The Murdocks - Surenderender

Posted Jun 1, 2005, by Josh Snider.

Genre: Alternative;

The Murdocks record in about three months. Well it took two months to recored, and in between they went on tour. They approached it with producer Tim Dittmar from the perspective that they would try to make each song sound different. On most records, bands find a good sound and stick with it the whole record. The Murdocks tried to have each song sound like it was recorded in a different studio with completely different gear, and it worked. Whatever would best match the song. On “Bloody Murder,” Franklin sang into a telephone answering machine and then put a mic on it and used that as the lead vocal track. Two of the songs they just busted out in the studio without ever having played them before (”Saddest Star” and “Segue”). Franklin had to learn how to play a little bit of piano for the bonus track but explained to me “it wasn’t too hard.” I think they achieved their goal. Making a unique sounding record with emphasis on creative production while still trying to make the songs flow.

Later in their career they might not have the opportunity to make more "lo-fi" type records so they wanted to take advantage of it. I think they would rather have a record that sounded more interesting than some piece, like that stuff on the radio with nothing but loud vocals and tons of reverb. The Murdocks did a lot of tracks live because that is how they translated best energy-wise. It at times makes them seem too "indie" for some people. Nevertheless they wanted to try to make the energy of the live show come across on the album, which isn’t an easy thing to do.

There are a lot of re-occuring themes. Death, Girls, Dead girls, and Family stuff. The stories of lots of people they know and have met. Don't really know what more to say beyond that.
You can buy the CD online at cduniverse.com or the-murdocks.com