Villanelles – “No Drinks On Me” Release Party

Recorded at our space in the wilderness of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, we are proud to announce Villanelles’ No Drinks On Me – available for free download 11.20 exclusively through Signal Kitchen. Stay tuned for the single along with photos & video from the making of the record, and mark your calendars for the record release party at Sk on 11.20.

Villanelles had this to say on escaping daily life to record their latest EP, No Drinks On Me, in the backwoods of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom:

“When the boys at Signal Kitchen called us up and asked us if we wanted to disappear into the woods of Northern Vermont and make a short album, we obviously were floored and thrilled at the thought and opportunity. But also, we were intimidated and honestly skeptical about the daunting task of delivering and completing a cohesive collection of songs in just a couple of days. They had a specific window that would work, and it happened to be just a couple weeks away. We had been working on some new jams, but most of the new material was unhinged and ragged with no real rhyme or reason, but we decided to jump in head first despite the lack of material.

We arrived at the studio on Tuesday evening, full of excitement and bewilderment at this incredible property. Nestled in the mountains, with a little pond to boot, almost totally solar powered, but modern nonetheless. It was late Spring, full on mud season up that way, and we set right in on making dinner, cracking beers, lighting the wood stove and working with the Sk crew to set up the space for the session. That night we were up until 4:00 AM rehearsing and trying to finalize the songs we planned to record.

The next couple of days were honestly a blur. We were the first band to ever record in this space, so we had a bit of troubleshooting to do at first. We finally hit our stride around 2 or 3 pm the second day, and basically didn’t stop until everything was finished. Somehow we managed to pull it together and get 5 songs tracked live, write lyrics to all of them, do vocal tracks and get a rough mix in about 36 hours.

This experience honestly was unlike any other recording experience I’ve ever had. We usually do things ourselves, or hire out some friends to do some recording stuff in town or whatever. Recording up in the woods of Craftsbury, VT allows you to immerse yourself in the session, fully and completely detaching yourself from your obligations, relationships, lives back down in the big city or wherever. Cell phone service is few and far between up there, which was also nice. It allowed us to focus on the songs and what we came there to do, thus ending with a final product we are both proud of and more than happy with. Overall it was a great experience and opportunity that allowed us to grow and develop a little bit more as a band, and show us that being forced to write in a foreign environment can sometimes be the best possible place to write in general.”