The songs that comprise our last full-length, "To All Beloved Enemies" were pared down from the more than 70 minutes of music produced during those recording sessions we toiled through during the
withering, 100+ degree temperatures of the late Summer of 2009. Bouts of heat-seared insanity drove us to end up recording far more than we had anticipated upon entering the studio; songs we had forgotten or left unattended just kept presenting themselves at the studio door unannounced, demanding our attentions.
What was initially to be a few days of recording time became much longer, as floor toms were taken into a back alley and given the severe beating heard in the last few seconds of "Marnie", amps were nearly destroyed to find a few precious, perfect seconds of wrenching feedback, and cousins (Karisha Longaker, who can be heard on "Marnie", "Judas", and "Hesitation Wounds") were called in the middle of the night to lend their voices to songs they had not heard before our pleas brought them to the studio.
The result was 15 songs that ranged from small, three minute droning creepers, to gigantic surges of noise, washed over 7 to 9 minute canvases of sound. And we loved all of it. Every bit. In the end though, 70 minutes was just too much for one album to bear. So we split the tracks, 11 of which appear on "Enemies", and the rest, including a cover of our best friends The Delta Mirror's "And the Radio Played On", emerge here. Four songs that serve as a short companion piece to "Enemies", carved from the same sessions, and evincing the same thread of emotional chaos and vulnerability shown there.
When I asked Jimmy what we should call this little b-side ep, without any hesitation he exclaimed, "Growing Up Roanoke!" Which makes perfect sense, if you think about it at all. These are our Beloved B-Sides.
Enjoy.
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credits
released June 28, 2011
All songs by The Shimmies
Recorded by Chris Keene and Scott Corey at Heirloom Studios in Chico, CA.
Engineered by Chris Keene
Produced by Chris Keene and The Shimmies
"And the Radio Played On" is originally by The Delta Mirror, but we stole it, fair and square.
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