Patrick Stickles high school friend, Kevin McMahon,the guy who has produced everything Titus Andronicus has recorded, was kind enough to speak to me Saturday night.
I didn’t tape it and lost all my notes so any quote is pure memory (and my memory sucks).
Kevin is a tall, good looking guy, with a beard and he speaks fondly of working with Titus. Almost self-deprecating: “Patrick knows exactly once it wants. When XL (the British indie) came around to make suggestions he completely ignored them.”
Kevin downplays his role with the band but he sounds kinda fifth Beatley to me. “Patrick knows exactly what he wants. He’ll have a spoken word piece to be edited in down to the second and he tells me exactly what it wants it to sound like.”
The recording took play over twenty eight days last November (remember? jerk here has no notes) , getting to the studio noonish and working thru to the following morning. “And then I took the tapes and worked on them for months.”
As self-deprecating as Kevin might be, nobody in their right mind can deny he perfroemed a stupendous job and I bet working for XL will gain him some more big time producing opportunites.
Well done and thanks for talking to us.