PJ Harvey, Mogwai, Shellac, Jesus Lizard
To commemorate what would have been Steve Albini‘s 62nd birthday, some of the musicians and people who knew him best — including PJ Harvey, Mogwai, and Shellac drummer Todd Trainer — have been posting tributes to the late Shellac frontman and acclaimed recording engineer on Monday.
Albini’s widow, Heather Whinna, asked her husband’s friends and admirers to honor him on social media with the hashtag #ThankYouSteveAlbini. “Share pictures of his albums that shaped you, concert memories, or even handwritten notes that resonated deeply,” she wrote in a note, circulated via the record label Touch & Go Records’ Instagram feed. “If you were lucky enough to meet him, let’s see those photos!” The label’s own #ThankYouSteveAlbini post contained a montage of Albini photos with Shellac’s “Pull the Cup” as its soundtrack.
PJ Harvey and Mogwai posted the covers of albums Albini recorded for them, Rid of Me and the “My Father My King” single, respectively.
Trainer posted nearly two dozen photos of Albini taken all over the world. Some of the best include the band’s Halloween costumes, Albini sitting behind a ginormous drum kit, and Albini dangling from a bungee cord in England.
Whinna posted a photo of Albini’s guitar-pick case, writing that he always carried it in his right pocket. The picture contains two plectrums for Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen and one of Albini’s metal guitar picks, which he used to achieve his signature abrasive sound. Whinna added that she now carries Albini’s picks in her right pocket.
The Jesus Lizard posted a documentary clip that features Albini telling a funny story behind “Mouth Breather,” a song off the Goat album that Albini recorded.
Ken Vandermark, the Chicago-based composer and saxophonist, published three posts that paid tribute to Albini. “In July of 2011 I produced music for a soundtrack I was hired to create for a documentary film about Chicago’s music scene during the 1990s,” he wrote in the first. “For it, I invited Steve Albini to play some improvised guitar solos and duos with Terrie Ex over parts tracked earlier by John Herndon and Wayne Montana. Bob Weston was the engineer … I did not know it at the time, but this may have been the only instance where Steve was hired to record for someone else’s project. He was fantastic to work with and funny, and good friends with both Bob and Terrie. It was great to be around them. When the four of us arrived at the studio things began with Steve saying to Bob, ‘Are you sure you want to use that mic on that amp…?’” Vandermark went on to share more about the sessions and how Albini requested him, in return, for another session in the second and third Instagram posts.
The post-metal band, Neurosis, posted an image of the tape reels that Albini recorded for them. “We learned so much from Steve about no-nonsense, high fidelity, analog recording and as time went on, our sessions got faster and faster,” the band wrote. “Since we record together as a live band and only overdub vocals or the occasional random experiment, it took only six days to record and mix Fires Within Fires. The previous sessions were only maybe a day or so longer. Even so, if you add up all the days spent together it must be around three months of time together doing what we love to do most. He facilitated our dreams to make great sounding recordings of our band and we are forever grateful. He also became a dear friend and will be forever missed.”
The Instagram account for music festival Primavera Sound collected footage from Shellac’s many appearances over the years at the event. The festival announced in May that it would be naming a stage after Albini. “Although it will be the first year since 2007 in which he will not command the inimitable Shellac at his annual date with his favourite festival, the figure of the late Steve Albini will be more present than ever at Primavera Sound,” the festival wrote in a statement at the time.
Low, Melt Banana, Toadies, Jason Narducy, and many others also shared tributes to Albini on X. The group Friendship Commanders also re-released an alternate version of their second album, Bill, as Bill: The Steve Albini Mixes.
