DIAMOND HEAD Drummer Reports On New Album Recording Process

DIAMOND HEAD drummer Karl Wilcox, who is based in Los Angeles while the rest of the group resides in the U.K., has posted a report on the recording sessions for the band's new album, "What's in your Head?" An excerpt follows:

"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.

"Once the decision to use Shirt (a.k.a. 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 [to work as the band's sound engineer]. 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 U.S. 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 MP3s 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 a.k.a 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."

Read the rest of Karl's report at this location.

Two 60-second samples from DIAMOND HEAD's upcoming "What's In Your Head?" CD — "This Planet and Me" and "Skin on Skin" — have been posted online on the group's official web site.

"What's In Your Head?" was previously described by the band as "a powerful but varied collection of songs." The CD will include the song "Reign Supreme", which is said to be "the heaviest track DIAMOND HEAD have recorded since 'Am I Evil?'"