By Keith Walsh
Earlier this month California’s Motown Grunge trio MindFree put the finishing touches on their debut album, which is now being mixed by CD Rios at Echobar Studios in North Hollywood.

“We finished up what was needed to bring the tracks to a stellar performance,” says Rios. “The collective passion and respect for the music is now captured and we just need to present it. (With) this second visit to the recording studio, MindFree brought a clear vision and razor sharp focus to the details which makes the job more of a good time than work.”

The recordings were enhanced with the addition of new drum tracks by Ric Rosario, the newest member of the band, playing alongside Mark Abbruzzese (guitars, pedalboard, and vox) and Keith Walsh (bass synth and keyboards).

‘An Immediate Connection’
Rosario brought enthusiasm to his role, with the majority of studio time spent recording drums across nine songs plus complete instrumentation on two fresh tracks. “Joining MindFree has been a good experience,” he says. “The music is complex and easy to digest. And Mark and Keith are kindred spirits; it’s an honor to add my drum parts to what’s already there. I like to make music with like-minded people. I like how immediate the connection was right from the start.”

After two months of practice at Holloway Studios in Santa Fe Springs, Rosario was more than ready for the two days of recording. He says: “There’s no such thing as being over prepared when it comes to recording; I worked really hard on getting all the parts down and it made the session go over smooth. It was a valuable experience.”

MindFree’s debut album will feature 11 new recordings in all, ranging from prog to melodic hard rock and classic keyboard-focused pop. As Abbruzzese explains: “We are on track to release MindFree’s (self-title debut) this summer. Our first album’s sound is imbued with soul, pop, grunge, prog and metal. Lyrically and musically the songs are philosophical, intense and romantic.”

‘Cool Vibes’
“Also, we have two covers on this album,” Abbruzzese continues, “one Elvis Costello and one Neil Young, this is a tack we intend to continue on later albums. Lastly we had some buddies — the Moynahan Bros. from grammar school — blow some horns on a few our tracks, so cool.” Abbruzzese refers to Mike and Danny Moynahan, who contributed trumpet and saxophone to three tracks, and who Walsh and Abbruzzese have been friends with since attending grade school together.

 To sum up the recording sessions, Abbruzzese says “Echobar has been an inspiring and chill experience. CD Rios is one very cool dudemanjack, a truly remarkable engineer with a great ear for mixes and advice.  We appreciate the cool vibes recording in a studio built and run by Erik Reichers and Bob Horn. Can’t wait to go back there for album two.”

MindFree are the original Motown Grunge band, a term coined by Abbruzzese in 2019 when he and Walsh first started creating music together.

MindFreeMusic.com
Echobar Studios online

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