For self-produced band The Sylvia Platters, the top of a mountain seemed like the perfect place to record their first album.
Armed with their instruments and personal recording equipment, brothers Tim and Nick Ubels and their friend Simon Tressel secluded themselves in a cabin on Mount Baker last July to create the first tracks on their debut album, Make Glad the Day.
Set to release this Friday (Nov. 27), it鈥檚 been a long process for the 91原创 Christian grads to make a professional collection without any professional help.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e trying to produce it and do it all yourself, you don鈥檛 have anyone helping, you kind of run into problems all over the place that you鈥檙e not expecting,鈥� said Tim, the drummer and vocalist for the band.
鈥淚t鈥檚 all self-produced, self-released and independent. We did get it mastered by a professional, just because we had no idea what we were doing in that regard, but outside of that, we are doing it ourselves.鈥�
With previous experience playing in a university band, the one thing the friends did have down pat is their music.
Although their songs are short 鈥� most range from just over one minute to two and a half minutes 鈥� they have an alluring upbeat sound with classic rock undertones.
鈥淚t鈥檚 pop but it鈥檚 rock at the same time,鈥� Tim said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a bit hard to explain, but we love interesting chord progressions that have a bit of an edge to them, but still at the same time keep that pop sensibility in there.鈥�
Some of their songs have been written for years, waiting for the opportunity to be performed, Tim added.
鈥淢e and my brother have been writing songs ever since our university band split in 2011,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e had a backlog of songs, we were talking to our friend Simon about maybe playing a bit, and it worked out.鈥�
After recording a few songs in Washington, the group added another high school friend, Luke Agawin, on guitar and finished their 14-track album in 91原创.
But there was still one more thing delaying their release.
鈥淢y brother and I are a bit of vinyl nuts so we wanted to go for that and have a copy of our record on vinyl,鈥� Tim said.
鈥淭hat was one of the problems with doing it by ourselves. There鈥檚 quite a bit of delay because there鈥檚 only so many vinyl factories in North America, and you鈥檙e placed in the back of the line with every other artist. If a popular artist wants to produce 50,000 copies and we want to produce 500, and they鈥檙e in front of us, it takes a lot longer. That pushed it back a little bit.鈥�
With their digital release on iTunes and Amazon this week, record lovers can own a 12" vinyl copy in February. The band is already taking pre-orders online through their website,.
They are also hosting a kick-off party on Nov. 29 at Brother鈥檚 Bowling & Billiards in Abbotsford.
For more, visit their Facebook page 鈥�.鈥�
