in the drums. I decided to use the drum tracks as a foundation and record a cover. Always nice to have real drums to play with on a demo. Initially I used the original’s arrangement as a guide but it was sounding WAY too much like ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. Cobain nailed that ‘chunk-a-chunk ka-chunk-chunk’ rhythm guitar vibe so hard that you can’t cover a song from 1968 without sounding like them. That’s what you call iconic. Then I realized that those drums I was playing with, the ones that gave me the idea for the cover? They had to go. It wasn’t working. Sometimes the first thing that inspires you has to be binned. It’s part of the process. You need stepping stones. Not literal stepping stones, figurative ones. Like in the song.

I loved the high ‘oo-woo-oo’ backup vocals from the original, like a siren, those I had to use. At the end of a backup vocal take I tried to go up an octave but I couldn’t get there, I hit the closest note I could and said to myself “nope”, stopped right there. That errant note at the end found its way into some headphone bleed on another track. I thought “put that through a filter and play it every couple bars”. I’ve always been a fan of depth charge sound effects.

Pro tip that helped me in the arranging and mixing of this song:

Mix it to the best of your abilities, bounce down an mp3 and go grocery shopping. Listen to it in the car a few times. You might hear ‘Electric Avenue’ in the grocery store and think “wow, what a coincidence!”. Call your wife (or husband, friend, anyone will do) and ask them if they need anything. Put the song out of your head as you shop. Focus on the task at hand. When you get back in the car you might think the song needs more of a percussive arc, maybe add a tambourine 2nd verse, kick drum 3rd verse, shaker 4th verse. Something to build it, add tension. Your significant other might call and tell you that they can buy the cat food, they’re right there. You say “thank you, that would be great!” You might go home and make those changes and/or additions and it will work nicely.

So here it is. The Skies Above. They’ll never never fall, no matter how much you love me.