The debut recording by four-piece Mr Pineapple, with yours truly on keys.
I first saw Mr Pineapple in late 2023, after sharing a bill with them in support of Zenden Greenpurp's debut full-band gig. At the time they were a three-piece comprised of lead singer, guitarist and songwriter Alex, bassist Colin, and drummer Chris. They performed a really fun set of interesting tunes, and I was instantly interested in being a part of it. We bumped into each other numerous times over the next year, with me getting a bunch of playing experience, and them getting a new and downright incredible drummer (George). By late 2024, Alex and I had both decided to give Mr Pineapple plus keys a go.
I exclusively play my synthesiser with Mr Pineapple. The JD-Xi has 37 'velocity sensitive' mini keys, which means I can't play it like a piano. Also, the onboard piano sounds are quite bad. This forces me out of familiar jamming habits and into novel playing territory, with a greater reliance on good sound design and arrangement- both areas I wanted to explore and improve in. Additionally, the synth can fit on my lap in a car and under my arm while walking, which is quite a significant advantage over my stage piano.
The JD-Xi is multitimbral, which suits live performance pretty well. I don't need to divide the keyboard into different sections for different sounds, or jump quickly between different programmes- three different melodic patches and one drum patch can be stored per programme and all can be playing at once, whether from the keyboard or the sequencer. PCM samples and the SuperNATURAL synth engine, an onboard effects section and a vocoder broaden the palette of available sounds. For a rather diminutive keyboard, the ground it can cover is pretty impressive; I can't find many other keyboards which have the sheer range at the pricepoint. Considering I originally bought it for the vocoder alone, it's a real stroke of luck that I chose it over the cheaper and much more warmly regarded MicroKorg. Wouldn't trade it for anything less than a Jupiter, and will use it until it breaks. Even if I have had to do some significant work to make the patch-designing experience at all user-friendly.
The only other gear I use with the band is a kazoo and a rubber chicken. And occasionally an accordion.
Alex writes all of the songs and sends us the demos, with any important parts for each of our various instruments pretty clearly 'spelled out'. Everything else is left to each individual band member to do. The balance shifts one way or another depending on the song; in Insidious Gomfidius my part was entirely pre-written and warranted very little additional work- just the descending scale in the chorus is mine. In Geese Are Fuckers however, there was no keys part at all and so I had to write something that would complement the existing arrangement rather than talking over it. My riff in the verse simply jumps an octave with portamento, to avoid injecting too much distracting extra melody. Then I extend the little downward scale that the bass and guitar do to a full part, making sure to join with them when they play the bit that inspired my bit. I don't enjoy playing solos (and frankly lack the capacity), but I really enjoy playing parts. Texture, expressions, colours and shapes. Writing and playing with the band is a real joy.
Mr Pineapple rehearses in a shed that Colin the bassist has built from scratch as a recording studio. It's got a live room with acoustic drums and a splendid set of amps, and a control room with a powerful desk and recording computer, a comfy sofa, and a very nice selection of biscuits. A typical rehearsal session involves talking a lot of nonsense over biscuits and warm drinks, playing good music, and then talking some more nonsense; I'm not quite sure how I lucked into it, to be honest.
We decided we wanted to capture the live sound we enjoyed creating so much at these rehearsals, and so went for a 'live in studio' recording style. The guitar and bass amps were set up with baffles and mics in the control room and the synth was DI'd, leaving only the drums and vocals to bleed into each other in the live room. Wearing headphones with tailored monitor mixes courtesy of Colin's very nice desk, we did three takes of each song, with the plan being to replace the vocals later to eliminate drum bleed. Mic levels set and red 'recording' light ablaze, we went for it. It felt weird playing knowing that every mistake that might be made would be recorded for posterity, and I think we all suffered a little nervousness because of it.
The week following the recording session, we returned to analyse our work and pick our favourite takes. We were pleasantly surprised to find that most of the takes were really strong, with most of our selection choices based on good playing from our favourite takes, rather than avoiding mistakes as we had feared. The drums and both guitars came out sounding really clear, with minimal bleed. Some panning, EQing and volume adjustments produced a more-than-acceptable mix, but there was work still to be done.
In order to ease the live recording process and produce the best sound, some concessions were made. Rubber chicken, kazoos, whizzers and duck calls need distinctly different gain levels and EQ-ing to regular vocals, and the vocals themselves needed redoing as mentioned above. In addition to this, all the keys needed replacing due to the fact that the JD-Xi I use with the band was getting repaired at the time, after developing some compromising faults. I used my MIDI controller and laptop running Logic Pro as a stand-in for the tracking session and for some live gigs. The sounds from this setup were decent enough, but I couldn't switch between sounds quickly, and they just didn't sound like we did live. Highly irritating. I tracked the synth parts in my own time using rough mixes as a guide, and all the rest of the overdubs were completed in an evening or two in the studio/shed.
For the song Cheesecake, I recorded both a version of the track with all sounds generated by the JD-Xi, and also a version which uses the JD-Xi in combination with a larger-range MIDI controller (gaining the top note during a walk-down of the D major scale in the chorus, and during a similar walk-down near the end of the middle jam section), and my RD-88 stage piano for a better-sounding electric piano in the jam section. The band voted in favour of this second, augmented version of the keys part- it sounds better, even if it's a further deviation from 'Live in the Shed' as a concept.
This was done by Colin, with the rest of us testing the tracks out on any pair of headphones or speakers available to us and providing feedback both technical and musical. The EP has a cohesive and well-balanced sound the whole way through, and I feel like it does a pretty good job of capturing our live sound.
The first cover art proposal was mine, and followed the 'Live in the Shed' concept by using stills from footage recorded during the tracking session, arranged in a Let It Be style and featuring the Mr Pineapple logo designed for the band by someone or other on Fiverr. I'm still quite happy with it, but Colin knocked it out of the park with his winning suggestion of a cover design. I've never been so pleased to be one-upped. My design even made it into the final version as a gig poster on the door, which was a very kind touch from Colin.
I'm really really pleased with this EP, and excited to have it out in the world. Releasing my own music is cool, but to me it doesn't feel as real as releasing music as part of a band. These recordings are a representation of the time we've spent learning and refining the songs, our teamwork, our shared goals and ideas, and most of all, the amount of fun we've had together. Alex, Colin and George are amazing bandmates and I hope to do lots more with them.