THE ROTHCHILD SESSIONS

The “Rothchild Sessions” refers to a series of recording sessions THE BRAT undertook with legendary music producer Paul A. Rothchild beginning in the Spring of 1985.

The ten tracks from the original Paul Rothchild Sessions are mixed throughout THE BRAT’s recent twenty-one song double album “Straight Outta East L.A.”. But the Rothchild ‘ten’ were planned as a stand-alone album that was started in March ’85 and nearly finished a year later before the band ultimately gave up and moved on.

The story of THE BRAT’s Rothchild Sessions is a study of blended eras.

Paul Rothchild was a prominent American record producer known for his historic work at Electra Records in the 1960s.

Rothchild supervised the making of hundreds of albums, but his fame originated from six years of production work that began with Phil Ochs’ 1965 album of protest songs (“All The News That’s Fit To Print”) and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band’s debut effort (which took two complete re-recordings to get right), culminating in 1971 with Janis Joplin and “Pearl”.

In between those milestones came Gold and Platinum album awards for his work with The Doors. What followed was career success that spanned decades.

By the time Rothchild encountered THE BRAT he was a free agent, stalking new sounds and talent.

Paul attended artist showcase sets all over Los Angeles and on this particular day, tagging along with A&M Records, the performance he’d be witnessing was THE BRAT’s. It was one of several wearying showcases the band staged all summer long at a rehearsal shed in Rudy Brat’s backyard, as they sought to attract music biz interest.

THE BRAT had good reason to believe music execs would come to them. There was a track record to flaunt. After all, they’d gotten themselves onto local alternative radio (“Swift Moves”) without any help from the pros. The moment seemed ripe for aiming to a higher level.

Producer Rothchild was impressed. Dubbing Rudy’s practice room ‘the chicken coop’, Paul later enthused, “I love this band! Not a single love song!”

There weren’t a lot of love songs in Paul Rothchild’s professional backstory either.

The East Coast native’s storied reputation came from hanging with noted non-romantics Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Jim Morrison and others; relationships he’d built from years haunting the folk and blues scene.

 

Rothchild eventually followed his rock muse to the West Coast, settling in Laurel Canyon and immersing himself in the waves of seemingly endless talent.

Directing his attention to local luminaries Love and The Doors, Paul lent his studio savvy to their rough-hewn inspiration and gave them hit records in the process. Paul had been around the block, and now he was excited to meet THE BRAT.

Not all members of THE BRAT were familiar with Rothchild’s CV.

Vocalist Teresa Covarrubias, in particular, remained wary of outsiders and kept a characteristic distance, showing little curiosity or interest in the background of this newcomer. His story held no impact.

For his part, Paul found Teresa’s quiet presence intriguing, even charming, and he held out for a thaw, noting her unexpected participation would perk up the room. And everyone’s heads spun when Doors guitarist Robbie Krieger walked in the door and began to offer suggestions.

Room with a history.

Armed with demo dollars from A&M and Atlantic Records and with added contributions from the band’s families, Rothchild hooked up THE BRAT with on-call, off-hours rates at the revered Producer’s Workshop on Hollywood Blvd, an arrangement ensuring spontaneous sessions that ran late and ragged.

Producer’s was a landmark of music history with a newly boosted cache, having hosted Pink Floyd in their laborious making of The Wall. THE BRAT were granted use of the same room as the Floyd, the same recording engineer (Russ Castillo) and the same console, a “race car!”, according to Brother Russ, “That board was custom, handmade, high powered, nothing like it before or since!”  THE BRAT set up shop there for more than a year.

Rothchild’s retro recording style was basic.

Guitars, bass, drums were cut together in the studio, live. Even newbie guitarist Teresa’s rhythm strumming (on a new song, “The Promise”) got tracked in the room with the rest of the band. Paul pasted together the best performances, cutting up analog tape with a razor.

The pace was slow, old school, easily distracted by stories or puffs of smoke. One memorable interruption came in the form of an unexpected UPS visit, delivering piles of Doors studio tapes that Paul had been tasked to sort through, in search of the elusive “original masters”.

Spotting a familiar reel from the day, he dropped it on the tape machine and serenaded BRAT members Sid, Rudy, George and Mark with the sounds of the Doors’ first album, played entirely off tape.

After a little more than a year, Rothchild and THE BRAT wrapped up their recording project.

Months of work brought songs spilling across four reels of two-inch tape.  It made for an aggressively topical rock record that, for all its virtues, was unfortunately viewed as out of place in the MTV #eighties. Paul repeatedly made the case that THE BRAT’s sound was notable and unique, but he too found himself dismissed as someone from the wrong era.

