Lots of big firsts for our second release. First semi-professional recordings with someone who more or less knew what he was doing ; first proper label release ; first (and last) split CD of our 'career'.
So I think we hooked up with Matt from LOW VIBES through his brother, who was a mutual connection from the record store both Alex and I were working at. Anyway, it turned out he was singing and playing bass in a stoner band too and very keen on starting a record label. After we exchanged demos, he agreed to put out a pro printed split CD with 3 new (and very long) tracks by SPACE PATROL which was still a 4-piece band at the time. We'd been transitioning very fast from a punk/stoner band to a more psychedelic doomy stoner thing, not far removed from MONSTER MAGNET's "Tab" (minus the musicianship of course!) and rehearsing more intensely than ever.
I remember the whole thing happening in a blur and I seem to recall all music recordings taking place at Matt's rehearsal place in Paris. JC Alienseed's odd bass tones proved to be very hard to capture and the recording doesn't do justice to the massive juggernaut his bass playing was, that's too bad. It's not very well produced, to be honest. Matt was still honing his craft at the time. I did the vocals later on at his flat, a situation which I wasn't very comfortable with and it sort of transpires in the end result I think; as what came out of my very self-conscious throat must be my worst vocal deliveries ever! I wish I'd rehearsed and practised my vocal lines more before entering the studio... It's too bad really as those three songs are among the best we ever wrote. Lots of epic parts and cool riffs if you can sort of tolerate the bad vocals.
The last song featured on this rip was another hidden bonus track that would play after a few silent tracks. More or less improvised directly at LOW VIBES' rehearsal place, "Cheerleader From Hell" - this was me going through my Buffy phase - saw the two bands merge together. I think Alex & JC played with Matt and LB's drummer, with Matt & I doing split vocals. It's a very fun number, fresh and improvised -- and maybe my all-time favourite Space Patrol tune ever!
Favourite song: "The Probe", which was my first proper attempt at a clean-sung chorus. The songs also features a very pleasing build up and great chord scales.
Bonus 'hard cold truth' points to the one Rate Your Music reviewer who made the following statement circa 2009: "the cover is also quite disconcerting, it is obvious looking back that the uninitiated who would find this disc today would have great difficulty in imagining its content."
