We’ve decided that Sunday will be a day of rest for us (and Nick’s vocal chords).  Nick drags me along to see the famous Newfoundland Store, which sells every conceivable part of almost every conceivable mammal or fish (it is a truly disgusting place… especially for a veggie!)  A last minute invite is received to a classical concert, which features aspiring young musicians.  Apart from enjoying the musical entertainment, we fortuitously get introduced to Margot’s brother, a leading clarinettist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.  After this chance meeting, I can guess that Nick is hatching a plan.   

On Monday afternoon, it’s no surprise to me when Simon turns up with Margot to discuss playing some clarinet on ‘Left of Heaven’.  Nick is busily editing out some of his favourite (but overstated) guitar bits when they arrive.  Margot comments sympathetically, “You always have to kill off your darlings.”  Simon listens to the track and obviously has ideas about what he can add to it.  He tells us about his travels in England and how his difficulties in understanding a Huddersfield accent led to him going hungry.  Unfortunately, the story is so long and detailed that Nick and Margot have fallen asleep before he reaches the punch line!                  

Nick spends the first part of Tuesday singing and playing Korg on ‘No Problem Child’.  Simon arrives, followed shortly by Margot, her baby and young son.  We glance at each other as we notice the horror on Lawrence’s face at seeing his control room turned into a crèche!  Simon and Nick work out the clarinet parts for ‘Left of Heaven’ and then try out a few lines on ‘Shot of Democracy’.  Some of Simon’s stuff is a bit off the wall, but it’s certainly interesting and most of it works.  To add to the throng in the control room, Gadget, a good buddy of Kevin’s, shows up, followed by Linda.  Finally, when Simon has sprinkled a little clarinet magic over the tracks, Lawrence can get out the vacuum cleaner and dispose of the crumbs and debris.  With the place looking spick-and-span, Nick wants to go back and re-try the vocals on ‘Boomerang’ (a song which has been a pain in the butt to get right!)  He sings it through again and again, but is never happy with it.  Finally, he gets so despondent that he threatens to dump the song altogether.  Drastic action is called for and we all (including Lawrence) decide to invade the studio and join him as he sings it.  We jump, we dance, we mime, we sing backing vocals and make total tits of ourselves, but Nick feels some new energy in the room and we can hear the difference on the playback.  The vibe is great and we depart for The Office, smiling and pumped up.  We raise a glass and Nick says, “I did it, with a little help from my crazy friends.”    

A cold and rainy Wednesday.  Cadence and her cousin David drop by the studio for a few hours.  From a visitor’s point of view it’s probably not the most spectacular of days, although from Nick’s it’s a very successful and productive day as far as comping and editing go.  The day ends (as usual) with a few bevvies at The Office.

It’s Thursday and, as the person who’s been clicking away with the camera, I have to go and pick up some prints from the photo shop.  As we’re coming to the end of our time here, I’ve decided to give out a few of the funniest, silliest and best pictures as presents to people.  At the studio, the pattern is much the same as it has been for the past week or so, with lots of comparing, chopping and changing of sound files.  Unfortunately, as Nick listens back to ‘Boomerang’ he decides that it’s still not up to scratch.  Alarmingly, he once again threatens to scrap it from the album!  Lawrence pulls off some skilful computer wizardry with his trusty friend Nuendo (the software he uses) and the song is mercifully saved from the cutting room floor.  Nick is finally happy with what he hears and passes the compliment, “There were sparks flying off Lawrence’s fingers today.”      

Despite a late night last night, we arrive bang on time at the studio on Friday.  It’s the Seventh of November, our last day, and the day on which we must walk away with ten completed rough mixes (it’s going to be a very busy day!)  Work starts on cleaning up the backing vocals, before the real work of mixing can begin.  Nick and Lawrence make hasty progress, combining their senses and skills to reel off quick, quality mixes.  ‘Silhouette’ comes off the desk sounding “Wow!”  After a few more songs are done and dusted, things are going well, but Lawrence’s time is running out as he has to leave us at six-thirty!  Luckily Craig, his assistant, is happy to put on his mixing hat and tweak the rest of the tracks for us.  Although we overrun by several hours, by which time Lawrence has returned, all the mixes are successfully completed to Nick’s satisfaction (the relief and joy are too much!)  We drive away from the studio in a cab for the last time and head into town to watch MIR (the amazingly brilliant Halifax band, not the dreary Russian space station!)  It’s a long, long night!                

After almost seven weeks in the studio, we can afford to lie in this Saturday morning and chill out for the rest of the day.  Tonight is the night of the ‘Grinning Souls’ wrap party.  Nick just wants to say “Hi” and “Thank you” to all the wonderful people who are part of this extraordinary album (and have an excuse to get legless!)  We book the cellar bar of The Office and by midnight the place is packed with an eclectic mix of rowdy musicians, technicians and their partners.  In the true spirit of the album, the place is full of toys, masks and annoying noisy things, and we hold a special awards ceremony in which Nick presents priceless medals (actually a dollar each from Dollarama) for outstanding achievement in any category whatsoever.  There are some fine acceptance speeches and we celebrate to the max.  I think everyone has a good time (except perhaps Jamie who bashes his head and is last seen with blood pouring down his face!)  We leave at chucking out time and go on to a couple of clubs (the last of which is a dance club where we discover they only sell bottled water!)          

It’s Sunday morning and we are definitely the worse for wear.  It’s a cultural day as Linda drags us off to a bookstore with her daughter Nikki (who also can’t quite see the point).  After a lazy afternoon, we meet up with Julian and Anne for a farewell Greeky at our beloved Opa.  We have our first beer of the day (it’s nectar of the gods!)  At seven-fifteen we arrive at Halifax airport.  We immediately go to the bar and look out for Colleen and her oppos from Immigration, in the hope that we can buy them a goodbye drink.  Alas, they don’t appear.  We check in at the Air Canada desk and Nick casually asks the lady how long our flight will be stopping off in Newfoundland.  “Oh, a couple of days,” she replies, perfectly straight-faced and without a pause for thought.  Nick and I look at each other, open-mouthed in shock.  A broad grin gradually beams across the woman’s face and she says, “Had ya there!” whereupon all her colleagues start laughing.  We have a flashback to the day we arrived at this very same airport and realise that in seven weeks, we still haven’t mastered the Halifax sense of humour!             

With many thanks to all the Grinning Souls who appear on these pages, without whom this diary and this album would not have been possible.

The Butler

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