Email
Print
Gurus Get Their Mojo Back
Photo by Carrie Waite
St. Petersburg rock band Mojo Gurus enjoyed self-producing their latest CD, "Let's Get Lit With ..."
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: April 11, 2008
Related Links
TAMPA - If you want something done right, do it yourself.
That seems to be the lesson learned by St. Petersburg's Mojo Gurus, who found that recording with a top-name producer wasn't necessarily a dream come true.
The band recorded 2005's "Shakin' in the Barn" with Jack Douglas, whose credits include Aerosmith, Cheap Trick and John Lennon.
"I have nothing but respect for his body of work but we didn't really see eye to eye," singer Kevin Steele says of the "Barn" recording sessions.
"It was kind of a painful experience and I'm afraid it shows here and there on the album," Steele says. "In rock 'n' roll, if you're not having fun you're doing something wrong."
For the just-released CD "Let's Get Lit With …" (see review), the band produced themselves with help from Jody Gray at Gray's Pro Star Studios in St. Petersburg.
"We did a week of pre-production and went right into the studio," Steele says. "It took three weeks to record and mix. I've never made an album quicker. It was the most fun I've ever had making a record."
Steele admits recording isn't his favorite aspect of being in a band.
"The studio is such a cold, sterile, scary environment," Steele says. "You're in this room with the headphones and it's all on you."
The Gurus made the sessions more pleasurable by bringing in friends such as Blind Buddy Moody on fiddle, Howard Helm on keyboards and Billy Sandlin on banjo.
There's a looseness to the new album that wasn't there on "Barn," all the more amazing since half the lineup changed between the two albums.
Doc Lovett, who led the Blues Punks, is handling guitar, while Mark Busto (ex-Secret Service, Sugarspoon and Mighty Joe Plum) is behind the drums.
Lovett and Steele share "a library of reference points," Steele says. "He lit a fire under me creatively."
Busto's addition, just before recording for "Lit" commenced, had the band "firing on all eight cylinders," Steele says.
"I've never had a smoother transition," Steele says of the changes. "It's like when a cat falls out of a tree and lands on its feet."
TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online ©2009 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC. A Media General company. | Member Agreement | Privacy Statement | Work With Us
