Sugar Glyder talks recording with ORG and ‘The Eyes: They See’

Clockwise from left: Daniel Howie, Robby Hartis, Bobby Mathews and Chris Rigo.

In advance of the release of their newest full-length, “The Eyes: They See,” the members of Sugar Glyder spoke with me about the production behind the album with ORG music and how the months were for the band leading up to its release.

Sugar Glyder will be performing at Amos’ Southend on Feb. 16. “The Eyes: They See” will be released March 5.

On the writing process for “The Eyes: They See” -

BOBBY MATHEWS: We kind of continuously write throughout each album – or I guess between each album. And even before – I mean some of the songs that were on this album were kind of nuggets and ideas that we had from the previous album, ‘Lovers at Lightspeed.’

We’re constantly writing and even now that we have this record, we’re kind of working on some new stuff now – just kind of jamming around. The writing process was sort of ongoing. As far as the pre-production for the album, I believe we spent probably three or four months kind of getting all the songs to where we wanted them when we got to the studio.

CHRIS RIGO: I think something that we always sort of keep in mind – especially as of late – is just having a tight, nice groove to things. At the very foundation of things, I think it’s got to have a nice groove and then we build upon that.

On recording in New York with ORG music -

CHRIS RIGO: I would say from the recording of this album – the whole process compared to those in the past – those have been always been done in like a living room or a basement.

And that can be a really cool thing, but when we went up to New York to record this album, we were actually working with a producer that had some pretty big projects under his belt and it was his actual studio-like facility.

I would say just the fact that it was a conducive environment to record and it was awesome being able to spend a whole month and the only things we were doing was recording and working on music and stuff. So, it’s really nice being able to spend a whole day recording.

BOBBY MATHEWS: We actually were able to eat, sleep and breathe what we’re doing while we’re there, cause as Chris said, you know, all day was nothing but music and nothing but recording. It’s really nice being musicians in that kind of environment.

On the acquisition of new bassist of Robby Hartis last October -

CHRIS RIGO: Robby did a whole tour with us – it was kind of  – well, you were kind of just thrown into it Robby. But it was really awesome. Robby’s played with other bands before.

Robby on getting acquainted with Sugar Glyder -

ROBBY HARTIS: It was a lot of songs to learn real fast, but it’s been a lot of fun.It is kind of the same vein of music that I’ve always played, just different variations of it. It’s dudes that I have known for a long time and we’ve been friendly with each other for years and years so it all just – all of this kind of just fell into place at the right time.

On the artwork and the theme of the album -

CHRIS RIGO: The artwork wasn’t done [in New York] but we did do that with the help of a couple of friends and that was done just at one of our houses where we practiced.

BOBBY MATHEWS: As far as the concept of the album – the themes and stuff – that was a running thing from even when we were writing. When Daniel’s writing lyrics and explaining what things mean and how things progress, we put the puzzle together and made sense of the whole thing. We had that going in when we were recording and then became really creative and giving a spin on some of the words and some of the meanings behind them to create the artwork and stuff.

On the lyrical composition and chronology of the album -

DANIEL HOWIE: The lyrics always end up being a chronological storytelling scenario. There are the first songs and there’s songs in-between that take you to a place where the last song kind of exists. We’re really just kind of out there amongst what used to be friends and other bands that maybe have quit and stopped doing what they do.

We’re kind of living this life of career choices that we make, but aren’t making any much money off of. It’s not that we don’t love what we do, we’re doing it.

So it starts off with ‘Lost in the Woods’ and that song in itself kind of captures the whole idea of – if you get lost in the woods, just turn around and build a house and you’re not lost anymore. You’re kind of making a living in this new existence. Before it kind of scared you, now it’s kind of more familiar and comfortable. So that song kind of encapsulates the whole record and starts it off.

Then the whole thing is about finding your way through all of that, deciphering what all that means, on whatever journey any person has been given.

The backstory of the vision for the album - 

DANIEL HOWIE: We actually purchased a star – you know where you buy a star and you can name it, and you get a little frame and it shows you a picture of it? Of course you can’t really buy it. We took the theme of ‘Lost in the Woods’ – starting it off being lost and kind of finding our way through all that to this star that we had decided to follow, which was kind of symbolic of where we wanted to take this record and where we want to take this band.

Album art courtesy of Sugar Glyder.

Tags: the eyes they see

Category: Arts and Entertainment, Niner Times