CHIMAIRA Frontman: 'This Is The Most Fun I've Had Doing Vocals For A Record Ever'

Cleveland, Ohio's CHIMAIRA recently entered the studio in the band's hometown with producer Ben Schigel to begin recording the new CD for an April 21, 2009 North American release via Ferret Music. CHIMAIRA is looking for label to release the new album in territories outside North America (the band is no longer signed to Nuclear Blast, which released "Resurrection" in Europe).

CHIMAIRA vocalist Mark Hunter has posted the following message on the band's official web site:

"I hope our friends in the US and A had a good holiday. I spent the night tracking. I am a little behind schedule but there is good reason. I haven't really spoken much about the lyrics and songs and themes for this record so I figured I'd let you in on a couple things.

"I intentionally came into the studio without one lyric or vocal idea. The majority of the songs written for this record were written on the fly by us jamming in the bus. Two hours later we had a song. After touring we continued that spontaneous style of writing and it was an amazing feeling feeding off of each other's ideas and just seeing where the riffs would take us. I feel this is CHIMAIRA in its purest and most vulnerable form.

"I felt that I wanted to harness that same raw talent on the microphone as well. I basically freestyle over a song, find patterns I like or words I might say and then build from there. I construct the lyrics and then go in to track it. After that I sit on it for a day, and then come back and fix things here and there.

"I've done this method in the past with songs like 'Power Trip', 'Severed', 'Paralyzed', 'Down Again', 'Pure Hatred', etc. so it's not a new thing for me. But to do an entire record like this, that's a first.

"I have four songs left at this point and I wish I had more. This is the most fun I've had doing vocals for a record ever.

"I also wanted to talk about how cool Chris' [Spicuzza; electronics] samples are coming out. He is taking these songs to another level. He has always been able to do that with our songs, but this time around he is really prominent and some of his parts carry parts of the song rather than just adding a layer. We even have one song where it's just him and I for a couple of parts. It's definitely different and exciting."

CHIMAIRA will play its ninth annual Christmas show on December 30 at the House of Blues in the band's hometown. Tickets will be priced $9.99.

CHIMAIRA has teamed up with Yahoo! Live to give fans unprecedented access to the band's recording process. Fans can visit the group's official web site, and if the "Live Cam" button is lit up in red, fans can watch and listen to the band in the studio and even chat with the band members!