Recording Uranus was a big undertaking, especially as it's never been done before. This is an excerpt from an actual letter written by the Q Studio's sound engineer, Thomas, (whom the band dubbed Thomas The Tank Engineer) to his boss after two weeks of recording Uranus' first single. It was sent to Uranus manager with a "please explain!" and a rather large bill for damages:

"Stanley, getting the band members to the studio on the same day was difficult in itself, but getting them to sober up enough once they arrived to make sounds other than rasberries and armpit farting noises was almost impossible.



One of the band members smelled as though he'd come straight from an old people's home. You know, he had that camphor ball thing going on with his flannel shirt. I think he stole it from the door guard on his way to the studio. It almost made me puke on the mixing desk.



They brought their own fruit with them, and milk, and some sort of chocolate chip cookies. The drummer kept spilling crumbs on the desk. I thought he was going to short the place out.



The microphone will also need a good clean. The lead singer has a bad saliva gland. We didn't have a bucket big enough to collect the residue so there's a big stain on the floor in the vocal room!



There was also a fight. The bass player tried to turn up his bass guitar but before he'd even said anything the drummer threw his high hat at him. It looked like a scene out of Gold Finger. Almost took his head off. Once I wiped up the blood and sprayed the room with air freshner, they were ready to record.



We started with "Alive Again", which is a cracking single. We put the drummer and bass player in different studios to keep them apart and that seemed to work. I recorded everything but the vocals first up.





I did the best that I could with the lead guitar, but the tall long-haired git with the 70s hair cut kept forgetting what song he was playing. He was mumbling something about the year 1987, hair spray, and getting his teeth whitened. Luckily we found a guitar double, so we used him instead.



The rhythm guitarist kept trying to light up. He reckoned he needed a shmaftie to "centre" his "shakras". But the big hippie kept setting the smoke alarm off and before I knew it the sprinklers kicked in and sprayed everything in the room.



I locked the door so the band members wouldn't come out and shake water over the mixing desk but unfortunately the new Marshall stack is in ruins, the drums are like kiddy pools, and we may have a liability issue with regards to an electrocution, although its hard to tell with that lead singer sometimes. I thought he was just performing?!


 
Anyway, I stopped the recording as I had enough to finish the first track. Plus, it was hard to do anything else with the fire brigade and the ambulance rescue workers in there. It was pretty crowded, what with the tv news crews in there as well.



The next week we worked on "Leave Me". Once again, a cracking tune. The band seemed a little bit more restrained this time. Maybe it was because of the two groupies they brought with them. One had a false leg and a white cane. The other looked like a bloke with bolt ons. Nice shoes though. Anyway, I filled the band's milk carton with whiskey and valium. It seemed to have a calming effect on them and we were able to lay down the track without too much hassle.



The drummer and the bass player got into another fight during one of the takes, but it actually seemed to improve the take, although it took the rhythm guitarist a good half hour to pull the drum stick out of Uranus. The drummer then tried to steal the bass.



Someone threw a tv set out of the window. I think it was the lead guitarist. He apologised for it. Said he thought after reading Rolling Stone that that's what rock bands did. I told him it was big in the early 80s but had since been replaced by self immolation on stage. (sorry boss, couldn't resist).



Anyway, the final mix for both songs have been done. We now have the first two songs recorded in studio by Uranus. Let me know when the market release will be. I wouldn't miss that party for the world. Oh, and send someone up with a high pressure water hose please. Thomas."

Uranus is recording its original songs in the Q2 Studio today for a CD to be released at the end of the year.

Let's face it, we'd all like to See Uranus open for Linkin Park. I mean, who wouldn't, right?!

Just think of the fun we could all have: You, Linkin Park, Us, Uranus, all together in the one place, playing music on our ipods, jammin', playing it cool,  talking to our mums on our hand phones, playing it cool, checkin' out each other's Transformers collectibles scrounged from last weekend's AniCom, playing it cool, and you know, just hanging out.

Yeah, that's right, you, us and LP. 'Cause you know we are gunna invite you all back stage, right. I bet those LP guys'll just love it. I mean, how often do they get the chance to hang out with a groovy set of mob rulers like you guys? I'm thinking not often. And it's gotta be lonely on the road. So, they're gunna love you guys. Trust me on that!

Don't you think Uranus is the perfect fit? Uranus + Linkin Park=intergallactic rocktastic.

Now, between you and us, we heard on the grape vine that several of the LP band members have already said that, not only do they want us to open for them, but how much they'd actually like to play in Uranus.

Well, we are quite chuffed about that, but we ain't gunna be the catalyst for the break up of such a fantabulous band. So, we're saying right here and right now, publicly, that if EVER you find Linkin Park in Uranus, it wasn't our fault, right! I mean, who could blame them? After all, It isn't every international rock band that gets the chance to play with Uranus!

So, what songs do you think we should do if/when we get the call?

We were thinking LP might want to hear some of our songs off our latest - as yet unreleased - album: "Uranus. Unplugged!". But that could end up being a bit too tres Cold Play for LP fans.

We were thinking something far more rocktastic. Something new. So, in honour of our Alive Not Dead brethren, we hearby pledge to one and all that should we get chosen, we will write and perform a brand new original just for this gig and we'll dedicate it to all of the fans in Uranus - individually, by name!

This is a fabulous competition and the Alive Not Dead guys deserve a round of applause for securing it. How cool are they? (So cool I bet General Electric are gunna name a new refrigerator after them!).

Don't forget to vote for us here alivenotdead.com/linkinparkcontest#video_12


Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrxeBckL1mI

http://www.alivenotdead.com/linkinparkcontest

Rock on.

Uranus.

Don't forget to vote for Uranus in the Linkin Park band competition. We wanna play for you guys in Macau. I'm sure you all want Uranus to open for Linkin Park right?

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oVp3rccox8