The band had recorded this piece of crap demo (well, several songs more than a demo, but it still sounded like a demo) that was a great starting spot to get the music recorded. After Tosh, Billy landed a studio.
I was into sound engineering as a part of my major and kept tabs on the progress. Billy only had $1000 bucks that our drummers Dad 'invested' in the band. The studio I did sound production with charged between $50-250 per hour to musicians, depending on the support they needed and what engineer they wanted. Billy chose Jack Barr, who didn't come cheap.
It didn't take a week and the money was gone. Jack, however, was with the project. Fortunately, he owned the studio. Like everyone else, Jack was caught up in the sound, energy and Billy's compelling aura. He worked with the band until they all felt it was done.
(Billy was so cool not to forget Candyce and me. He brought us in on 'Go Go Boots,' where we introduced the song on the album in a psychedelic echo effect. Billy knew this was a little immortality...the small, but meaningful thing he could do to include the girls.)
After almost 8-months in the studio while playing an aggressive schedule in the club circuit and 3-months getting printed and pressed; 'Boom Chuck Rock' was finally complete and ready to distribute, just before summer in 1982.
He kept the album a secret. In other words, we all knew what the gift was, but Billy still wanted us and as many people as possible, to be surprised at what the box and wrapping paper.
There were over a hundred of Billy's songs to choose from to include in the album. Billy had to cut the list to 12. There were SO many that didn't make the cut that were SO much better than the ones he chose, IMO, but I never said a thing. I'm sure everyone had their personal favorites. Billy told me later that choosing which songs made it on, was the most difficult task of the project after the 3 obvious choices.
The colors he chose for the front of the album were hot. To me, the cover looked like fire in the night, without the flames. The boys did look primitive with bare chests in the bust shot of them. Still, I wish they would have picked a picture where they were all smiling...it would have been more in keeping with the inside of the fruit and reality.
On the backside, he included everybody in the band in a cut and paste, primitive fashion. Money was so tight that he felt he had two choices: get fancy and have it look cheap or get cheap and look fancy. The later was chosen.
The cherry on top was the insert. Billy had included a front and back insert in black and white shiny paper, the size of the album, live shots of the show along with the lyrics of all the songs on the album.
Candyce and I were surprised. I thought it was beautiful, even though I would have done it different. I think that was what everyone thought. Some members pleased, some not so, but only because they had their own visions.
We all had our own visions by that point.
Is anyone still reading this story or is it getting old?
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