CHC EP ANNIVERSARY (PART III) — Children*Having*Children

by MATTHEW FUGEL (Guitar, Vocals)

As I witnessed the craft and creation of Children Having Children (2007), I glimpsed within the mind and heart of a friend and bandmate, to a pool of sentiments so deep that words alone would never suffice to convey meaning and gravity. As Steven helmed the studio console for a few intense weekends during the creation of this album, the dedication to his craft was as apparent as ever.

I began playing with Steven and Children Having Children as a casual endeavour, just making music with friends. But the deeper I went, the more connected I felt to this writing, these beautifully intricate instrumental melodies, and Steven’s nuanced attention to tone. To this day, few people come to mind with Steven’s degree of obsession over continuous self-improvement and attention to detail. We weren’t ready to approach a studio with such seriousness for many months - not until we were all ready and the music was right.

When the time came, the band descending on an actual working professional recording studio, I was all nerves. 2.5 days of studio time, no more. Sleep when you can, where you can - but we have work to do. We were a revolving door of multi-instrumental talent, vocalists, console operators, guitar tuners, runners. Our focus was fueled by countless pots of coffee and the best of the local taqueria. We had access to the finest professional equipment, to a fleet of legendary and priceless instruments the likes of which I’d never handled. A live room that had seen true legends of modern music stood like hallowed ground. Having spent countless hours working sessions for well-known bands, Steven navigated every bit of the facility with confidence - from the patch bay to Pro Tools down to the tape machine onto which we recorded drums. We continued to tap every resource available to us - a Mellotron (whose sound needs no introduction, nor has any substitute), pump organ, grand piano, racks-full of effects.

We were underway. Raucous percussion filled the drum room. Guitar amps were driven so hot and loud, microphones needed to be isolated from bleeding over into each other with makeshift baffles. A cacophony of countless distorted, altered, warped instruments and other “sounds” were layered upon each other like stacking plates - it felt numbing and confusing and overwhelming - we played on a ‘hurdy gurdy’, for god sakes, I’d never even heard of this thing before - and yet, we returned to the mixer and played back what we had just created and I was overcome. My skin tingled, my neck tensed, a catharsis set in that made it all make sense - this was something unique and special and otherworldly; this was an art.

Today, my life has taken me to a place far away from music. But the songs I touched, the melodies I played, the guitar leads I sweated and obsessed over, as I knew Steven had done before me in crafting them, stick with me to this day. When I listen to Children Having Children I hear ambition. I hear confident sophistication. I see a band holding its head high with an aspiration to be something all its own, an uncharted sea of sound full of experimentation that still sees joy and fun and life and feeling, and knows what the hell it wants. As I’ve watched Steven move the band forward since the release of this 2007 record, I’ve admired his ability to stay consistent while pushing himself and his sound in new directions. He has accepted the risk and the challenges of being a musician and his art is thriving. I have always felt honored to have been a part of his journey, the band’s history, and this album.

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