26th May, 2007

New Blog from Karl;
Good evening Ladies and Germms
I thought I would write a few lines on the recording of 'What's in your head?' from the California side of the adventure.
"What started as riffs and ideas on one side of the globe" has become an album, that as a band, we are extremely proud of.

Time line: Mid June 2006
Once the decision to use Shirt (AKA Dave Nichols) to produce the album was made, we faced a dilemma. Shirt was about to embark on an extensive world tour with Stone Sour.
Now this was the $64,000 question. How can we record the new album with Shirt on tour and me living the other side of the world?
I put an idea to the guys. "We can do this using the digital realm and the internet" This was new territory for Diamond Head and there were some very concerned looks from the guys. I was confident that we could pull this off and with us having just done a few demos with Shirt at his home studio, I knew we could do it, and so on July 3rd I returned to the US.
Immediately I was taken ill. This was not the start I had envisioned. During my six weeks convalescing I hooked up with Shirt (in Sacramento) to discuss some production stuff and hang with the band as you do. Stone Sour was part of Korn's summer family values tour. After six weeks I was finally given a clean bill of health and pre-production began.
Three songs would be the test run. 'This Planet & Me', 'Nothing to Lose' and 'What's in your head?' which later became 'I feel no Pain'. They came as MP3's over the net. I transferred these files to my Cubase system, aligned the track with the click and proceeded to lay four or five takes down with various ideas. I would edit these together to make a final take with all the ideas thrown into the pot.
The first two went smoothly. However, ' I feel no pain' had issues and I was going to find this out more than once. I was in the middle of Take 5 and all seemed well. I was really coming to grips with the track when the lights started flashing and Sheila (my wife AKA the Dragon) was yelling at me. "THE COPS ARE HERE!!" And so began a wonderful relationship with the Martinez Police department and a difficult period with the Dragon.
Was it Sod's law or DH misfortune again? I have been here for 9 1/2 years and not one problem. I start the new Diamond Head album and the Cops turn up, would you Adam and Eve it. However, I will fess up. I have stretched out on this album and made the decision to use a double kick pedal. Could this have something to do with it???
Well, Officer Brian politely told us they had received an official complaint and by law they had to let us know. Here is the official Police blog for the day with a case number ET el.

15:38 Noise Disturbance
060831051
Occurred on Holiday Hills Dr. SUBJECT PLAYING DRUMS "REALLY LOUD" IN GARAGE, PLEASE ASK HIM TO QUIET DOWN
Disposition: Advised.
I had planned on doing the real drum tracks in my lounge. Wood floors, Cathedral ceiling and a wonderful natural reverb. There was no way the Dragon was going to allow this after the cops had now visited the premises. No words were spoken, just that look. You guys know what I'm talking about.
The Cops left, and no more drums were recorded that day, or the next few.....
So I edited what I had and made rough mixes of all three tunes, converted the files into MP3's and sent them via the phat pipe to Brian, Nick and Shirt in Blighty and waited and waited.
After what seemed like the longest 48 hours I had ever experienced- the green light came, two thumbs up and belief. This album was going to be special…….

Stay tuned for the start of the album at the Dragon's lair…….

Peace everybody from DHQ.

Karl