As reported back in May, Lynch Mob will released their new studio album, Babylon, this fall. In the feature below, written by Dana Lyons, producer Chris Trinidad Flores (Big Chris), shares his experience working with the band.
One of the most prolific guitarists of our time, George Lynch moves forward with his legacy and reclaimed the band name that respectively, claimed him. Lynch Mob. The current lineup consists of Jimmy D’ Anda on drums, Jaron Gulino on bass, Gabriel Colon on vocals and George Lynch on guitar. More importantly, Lynch has been working on recent music and has chosen Chris Trinidad Flores (Big Chris,) owner of The Rehab Studio, to produce the new album called Babylon. Big Chris who began his production career in 1999 is known for his work with Cedric the Entertainer Slash, Fergie, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony among several others recently spoke to Rock Solid Talent Entertainment about his experience recording the album set to release this fall.
Big Chris met George through his good friend and amazing singer Terry Illous (XYZ, Great White). He needed George for another project he was working on for the Truck Stop Vampires. After they produced that song George asked Big Chris to hang out and work on his new solo album which was previously delivered to Rat Pak Records. The pair worked well together. It was fun and smooth sailing, according to the Hollywood producer. George then asked Big Chris to contribute his expertise on the new Lynch Mob record.
The new Babylon album has a few notable differences from the River Of Love album. “Other than the over-all production style with the drums and effects, one definitive difference would be all the queen-esque style harmonies on some of the songs and in particular the song 'Million Miles Away', states Flores. "That one is the most modern song on the album with the style young producers are doing these days consisting of sixteen bars of four chords that repeat the same thing for the whole song. Then stacking about eight layers of different guitars that he would drop out and in to create the intro, verse, pre chorus, chorus sections. It includes tons of harmonies with modern reverbs making the song very modern sounding with a majestic vibe.”
Big Chris revealed that his favorite moments of the production came after the instrumentals were complete and Gabriel came to the studio to record his vocals. “It was fun as hell to hang out and come up with some great vocal ideas, build harmonies and change the landscape of these records with subtle and drastic vocal harmonies along with effects (FX). I loved the whole production process, but I usually get really excited when the topline is recorded and the ideas start flowing about how to spice the melodies up and deliver a great record."
An interesting side note, George did try out a couple of his masterpieces, Mr. Scary guitars, while working on the album. He is making some bad ass guitars which you can check out at georgelynch.com.
When asked about the most challenging aspect of the production, Big Chris said that for the most part no one was in the same room until the final stages of the production. “Nowadays, the recording budgets have gotten smaller and remote recording has gotten easy enough to send and receive files, so I recorded George's guitars at my studio and then sent some pretty good rough arrangements to the drummer Jimmy so he could record drums at his studio and Jaron could record bass at his. So that leaves all the file gathering up to the producer. I had to send all mixes and files to each player in the band and then import them into a master session. I spent a lot of time sending and receiving files which is a drag when schedules do not always sync up. Lots of waiting and tons of emails and texts."
It’s been said that the artists who become “the greats" have done so by implementing constant reinvention. I asked Big Chris his thoughts on this. “I totally agree. I am always studying these new/young Rock, Pop, EDM, Trap artists. I stare at my speakers trying to figure out how they did that and how I can implement these new, modern production ideas into some of my more straight forward (single genre) productions. I am always reinventing how and what I add to songs to modernize them (when needed).”
What label is releasing the album? "Frontiers Records. They have a great line up of hard rock/ metal groups and are constantly releasing some great music. I have a few friends that release music on Frontiers.”
Will there be any other of your projects coming out soon? “I'm hoping to get a release date on a “unreleased song” by Slash and Chester Bennington called 'Crazy', I have yet to hear of one. Also, I’m really excited about a new single by my good friend Selepri called 'All I Need' which just came out. Lynch jams an amazing solo over the song. The song also features Simon Phillips (Judas Priest, Jeff beck The Who) on drums, and “Fretless Tony “Franklin (Whitesnake, The Firm, Paul Rogers) on bass. It’s a very uplifting song about overcoming any obstacle. You’ll catch a cool vibe.”
Rock Solid Talent Entertainment thanks Big Chris Flores for taking the time to share his experience on producing Lynch Mob’s latest album and letting us in on what else we may hear from him. You can find out more at TheRehabStudio.com, and GeorgeLynch.com.
Stay tuned for further updates on the forthcoming Lynch Mob album.
Tour dates:
August
4 - Live At 1175 - Kansasville, WI
5 - Smugglers - Wyandotte, MI
6 - Founder's Square - Portage, IN
September
28 - Dingbatz - Clifton, NJ
29 - The Landis - Vineland, NJ
30 - Tourist Inn - Hallam, PA
