Blue Tile Rock

Blue Tile Rock

2003

Most of the songs for “Blue Tile Rock” were written in the summer of 2002. By that time it was just Mike and I. We spent the summer working on demos not only for what would be “Blue Tile Rock” but also another album that was tentatively called “Tandem”. For the last couple of years we had gotten to know Chris Deckard who owned and operated a recording studio in Saint Louis called Radio Penny along with his partner Jason Rook. This studio used analog tape and Chris was genuinely interested in what we were doing. Chris is a great talent with an excellent ear and Radio Penny had recorded bands like Julia Sets, The Conformists, The Star Death and countless other artists. We gave Chris our demos and booked time for a week in August.

In addition to the BOSS-Dr550 Drum Machine, Mike had acquired an Akai Sampler and this thing was pretty magnificent. With this machine Mike could now record sounds he wanted to use in songs, he wasn’t just limited to whatever sounds were already programmed. One of the first things he recorded was the sound water makes when it spills over from making coffee and burns on the hot plate of the coffee maker. So for a week in August we moved into Radio Penny and began recording what would end up being our last collection of songs. The week of recording was rather uneventful, we’d track the drum machine or sampler, then I’d add some guitar parts, Mike would put in the Moog and then we’d work on vocals. There was a short trip to a local swimming pool where Chris did a field recording of kids playing in the pool which was used throughout the song "Orange Juice". We did have some visitors while recording. First was Ben Hanna of Grandpa’s Ghost who stopped by on the first day of recording to wish us luck. Then Eric Hall dropped by at my request to track sounds he was doing at the time with bowed objects such as egg beaters and cymbals which created a sustaining, haunting sound of a lost subway train. Andy Benn from The Potomac Accord added some dissonant piano and keyboard to a couple songs as well. By a stroke of luck my old friend and previous band mate Don Cento was in town for an Elvis Costello concert and he agreed to add some Captain Beefheartish guitar to one of the tunes.

All in all things went smoothly and by the end of the week we were pretty happy with what we had. Chris made us a rough mix of all the songs and we took them home to figure out what we wanted to do. Unfortunately we never could figure out what to do. By November of 2002 the band no longer existed. The recordings were forgotten and life went on. In the spring of 2003 Chris contacted me and asked if I was ever going to do anything with the recordings. I told him I didn’t have the energy to put into it and asked him if he’d mix and produce the recordings and he agreed. In addition to mixing he also added bass, guitar, drums, vocals and even got John Goddard to do some spoken word stuff on one of the songs. When he gave me the final mix I was extremely pleased with what he had done. He was one of the few people in town who really understood what we were trying to do and it’s because of him that we even had these recordings. That group of songs was the last thing Cloister ever created.

Mike started working on solo tunes and collaborating with other musicians. I recorded two solo things on my own and then started playing the drums with The Wormwood Scrubs and The BaySayBoos and guitar with Chris Deckard’s Incorporated. Nothing ever happened with the “Blue Tile Rock” recordings except for one song, “Orange Juice”. The recording of that song was part of a compilation CD released by 52nd City called “Sounds”.

Starting a band is a tough thing. Maintaining it is even harder. It takes time, money, luck and talent. A serious lack of any one of these attributes and it's not going to last very long.


Andy Benn - keyboard, piano (My Window)
Don Cento - guitars (Backwards Town)
Mike Cook - drum machine/sampler programming, keyboard, moog, bass, vocals
Chris Deckard - drums, guitars, bass, keyboard, vocals
John Goddard - spoken word (Under the Gun)
Eric Hall - bowed egg beater and cymbal (Peace of Mind)
Dana Smith - guitars, vocals

Produced and Mixed by Chris Deckard

Track listing

1. Orange Juice

2. Under the Gun

3. Peace of Mind

4. Duck-Billed Women Demo Fragment

5. Backwards Town

6. Perils

7. Reality Demo Fragment

8. My Window