Chapter eight: recording the first album
Translation
- Ještěrka: I booked a studio in Hradec. You are ready as you can be, so don't screw this up and don't get wasted.
- The rest: yeah, yeah...
- Ještěrka: It is going splendidly. 90% done, so how about we celebrate it a bit.
- The studio guy: Gentlemen! Enough with the beer!
And now for the narration.
Chapter 8 - RECORDING THE FIRST ALBUM
To record their first CD entitled "When The Memories Are Free", Tortharry ventured to the nearby city of Hradec Králové, on the outskirts of which was at that time a very well equipped studio owned by Mr. Sonda, who also employed a talented sound technician Václav Vlachý as a studio technician. The time spent there was the first true studio experience for the band. Guys were however well prepared so the whole recording went indeed smoothly.
That may have been the reason why towards the end of the recording the attention of the guys began to shift to other matters, such as who eats the largest amount of boiled pork, supplied by the local slaughterhouse, or who drinks the largest quantity of beer during the recording. When Martin was opening his 14th bottle, while recording the vocals, even Mr. Sonda thought that enough is enough and uttered the memorable statement: “Gentlemen, enough with the beer.”
Furthermore, one evening while visiting the local disco near Opatovice Lake, the drummer Juan got into a fight with the local mob. Clearly, he shouldn’t have called the local mobster Čabajda “pigface” and “dickburger”. Naturally, Čabajda took offense and his goons started beating Juan with extreme prejudice. When all this occurred, the rest of the band was long gone; only Dan remained, who, thanks to taking karate lessons, managed to successfully defend himself. Juan on the other hand did not take karate lessons and did not manage to ward off his attackers.
After escaping from the clutches of the mob, Dan and Juan made a run for it, back to the studio through a nettle covered field. Only in the next morning did the full extent of Čabajda’s handiwork become apparent. Juan’s black eye looked really terrible and it took approximately six months to fully heal. To avoid the same mistake, the band devised a different entertainment for their last evening. After returning from yet another disco, the band decided to make fun of Králík, who was sleeping the band’s bus, so they pushed the bus, with Králík sleeping inside, about 20 meters to a different location. Even though it may seem nonsensical, they all got a great kick out of it, except Králík who was rather surprised when he woke up.
The year is 1993.