A Trick Up His Sleeve

A few years ago Andy Gerber got an email he will never forget. That email was an inquiry from Cheap Trick manager Dave Frey asking Gerber, who owns Million Yen Studios, if he would like to work with Rick Nielsen on demos for a new Cheap Trick record.

It was a question that required little consideration from Gerber, a longtime local musician (The Eisenhowers, Laughing Man, Rust Bucket). “Anybody who knows me, Cheap Trick has always been my favorite band,” Gerber admits. “I’ve basically patterned my sound and my, whatever, on them since day one.”

So from October 2003 to May 2004, Nielsen did four different sessions at Million Yen, working on songs for what would eventually become Rockford (see this month’s feature story).

Nielsen and Gerber laid the basic foundations for tunes with a click track, guitar, bass, and a scratch vocal. After that Nielsen’s sons, Daxx and Miles, added drums and vocals, respectively. “Miles is not a session singer or anything like that. He also can’t sing as high as his dad wanted him to or as Robin [Zander, singer] can, but he did his best to do kind of a Robin imitation, though,” Gerber says.

Gerber admits he often pinched himself to make sure he really was in the studio with the Rick Nielsen. “It was crazy,” Gerber recalls. “You would hear that sound coming over the speakers and I would look over and there he was mugging for me, he would be throwin’ his picks while he was playing.

“It was funny ’cause the first time he came it was Dave and Rick and they stayed at the Days Inn,” he continues. “The second time they came Rick stayed with his son, Aaron. The next time he came down he was like ‘Hey, if you don’t mind’ – my studio has a shower and a couch and stuff – ‘Do you mind if I stay here?’ So the last two times he was literally staying here, and he had a ball. He was answering my phone: Whoever called I would come down and he would have a little sheet of paper with who called and what they said. It was too funny. He really got off on it and had a good time.”

And if the opportunity to work with one of his musical idols wasn’t enough, Gerber was further rewarded when he found out the album version of the song “O Claire” was constructed with – minus Bun E. Carlos’ drums and Zander’s vocals – Million Yen-recorded material. “So I’ll actually have tracks on a Cheap Trick record, yay,” Gerber says with a laugh.

At this point in the story it would be an easy transition to say something like “Gerber and Million Yen have come along way since . . . ” But the truth is, even before Gerber was working with Cheap Trick, when he was working from “a crummy, little shithole” apartment in Humboldt Park during the late ’90s after getting booted from his original space in Rogers Park, Million Yen has been an important cog in the Chicago rock machine.

Gerber, who has never worked for any studio other than his own, opened Million Yen in 1992 after The Eisenhowers spent $3,000 to record two songs at a big-wig Chicago studio. The songs turned out like crap, he says, and Gerber figured he could do a better job himself. He opened shop under the Jarvis Red Line stop and soon found himself recording the likes of Fig Dish (and later Caviar), Anna Fermin, and Local H.

“I always say the really big guys have a really easy job,” Gerber says. “If you’re recording the greats, it’s really easy you just stick a microphone in front of them and it sounds awesome, you know? Anybody can make a great band sound good; it’s really hard to make a shitty band sound like anything.

“I was really blessed early in my career to be working with, what I kinda considered, the cream of the crop of Chicago rock of the early ’90s, mid ’90s – the Local Hs, the Fig Dishes, 77 Luscious Babes. These guys could all play and all had good songs, good singers, good drummers, and knew what they were doin’. So my recordings sounded good,” he says, laughing, “and people were like, ‘Oh, where did you get that done?’ I honestly think it had a lot more to do with how good the bands were than how good I was.”

He is obviously doing something right, though, because 15 years after Million Yen opened, it’s still a hot spot of rock ‘n’ roll activity. Since he moved into his current Avondale digs in 2000 Gerber has served as producer, engineer, or both on projects by Kevin Tihista, Local H (“[Scott Lucas] is always a joy to work with. That guy is super driven, super talented.”), The Tossers, The Effigies (new CD is “very close to being finished” Gerber insists), Sullen, and The Damnwells to name a few. He even has some help now in the form of full-time producer/engineer Geoff Sabin.

