“One day I just decided I wanted to start a band,” said Atkinson, a UA alumnus who graduated in 2014. “I posted a flyer in the Riverside lobby and Chris [Wilhelm] saw it and called me to tell me he played guitar. That’s how it all got started.”
After four years of playing together, local band The Doctors and The Lawyers is releasing its first studio album titled “Hear It Again,” a collection of nine tracks all recorded and produced by the band.
Today, the band’s roster has Evan Brooks on lead vocals, Chris Wilhelm as lead guitarist and back-up vocals, Hayes Turner as bass guitarist, Taylor Atkinson as keyboardist and Jordan Kumler on the drums.
“I had no idea what I was getting into,” Turner said. “It was a lot of commitment, manual labor and solo hours in the recording studio, but we did it and I’m so pleased with the final product.”
Using only a Mac desktop connected to two PreSonus FireStudio input converters and a Yamaha studio monitor, the five-man band turned the garage of its Cottondale, Alabama home into a makeshift recording studio where it recorded and produced its nine-track album.
“Recording in a studio would have cost us at least $10,000 for very limited studio time,” Atkinson said. “Self producing gave us a chance to really explore and test our creative boundaries.”
To ensure high-quality sound sans recording studio equipment, each instrument had to be recorded individually. Wilhelm, the eyes and ears behind the production process, then mixed the recorded instrumentals with Brooks’ vocals to compose a track.
“We realized about halfway in how difficult it is to self-produce a full album,” said Wilhelm, a graduate student studying mechanical engineering. “But I’d rather have one really good microphone and record each instrument individually than have a bunch of low-quality microphones that record us playing all together.”
With each recording session spanning up to eight hours, the band started recording in June 2014 and completed the album in December. “Hear It Again” is a product of the band’s evolution from acoustic rock to a more electro-funk sound with a jam band feel. The album was written collaboratively by all five of the band members.
“As musicians, we gain inspiration everywhere – from other artists, from the world around us, our environment and those close to us,” Brooks said. “Certain tracks were inspired by everything from a tree on the Continental Divide Trail in New Mexico to the port city of New Orleans.”
Once the album is released on Monday, it will be available on multiple music sites including iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and Rhapsody. Additionally, The Doctors and The Lawyers will perform the full album live Monday night at The Red Shed, with local band The Lagoons opening. All attendees will receive a free copy of the album.
After the release of “Hear It Again,” The Doctors and The Lawyers will travel to Birmingham, where it plans to headquarter next year and defend its title as the reigning 2014 champions of the Waka Winter Classic.
The Classic, a Battle of the Bands-esque competition held at WorkPlay Theatre in Birmingham, sends the winner to Wakarusa, an music festival based in Ozark, Arkansas. Wakarusa will host big names like Slightly Stoopid, Umphrey’s McGee, Moon Taxi and Big Gigantic in its 2015 lineup.
“I think it’s time for us to try and move our fan base outside of Tuscaloosa,” said Kumler, a senior majoring in chemical engineering. “Playing at Wakarusa gave us a lot of exposure.”
The band played three sets at last year’s festival and was listed on the top six must-see fan videos from the 2014 Wakarusa along with well-known bands like the Flaming Lips, STS9 and Papadosio.
“Being able to play on the level that we do now is more than I thought I’d ever personally achieve,” Wilhelm said. “If the band stopped today, I would be so proud of everything we’ve accomplished.”
