The Wedding Present first appeared in Leeds, England in 1985. They have been on a variety of large and small labels and changed line-up now and again. But their creative vision has remained consistent since their inception. Chris McConville and and David Gedge kindly agreed to chat about recording their just released CD El Rey and more.

El Rey was recorded to tape.

"The initial takes of each song and the majority of overdubs were recorded onto a Studer A820MCH 2" tape machine routed through a modified Neotech Series 2 mixing console," says McConville. "The vocals and a couple of extra guitar parts were done in a different studio using Pro Tools."

If given the choice the band prefer tape but there are some reasons to use Pro Tools.

"In general we prefer to record onto tape but I do like using Pro Tools for singing because of the control you have when it comes to comping." says Gedge.

Over the past twenty-three years, The Wedding Present have seen recording technology change drastically, and there have been both good and not so good changes in these advances.

"The good: It's now much easier to manipulate sounds and do edits, and you have the undo button if you make a mistake! The bad: Digitally recorded sounds don't sound as warm as analogue," says McConville. "They sound much more clinical and a bit harsher on the ears -- like the difference between CDs and vinyl, I suppose. The ugly: In order to work digital recording equipment, it seems you have to be an IT expert! Why should you need skills used in offices to record music?! Also, bands know that they can easily just piece together verses and choruses from different takes so digital recording can actually make bands slightly lazy at getting a good take together."

Gedge sees some good especially when it comes to the bottom line.

"Technology has definitely made things cheaper, though. In my other band, Cinerama, I use a lot of orchestration and the arrangements are quite involved," says Gedge. "I could only afford to do it because of computers, samplers and sequencing, really."

The record was recorded with the usual guitar, bass, drums set up with additional instruments such as a Hammond organ, a Mellotron and piano.

McConville used his own Telecaster, Stratocaster, a 1962 Martin acoustic borrowed from producer, Steve Albini's dad as well as two of Albini's own guitars. They are not sure of the make but both were made of aluminum.

For amplification McConville used a Fender Bassman, Fender Dual Showman, Garnet Big Time Operator (modified with 1960 television valves). All the amps went through4x12 Marshall speakers.

The Wedding Present are all about the guitars.

"As I've hinted earlier, in Cinerama we used much more in the way of strings, orchestral brass, flutes, keyboards," says Gedge. "But The Wedding Present has always been a guitar band, first and foremost."

To that end Gedge used his own Ibanez semi-acoustic, a Gretsch, his own Fender Stratocaster and the two Albini mystery-guitars.

"One of which had 18 strings!" says Gedge.

For amps, Gedge used an Orange OR120, Fender Bassman and a Gibson GA-8. Both the Orange and Bassman went through Marshall 4x12 speakers.

We asked them if they ever think of their live show when recording -- in the sort of "can we play this live?" way. Their answers were unequivocal.

"No, never. A recording is an interpretation of your song at that particular time, as is a live performance," says McConville. "But usually in rehearsals we know exactly how a song is going to feel live."

Gedge says they never think of how things will translate live while recording.

"But we'll use the recording as a reference point if we want to really bring out a hook on a guitar or bass that was maybe strings or piano or something in the studio version." adds McConville.

When it comes to gear they would like to get their hands on but currently lack both bring up Yamaha.

"I'm constantly on the lookout for Japanese Yamaha overdrive pedals because some of my old ones are lost or broken and you don't see them anymore," says Gedge. "They sound terrific."

McConville's Yamaha want is of a different sort.

"That's funny. I had a Yamaha acoustic guitar that I really liked, but an ex-girlfriend nicked it." he says.

She probably got a whole bunch of his records too. They ALWAYS do.

When it comes to how they go about recording a song they have no set way of doing. This may have something to do with why their music still sounds so fresh after over two decades.

"Yes, it's different every time. On El Rey Chris and the others would send me ideas and I'd use them to write a song," says Gedge. "Sometimes it'd just be a little riff, other times there'd be more structure to their ideas. After I'd written the lyrics and vocals we'd arrange them together as a band and work out the best way to record them. "

The band are currently on an album launch mini-tour in the U.K. and will be playing a number of festivals. The main tours will take place later in the year and there will be a North American component in September and October. Europe will follow with the U.K. and Ireland last.