The Blasting Room

The first time I saw the Blasting Room was 1996—they hadn’t been open long. My Name went there to do our third record. Pretty sure ours was the third full-length recorded there, after an ALL record and Hagfish Rocks Your Lame Ass. But I might be wrong about that. Bill and Stephen had recorded us three times before that—two demos and our second LP—in various places (Torrance, CA; Bremerton, WA; and Kansas City, MO). Finally, they’d gotten their own dedicated studio—we couldn’t wait to see it. It was rough back then, just one big open room, no real iso booths or a control room or anything. Humble beginnings. We didn’t care—it was great.

A couple years later I moved to Fort Collins to start the band Wretch Like Me with Jason Livermore, who was working for ALL and the studio. By then they’d gotten an SSL console, done a lot of renovations, and were up and running as a legit, world-class recording facility. They kept evolving. I helped them build out Studio B and the practice space. They’ve taken it way beyond that in the intervening years, adding a third studio, mastering suite, and more.

All told, I’ve had the pleasure of recording 10 full-length records there, plus a lot of fun, miscellaneous stuff: sang backups on Zeke’s Death Alley LP; played bass on an Armchair Martian tune for the Who Wants To Play Bass? LP; did my lead vocal tracks for “Willy Wicked” from The Seven Degrees of Stephen Egerton; and a bunch of other things I’m forgetting. I spent many nights there, rehearsing, hanging with whatever bands were in town to record, my band mates, the ALL/Descendents guys, Bug Phace, Fort Collins folks, and many more. It’s been gratifying to watch the studio grow and prosper, first with Bill and Stephen, then Bill and Jason, and now with Bill, Jason, Andrew, Chris, Jonathan, and everyone else who has stepped in to play big roles in the continuing story of The Blasting Room.

I came up with the art and design for this shirt while doing album art for The Blasting Room Film, the documentary about the studio that’ll be coming out next year—everyone who contributed to the crowdfunding effort for the film gets a compilation LP of a bunch of bands who’ve recorded at BR over the years. The filmmakers were gracious enough to let me double dip on the artwork. This one’s near and dear to my heart: I love this studio; I love the people who’ve built it into what it is; and I love the records they’ve done. Except for the My Name, Wretch Like Me, Bill The Welder, The Things They Carry, Joy Subtraction, Hangman’s Hymnal, and Chilton records—those are terrible. All the rest are pretty good, though. -Abe Brennan

LIMITED TO 300. Printed on Canvas Soft Cotton Tees. Ladies tees run small.