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In The Studio: Ecca Vandal

Rising Melbourne rap-rocker invites us into her home studio as she assembles her self-titled debut LP.


Air bass playing to Kidnot. We would often throw bass lines and riffs between each other for hours on end during the making of this record. I freaking love bass, a great bass line is everything.


Listening to back mixes at Hadyn Buxton’s studio…. or I could be sleeping?!


Me screaming my head off under our makeshift vocal booth (doona). Since we recorded everything at our home studio, which is a basically a small two-bedroom apartment we had to do what we could to not annoy our neighbours……we annoyed them anyway. I think they thought someone was trying to murder me every second night for months on end.


Tracking vocals for “Closing Ceremony”.


Me tracking the organ part which sits under Sampa The Great’s verse in “Your Orbit”.


Kidnot laying down beats for “Cold of the World”.


Accept the good? More like accept the screens. I have no idea why I’m in front of two computers. Probably getting distracted by Rick and Morty while tracking vocals.


Playing Rhodes for a track called “Cold of the World”. I love this Rhodes, Kidnot bought this Rhodes for $100 years ago, it’s out of tune but sounds really amazing.


Rich and I jamming out arrangements.


Another favourite instrument of mine is Dave Smiths Prophet 6. This is me tracking the verses for “Cold of the World”. I used this little guy for pretty much to whole song.


Tracking vocals for “Future Heroine”. Looks like I’m hitting the wrong note the way Rich is looking back at me.


Laying down some synth bass to fatten things up. We were mixing at this point but to Hadyn’s frustration, Rich and I were always like “hey let’s add this and that….”


Rich laying down some up right bass to a track called “Cassettes, Lies and Video Tapes”.


This me playing over some old Jazz standards on this beautiful Steinway. I was lucky enough to visit the famous Roundhead studios in Auckland. This is the studio where ‘Future Heroine’ was first born doing a collab with Mike Elizondo.


Me tracking Rich playing some loud guitars. We had to use a separate studio a couple of times when we needed to track really loud noises.Give them neighbours a break.


Kidnot laying down synths to a track called ‘Dead Wait’. We did a collab with Moonbase on this track.


Me getting my edit on. I often kick Rich off the tools…. he loves it.


Me editing vocals for “Broke Days, Party Nights”.


Playing some Moog for “Cassettes, Lies and Video Tapes”.


Rich and I listening to tunes


Me dancing up a storm in PJs. Rich knows when I’m feeling something cause I start dancing though out the studio/lounge room.


Tracking percussion for a track called “Price of Living” over at Dan Maios house (my live drummer).


On the Tools


Kidnot playing some serious bass down strokes for “Broke Days, Party Nights”.

Ecca Vandal is set to release her self-titled debut LP on October 20th.

The rising Melbourne rap-rocker first introduced the album in July with the explosive lead single “Broke Days, Party Nights”. More recently, she has shared “Future Heroine”, a prominently more pop-skewed track, which Vandal says documents the “death of a relationship,” adding that, in the song’s surreal clip she plays “the role of the persistent voice in my lovers head, from two very opposing perspectives.”

Ahead of the release of Ecca Vandal next month, Rolling Stone has been given exclusive access into her own diary-entry photos from the recording sessions at her home studio where, with band member Kidnot, she recorded and produced the majority of the record. Alongside which, Vandal also shares insights into the some of the album’s tracks, which are set to feature guest spots from Dennis Lyxen of Refused, Letlive’s Jason Aalon Butler, rapper Sampa the Great and left-field pop-star Darwin Deez.

All captions by Ecca Vandal.