How amazing was it to work with producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, Dave Matthews Band, Talking Heads)?
It was absolutely amazing! The thing about Steve is that we learned to have a lot of faith and trust in our producer. Pretty much every record in the past, Justin (Furstenfeld, vocals, keyboards) had his hand in the production side of things, which worked out great because he’s a true representative of the band. He always made sure things were seen through the way that we wanted them to be. On this record he really learned to trust Steve and just let him do his thing. And Steve is brilliant; just being able to watch someone like that! I produce as well although I’ve only been doing it for a few years but it’s something I take very seriously so I looked at it as a learning experience and I couldn’t have asked for a better teacher!

How did he relate to the band musically?
He really let us do our thing because we are all seasoned musicians. And we’re all very competent musicians, which he recognized. With me, he was very respectful and let me come up with my own parts, which we came up with in pre-production and then we altered some things throughout the production process. He basically went, “That works” or “That doesn’t”. He never said, “Play this” or “Do this”. He trusted me to do my own thing and that was a great feeling. Steve is actually a bass player as well, so there was a little bit of pressure there!

Did you record the album in Texas?
We did actually, right outside of Austin at Pedernales Studios, which is Willie Nelson’s studio. It’s on 39th right outside of town and it’s kind of rustic and out in the middle of nowhere; it was great. We were out there for a couple of months and then we did some touch-ups at another studio in Austin called Wire Studios but the majority of the record was done at Perdenales.

How did you go about finding your space sonically, within a dense mix of guitars, strings and keyboards?
Did that present a problem for you?
You know, not really. It seems like it would but for some reason it was actually easier on this record than before. A lot of that is due to the fact that I completely changed my set up and the gear I’m primarily using now includes Fender and Warwick basses and Aguilar of course. I used nothing but Aguilar on the whole record which wound up being perfect for me in the studio because it had just the right amount of bottom end and midrange where the bass really cuts through. Selfishly, that puts a smile on my face because I listen to Dirt Room on the radio and, I won’t lie to you, it’s pleasant for me as a bass player because I can really hear the bass!

You have to find your space sonically as a bass player. A lot of times the bass players kind of get screwed with all that is going on between the piano, keyboards, strings and tracks upon tracks of guitars. The way Steve does things is very simple; he doesn’t like 20 tracks of guitars, maybe two tracks of guitars. And it’s just got to be the right take. So for me to fit in sonically was very easy because I didn’t have to battle with 50 tracks of guitars or 100 tracks of something else; it was almost like my space was already there, all I had to do was fill in the blanks.

What rig do you have now?
I use the DB 750 with a DB 810 and a Tone Hammer that I use all the time now – I just can’t play without it! In the studio I also used an AG 500 SC and a GS 412 cabinet. I found the GS 412 to have tons of bottom-end yet a lot of punch. I probably ended up using the DB 810 on 25% of the record and the GS 412 on the other 75%. Live, I really love the DB 810. I used the DB 750 head on most of the tracks and the AG 500 on one song. I used just the Tone Hammer on two songs, Say It and Should Be Loved.

The gear not only sounds great live but it sounded so good in the studio that on the first day that we set up and were getting tones, Steve walked by and stopped because I was set up right outside the control room and he smiled and said, “That sounds really good!” So I made him a fan of Aguilar!

It sounds like you had a great rig that you could switch around for different tones!
Oh absolutely and I bought all my basses this time as well! Because the studio was right here, I brought everything; every single bass that I own. I used one bass on three songs but ended up using a different bass on every track. Whenever you fly out to work in L.A., you get to pick your favorite two basses (laughs) and then have to rent the rest!

It looks like you are using mostly passive basses now.
Yes. I used to use all active but I switched to using primarily Fenders and I just preferred the sound of passive. I don’t like too much going on with the bass. If it’s a great sounding instrument, you shouldn’t need to EQ the hell out of it. You should just be able to play it and make it sound good. A lot of people think, “Well if I get this instrument with a billion knobs on it and then get this amp with a ton of knobs on it, I can EQ everything just right.” And when I was younger, I used to think that way but now, I just think that less is more. And that’s what I love about my passive basses especially matched up with the DB 750 head because the DB 750 just takes my bass and makes it sound pure.

Was there a collective goal the band was striving for with this record?
Well, the whole thing changes drastically from beginning to end. Every song really is its own animal. The whole idea of Approaching Normal was that from the beginning to the end of the record it tells a story. The record starts off very dark, so thematically, it was about finding the light at the end of the tunnel. If you follow the whole thing through, it ends up in a very happy place.

Thanks Matt for giving us such a detailed walk-through of Approaching Normal! To hear Matt Novesky’s Tone Hammer sample setting, click here: Tone Hammer Settings