So She Says
So She Says, 1994
Atlanta, GA, 1993 to 1994

So She Says

Four guys from high school, a dingy club on Marietta Street, and seven songs cut to two-inch tape in Watkinsville. This is what survived.

So She Says was

  • Eric SiegelLead vocals, guitars
  • James NobleGuitars, backing vocals
  • Syid RawlingBass, backing vocals
  • Stuart GussmanDrums, backing vocals

In short

We played a lot of shows at the Wreck Room near Georgia Tech, a few at the Roxy, and in 1994 we paid Full Moon Studios $600 to record most of an album. The working title on the master DAT was 1846, and the name stuck.

Setlists are on setlist.fm.

1846 Sounds Incredible Studios, Hapeville, GA, then Full Moon Studios, Watkinsville, GA, 1994

  1. 1 Wild Mountain Blossom Full Moon ⇩
  2. 2 So She Says Sounds Incredible ⇩
  3. 3 Flow From The Soul Sounds Incredible ⇩
  4. 4 Day After Full Moon ⇩
  5. 5 Fly Full Moon ⇩
  6. 6 Wring Full Moon, glitch at 3:17, see notes ⇩
  7. 7 That Full Moon ⇩

Five of the seven were recorded at Full Moon on 2 inch analog tape. "So She Says" and "Flow From The Soul" were recorded digitally at Sounds Incredible, down by the airport, and came first.

Live at the Wreck Room Atlanta, GA, circa 1993 to 1994

The Wreck Room was a dingy music club near Georgia Tech on Marietta Street in downtown Atlanta. We played many shows there and I, for one, have some very fond memories of them. We only have video of one show, which I do remember quite well. Looking back, it's probably a good thing that I didn't stick with singing.

Here's the setlist from that show.

Full Moon sessions

The cabin in Madison, GA Eric and James in the studio Eric in the studio James in the studio The studio piano Syid in the studio Stuart in the studio

Flyers and tickets

Wreck Room flyer, January 14
Wreck Room flyer, January 14
Wreck Room flyer, 9:00 show
Wreck Room flyer, 9:00 show
The Roxy, July 9
The Roxy, July 9
Ticket stubs
Ticket stubs

Recording notes

The name of the "album", 1846, was some sort of reference to a time notation on the master tape during the recording sessions. I can't recall anything more than that about it.

At the end of "So She Says", it sounds like we mixed in a piano. Jamie has informed me that this sound was made by his strumming open chords on one of the Gibson electrics. It sounded like a piano, so we kept the track.

There's a sound glitch during "Wring" at 3:17. This is due to a data error on the master DAT tape. Sorry folks.

Our engineer and producer at Full Moon was Mark Cooper Smith, the drummer in the Athens band The Squalls. Notably, they were in the early Athens music documentary "Athens, GA: Inside/Out", which also featured R.E.M. Jamie recalls that we drove Mark home one day and asked him to take us to Peter Buck's house. He did not oblige. I would eventually meet all the guys from R.E.M. during the years I attended UGA, but that's another story, and not a very exciting one either.

Equipment

  • James
  • 1981 Gibson ES-347 semi-hollow electric
  • 1991 Fender Mexican Strat (the Mexicaster)
  • Eric's 1974 Gibson SG, on "Wild Mountain Blossom"
  • Martin D-17 acoustic, borrowed from his cousin
  • Dunlop Crybaby wah, Dunlop Rotovibe, Tubeworks distortion
  • 1979 Fender Twin tube amp
  • Eric
  • 1974 Gibson SG
  • Gibson Les Paul Studio, new at the time, so early 90s
  • Possibly the cream Fender Squier (still have it)
  • Guild acoustic, model unknown
  • Vox AC30, an incredible amp I still have
  • Syid
  • Red Ibanez bass, straight into the board in both sessions and fed back through the headphones
  • Stuart
  • His original blue Pearl kit from high school

Memories

During the Full Moon sessions we stayed at the cabin on the farm that James' parents owned a short drive away in Madison, GA. Lots of good memories of that.

We recorded at two studios. I don't recall Sounds Incredible being a particularly fun experience. It was very dark and the guy who ran it wasn't very professional, which probably explains why they aren't around anymore. The Full Moon sessions were much more fun and productive: a great studio with an incredibly talented, professional staff, and since we stayed at the farm it was just the band and nobody else. Or at least that's how I remember it.

Toward the middle of "Fly" you can hear a set of backing vocals behind mine. I have a vivid memory of all four of us surrounding a hanging Neumann microphone recording those. Lots of fun.

I also have a vivid memory of Stuart recording the egg shaker track on "That". Sort of like "more cowbell" before SNL made it famous.

We paid Full Moon $600 to record these seven songs, which at the time was a lot of money, especially since we were in high school. The same recording would probably run $2,000 or so today.

Like most bands in a studio, I remember a lot of arguments over who knows what. As is typical, those arguments seem silly in retrospect, and what really matters is that the songs still sound pretty good all these years later. Except for that awful singer. For some reason I was under the impression that I could sing, a delusion later found to be caused by a buildup of carbon monoxide in my basement.