Engine Room Recordings Presents… Pinkerton (Pt. 1 – Rob Cantor)
LOWER MANHATTAN: When did you first hear Pinkerton? The classic Weezer album was a sonic departure from the debut power pop of The Blue Album and to many fans, refreshingly so.
Pinkerton (1996)
From the opening feedback of “Tired of Sex” to the wistful and stripped-down “Butterfly” closer, the album delivers a raw and roughed-up alternative to the band’s more ubiquitous radio hits. Pinkerton is filled with a different kind of hit, for – perhaps – a different kind of fan.
Many musicians – and engineers, as we confirmed during our 2011 AES panel with Dave Fridmann (Pinkerton) and Chris Shaw (The Blue Album) – had their moments with Pinkerton. And over the last year, NYC-based Engine Room Recordings has tapped into that, calling on indie rock and pop artists including Wakey! Wakey!, Jenny Owen Youngs, Xylos, Rob Cantor, and Dinosaur Feathers to produce a Pinkerton tribute album they’ll be releasing on September 4.
SonicScoop sat in on several of these recording sessions at Engine Room Audio in Lower Manhattan, shooting video of the performances and interviews on the process. The first of our series of “Engine Room Recordings Presents…Pinkerton” videos premieres below, featuring singer/songwriter and composer Rob Cantor – of the band Tally Hall – doing “Why Bother?”.
Engineer Logan Myers recorded and mixed the tribute album out of Engine Room’s penthouse tracking/mixing studio, equipped with an SSL 4064 G+, Pro Tools HD3, and full-band tracking environment (with multiple iso booths.)
Creators of the popular Guilt By Association series, Engine Room Recordings – the label division of Engine Room Audio – has released albums by Robbers on High Street, Lowry, The Bloodsugars, and The Canon Logic. How did they decide on Pinkerton for the first in their tribute series, you might ask? Label Manager Chris Hacker explains…
“Pinkerton is one of those cult records that holds a special place to many people, and was one of my favorite records growing up in the 90s. It’s also full of hits. When you’re doing a compilation like this you don’t want to stick a band with having to cover a ‘filler’ song, there are no songs like that on this record, each and every song is so good.”
Here’s Rob Cantor recording “Why Bother?” (Video by Andrew Sheron for SonicScoop.com)
And stay tuned for more in the coming weeks!