“When I got into this I had no real ambitions to like, be a big-deal producer or take over the world by storm [so] I’ve done so much more than I ever though I would,” Gerber admits.

“I’ve gotten to make three records so far with Scott. That [Whatever Happened To P.J. Soles] record I’m super, super proud of; we really busted our ass on that record. The Million Yen [Gerber’s current musical project] solo record [Blue Television Windows] I’m really proud of,” he continues. “The Tossers record we did last year I’m super proud of. I’ve got a handful of records that I’m really proud of that I worked on, one that I wrote myself that I’m really proud of, and I got to work with Rick Nielsen from Cheap Trick.

“Everything from here on out is pretty much gravy as far as I’m concerned.”

To learn more about Million Yen Studios visit www.millionyen.com or call (773) 267-8551.

Chicago band Waste began tracking their first full-length at UPTOWN RECORDING in Chicago with engineer Dan Stock.

At CHICAGO RECORDING COMPANY in Chicago, the musical comedy troupe The Cupid Players recorded their second album with engineer Mathieu Lejeune; Todd Fitch assisted . . . Also recording with Lejeune was St. Louis native Phil Jones who tracked vocals for his upcoming album; Dusty Robenaldt assisted . . . Chris Shepard’s remote studio captured Warner Bros. artist Taking Back Sunday on Easter at the House of Blues for a future DVD release, as well as Atlantic Records’ The Academy Is . . . and Panic! At The Disco March 5th, also for future DVD release . . . Shepard recorded The Tossers on St. Patrick’s Day at Metro as well . . . Engineer Dave Rieley and assistant Sean Geyer continued to work with Canadian producer Brian Howes and engineer JVP on the upcoming album by Atlantic Records and Grammy-nominated band, Skillet.

At GRAVITY STUDIOS in Chicago, The Von Bondies (Sire) mixed some new tunes with Sean O’Keefe . . . Mirror Mirror worked on their new full-length with producer/engineer Aidas Narbutaitis . . . Engineer Mark Berlin recorded and mixed the latest from Nude Celebs . . . Fall Of Icarus recorded and mixed their new EP with Russell Prince . . . Hi Maintenance worked on some new songs with Berlin . . . Alumni Club mixed with Mike Hari.

Dekalb band Inspector Owl (with members of The Funshy, The Satire, and the Chicago Civic Orchestra) worked on their upcoming EP at THE ARGYLE ROOM in Chicago with Lance Reynolds.

At STUDIO VMR in Brookfield, Smokey Joe finished a new CD with Bob Lizik on bass . . . Producer George Paulis had studio owner Don Griffin remaster a previously released disc by #Sonny Burgess# . . . Studebaker John had some live European shows mastered . . . Griffin also mastered projects for rappers Full Breach and R&B artists Focus 4 Life.

At UP ON THE ROOF RECORDING in Lombard, owner/engineer Mark Blas wrapped up mixes for Mitch & The Polecats . . . Blas tracked projects for both Dave Hammonds and Handheld Suicide.

At SOUNDSCAPE STUDIOS in Chicago, three of the Chicago Rocks Festival performers, including Rhymefest and Chaos, worked on new material for Molemen’s Chicago Rocks CD . . . Hustle Period/Rawkus newly signed artist, Naledge, started his debut album . . . Bump J (Atlantic) collaborated with Loose Leaf Ink artist Broadway for a song called “Chop, Chop” and with Naledge on a track called “It’s Cold Outside.”

Chicago band Roots Rock Society recently spent four days recording at CIRCLE HOUSE in Miami Beach, Florida. The studio is owned by Ian and Rodger Lewis of Inner Circle. RRS worked on tracks for their new CD, TimeBless, with engineer James Wisner.

HEY STUDIOPHILERS: To get your studio or band listed in “Studiophile,” just email info on whom you’re recording or who’s recording you to ieeditors@aol.com, subject Studiophile, or fax (312) 922-9369. We reserve the right to edit or omit submissions for space. Deadline for our July issue is June 10th.

– Trevor Fisher

Category: Monthly, Studiophile