Do you remember those hot knife challenges? Nowhere near as captivating as these guys. 1000 Degree Knife is a band with equal parts energy and precision. Just three guys too, a rarer sight, but they sure know how to fill a room with sound. My first time recording at Mabgate too! Not my last as you’ll soon find out, but it reminded me a lot of my beloved Purple Pro. Broken amps in one corner, a collection of beers in the other and a serious damp problem. A perfect setting to record a band!

Whilst I went to get my tea from BFC, Josh (also from Mother Said - expect an appearance from those guys pretty soon) set up on the elevated platform - the only place a drummer should be. Imagine if they put a guitarist up there or something? Nuts. I persisted with a really reverb heavy sound, although I did flap it a bit when I heard just how soaked in reverb it was. Maybe it was just the walls. We took our time and I'm glad we did, I'm in love with that snare sound. A great performance by Josh too; first time, palpable energy - A pleasure to watch.

Now for Lewis, who I met for the first time on the outskirts of our Ben Parry’s birthday get together - lovely bloke (I meant Lewis but Ben’s a top bloke as well)! We added a bit of chorus to his bass. Always love to get the chance to do that - all the best basslines have a bit of chorus. Ever heard of the Cure?

Now for Matty. What an icon. I didn’t tell him, but the hair, glasses and bit of scruff. I’m a big fan. A top guitar player too, watching what he was doing on the guitar at such a pace, very impressive. Going from thrashing to composed, but never taking his foot off the gas. He nailed it, then said - let's do that again and pan them. We did and it was glorious. Results in a real stereo experience. He had this guitar pedal too. EHX pedal that was reverb AND distortion. Mad.

Then we gave him a mic. Clear influence from Tom Yorke, but makes it his own. For the first time in a while now, I think, we didn’t pull out the telephone mic. Great decision I think. The thing about the telephone mic, you've got to know when the time for it is. Some of the vocal lines took me back to Geese’s ‘Projector’. I remember those days, going to see them at Brud, L’objectif supporting. Matty brought me back to when Brud had Tuborg on tap. Those were the days. Now everyone’s going on about them.

To finish off, Lewis had one more idea. Let's go nuts with delay. And he did. That last little bit at the end, that's just Matty going ‘Ahhhh’ and Lewis looking like he was trying to unlock Matty’s boss delay, twisting it so much. Sounded ace, I really enjoyed recording these lads. Loved being back after two weeks of recording my own things and cancellations. It’s full steam ahead now.

For Fans of: Sonic Youth, Geese and Stereolab