Recording "The Lost Riots" was a bittersweet experience for Hope of the States. The band was mid-session when guitarist Jimmi Lawrence committed suicide.
The English band had finished laying the vocal tracks for the album, but fans listening to the songs on the finished product — especially the tracks "Don't Go to Pieces" and "Me Ves Y Sufres" — are bound to interpret some of the songs as reflecting the last months of the troubled guitarist's life.
That was the hard part of the sessions, drummer Simon Jones said by phone from his girlfriend's home in London. "It was difficult because those songs were suppose to reflect positive attitudes. And we had to deal with a loss."
While the positive aspects of the recording session pale in comparison to the devastation, Jones did say the band learned a lot about production and sound. "When we recorded our song 'Black Dollar Bills,' we had a producer that didn't let us touch anything. This was before we decided to re-record it for the album. It was a 'I'm the producer and you're the band' relationship.
"But when we went into the studio to record the album, we hired Ken Thomas (who has worked with fellow English buzz band Sigur Ros), and he was very personable. We would have talk sessions, well, basically they were sit-around-and-drink sessions. But we tossed around ideas, and he got to know what we were all about and how the band really sounded."
That sound is a blended version of Pink Floyd, the Verve and Radiohead. While recording, that sound went smoothly, but bringing the sound to the stage is always a challenge. "We take a lot of equipment on the road with us," said Jones, who was encouraged to play drums by his secondary schoolmaster. "And we are always having some sort of trouble with it. And then, during the summer — this has nothing to do with the equipment, by the way — we had visa problems and couldn't fly to the United States. We had to reschedule our tour.
"So I think with all this going on, we have become short-tempered. But it's all good, because we're playing music for people and finally getting paid for it."
In the past four years, Hope of the States has played at the Glastonbury Festival, the Reading & Leeds Festival and made an appearance on British TV programs "Top of the Pops" and "Later with Jools Holland." "We watched those shows, and it was weird being on them. But our parents liked it. They realized that we are actually playing music professionally."
If you go. . .
What: Hope of the States
Where: Liquid Joe's
When: Monday, 7 p.m.
Phone: 467-8499 or 1-800-888-8499
E-mail: scott@desnews.com