Teresa bailed first. Rothchild removed himself from the story next and the rest of the band finished the record themselves, in environments less and less elegant, finalizing individual tracks one by one until exhaustion creeped in.

Finally, having committed themselves to an album that wasn’t immediately embraced, and bearing rusty chops from a year and a half without a gig, THE BRAT gave in to lethargy and indifference and threw in the towel –

***

Years to the finish line.

Resurrecting THE BRAT’s masters has been a priority for Rudy Brat throughout the 2000’s. It took obsession, cash and a fair amount of detective work to pull together a lost album. Several recordings had gone missing but were relocated, miraculously, in a personal storage unit belonging to Mark Wolfson, studio manager at one of the last places the band worked. A collector by nature, Mark habitually stored tapes left behind and had blithely kept possession of the missing BRAT reels for nearly thirty years.

The Rothchild Session tapes were in good shape; the songs nearly complete and ready to be mixed. Only two tracks were unfinished, “Slaughter Of An Ancient Tribe” and “Believe”, but both needed work to input missing vocals and instrumental parts. In the spirit of a reunion, both Teresa and Rudy devoted studio hours to adding their parts, completing their decades-old project in the present day. And just like that, the Rothchild Album was done.

TRACKLIST

SLAUGHTER OF AN ANCIENT TRIBE

Recorded 6/06/85 at Producer’s Workshop

Producer: Paul A. Rothchild

Engineer: Russ Castillo

Vocals: Teresa Covarrubias

Guitars: Rudy Medina (lead), Sid Medina

Bass: George Garcia, Drums: Mark Stewart

Additional Recording September 2014 at The Mothership

Engineering, arranging, editing: Neil Citron

New Guitars and Vocals: Rudy and Teresa

THE PROMISE

Recorded 8/03/86 at Producer’s Workshop

Producer: Paul A. Rothchild

Engineer: Russ Castillo

Vocals: Teresa Covarrubias

Guitars: Rudy Medina, Teresa Covarrubias, Sid Medina (lead)

Bass: George Garcia, Drums: Mark Stewart

INDIAN INK TEARS

Recorded 11/21/85 at Producer’s Workshop

Producer: Paul A. Rothchild

Engineer: Russ Castillo

Vocals: Teresa Covarrubias

Guitars: Rudy Medina, Sid Medina (lead)

Bass: George Garcia, Drums: Mark Stewart

TOMBSTONE BLUES (B. Dylan)

Recorded live 7/30/86 at Producer’s Workshop

Producer: Paul A. Rothchild

Engineer: Russ Castillo

Vocals: Teresa Covarrubias

Guitars: Rudy Medina (lead), Sid Medina

Bass: George Garcia, Drums: Mark Stewart

JUST ANOTHER DAY

Recorded 8/03/86 at Producer’s Workshop

Producer: Paul A. Rothchild

Engineer: Russ Castillo

Vocals: Teresa Covarrubias

Guitars: Rudy Medina, Sid Medina (lead)

Bass: George Garcia, Drums: Mark Stewart

BELIEVE

Recorded 6/16/85 at Producer’s Workshop

Producer: Paul A. Rothchild

Engineer: Russ Castillo

Vocals: Teresa Covarrubias

Guitars: Rudy Medina (lead), Sid Medina

Bass: George Garcia, Drums: Mark Stewart

Additional Recording September 2014 at The Mothership

Engineering, arranging, editing: Neil Citron

New Guitars and Vocals: Rudy and Teresa

HARD SOMETIMES

Recorded 8/03/86 at Producer’s Workshop

Producer: Paul A. Rothchild

Engineer: Russ Castillo

Vocals: Teresa Covarrubias

Guitars: Rudy Medina (rhythm & acoustic), Sid Medina (lead)

Bass: George Garcia, Drums: Mark Stewart

THE CRY

Recorded 4/30/85 at Producer’s Workshop

Producer: Paul A. Rothchild

Engineer: Russ Castillo

Vocals: Teresa Covarrubias

Guitars: Rudy Medina (lead), Sid Medina

Bass: George Garcia, Drums: Mark Stewart

IT’S A CLIMB

Recorded live 6/15/85 at Producer’s Workshop

Producer: Paul A. Rothchild

Engineer: Russ Castillo

Vocals: Teresa Covarrubias

Guitars: Rudy Medina (lead), Sid Medina

Bass: George Garcia, Drums: Mark Stewart

SOLDIER

Recorded 3/28/85 at Producer’s Workshop

Producer: Paul A. Rothchild

Engineer: Russ Castillo

Vocals: Teresa Covarrubias

Guitars: Rudy Medina, Sid Medina (lead)

Bass: George Garcia, Drums: Mark Stewart