Black Market Karma’s Stan Belton joined forces with Sonic Boom to release a fantastic slice of music with ‘The Sour Truth’.

“I’ve loved Pete’s music since I was a teenager so to hear that he dug this song ‘The Sour Truth’ and then to have him feature on it has been magic. He added a pair of sugary sweet synth melodies, percussion and some lush production elements. He also mixed it. It needed a B-Side and I’d had this new song floating around in my skull for a while called ‘Wisdom Shifter’ that I felt complimented it perfectly, so I recorded it and here we are.” Stan Belton

“It was kind of a trip for me because I’ve loved Pete’s music for many years”

How did the Sour Truth come together?

Stan Belton: I first wrote the song back in 2019. If I’m remembering it right, I came up with the main riff one night in Paris and then I looped it and started layering parts over the top. Pretty sure I had all the lead guitar melodies that night and then I kind of forgot about the song for a while. I may have had a few lines of lyrics at this point too but I’m not sure. After that I remember pacing up and down in the kitchen in 2020 with an acoustic guitar and stumbling onto the song again. I finished the lyrics there and then and shared a couple of live versions of it online in the following months as everyone was stuck inside and it was kinda like doing mini gigs over the web. That was how Pete came across the song. I think he saw the live version I did on electric guitar with my loop pedal.

How long did you work on it?

Well I had the songs themselves for quite some time before I recorded them. I think I wrote the B-side ‘Wisdom Shifter’ in 2021. It was another song that I did a live version of on social media using layered guitars on a loop pedal. It started out as this tinkly guitar riff, playing in time with my Tremolo pedal. You can probably find the original takes of both these songs if you delve back into the bowels of our Instagram page! The recording itself only took a couple of days. ‘The Sour Truth’ was probably a little longer as Sonic and myself were sending things back and forth but ‘Wisdom Shifter’ I think I laid down and mostly mixed in one day. We were in the middle of moving HQ and also simultaneously living at and renovating my Sister’s house. I set all of my gear up in her (at the time) bare-bones, undecorated building site of a living room and smashed out the song in a few hours.

How would you compare it to your previous releases, what’s the main difference?

Well it’s obviously a much more concise affair as ‘Aped Flair & Hijacked Ideas’ and ‘Friends In Noise’ were albums whereas this is only two tracks. It also has Sonic’s signature flair on the first song which changes the feel. Those shimmering vocal effects he used on my voice, suspended strings, what I believe to be pitch shifting on some of my lead guitar parts and that winding synth part he played. But also, the way it was recorded as a whole is pretty different overall. The approach to percussion for example. Our last albums mostly have me playing live drum takes on every song whereas this only has a full Drum Kit on ‘Wisdom Shifter’. It’s also a looped beat, so that always makes things have a certain cyclic feel to them you know? Kinda like a hip-hop beat would. The beat on ‘The Sour Truth’ is done in the same way that I make them on my loop pedal when I perform solo. It’s an 808 kick sample mixed with bass boosted palm hits and treble boosted string mutes on my guitar. They work as a snare that kinda sounds like crushed claps, along with a tambourine. There’s also tremolo all over it! I’ve used that sound a lot in the past and it’s also always been a signature part of what Pete does, but here it’s really prevalent on both songs, including the Vocals throughout. Lastly, this is the first time that the lo-fi, wobbly, tapey guitar sound that I use live has appeared on a studio recording of ours and it’s gonna stay that way for a bunch of the next records I’m cooking up…

<a href="https://flowerpowerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-sour-truth-feat-sonic-boom">The Sour Truth (feat Sonic Boom) by Black Market Karma & Sonic Boom</a>

How did you get Sonic Boom involved? What was it like working with him?

I woke up one morning to a really kind message from him about the song. It was kind of a trip for me because I’ve loved Pete’s music for many years. He’d seen one of those live videos I did, was digging the tune and seemed to have some thoughts about production elements for it. I asked him if he wanted to record it together and he said yes and that was that. It was a pleasure to work with him. I started by recording the song close to how it was in the live version and then we sent things back and forth, adding elements until it was done. I love what he did with my vocal effects and that winding sugary synth part he plays.

What are some future plans for you now?

Well I’m sitting on a huge stash of recorded music. There are four albums that I want to release, just gotta figure out the best homes for them. I’ve also got a ton of stuff that I might collect into some kind of rarities album or something along those lines. After that I’d say I have an album or two in my head that I really want to get down. There’s a new live concert movie on the way that was shot in Lille, France by Arthur de l’Estiolle from Studio Atticus. He also came back to Dover and filmed me at home for a short documentary. I took my equipment to a local church and recorded a song while he captured the whole process. We got some really special footage of the surrounding countryside and its beauty. Super 8 clips and drone shots of the White Cliffs of Dover for example…

We also have a bunch of EU dates coming up in November. More show will be added but confirmed dates so far are:
17th Muespach, Willerhof
18th Bein, Le Singe
21st Hannover, Cafe Glocksee
23rd Hamburg, Hafenklang
24th Copenhagen, Rahuset
25th Berlin, Kulturhaus Insel

What kind of gear, effects, pedals, amps did you use on the latest album?

The guitar parts were all done with a Vox Ultrasonic through an AC30. I’ve had that amp since I was a teenager so it’s all over our records. It’s one of the models with the Alnico Blue Speakers inside. The tremolo parts across both songs were done with either the on board repeater effect in my Ultrasonic or an MXR stereo tremolo. Like I mentioned before, I used the bass/treble booster feature on the Acid Fuzz 3 in 1 pedal to create the bones of the beat on ‘The Sour Truth’ using palm hits and string mutes. Combine that with an 808 kick sample for some extra depth. Bass on ‘The Sour Truth’ was done with a Mini Moog Synth and on ‘Wisdom Shifter’ it’s a 60’s Epiphone Rivoli through a Silver Face Fender Bassman Head. I use an EHX Stereo Memory Man for Delay and some other secret sauce for extra Lo-Fi, tapey, wobbly goodness. There’s also a few different Mellotron sounds on ‘Wisdom Shifter’. The drums on that song were recorded live at my old studio. It’s me playing a Vintage Rogers Drum Kit. I think I doubled it up and ran one through a guitar amp for that crunch.

What are some of the most important players that influenced your own style and what in particular did they employ in their playing that you liked?

I would say I’ve been influenced a lot more by songwriting and production techniques than particular players but there are a few. Peter Hayes of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club definitely inspired me when I was starting to write and record back in the day. The way he employs open tunings and often achieves a sound that can seem like more than one guitarist playing. The guitar style on the song ‘Salvation’ in particular. It’s powerful but fluid, shimmering and with a careful touch. I’ve used open tunings myself since the first album and it’s partly because of Peter. There’s this live Dylan album that I’ve always adored the guitar sound on. The “Albert Hall” one from ‘66. It’s got Robbie Robertson playing on it. Not sure if I’m right but I think he was using multiple finger picks for that sound. It’s got a slightly folky thing due to that but also super bluesy and it REALLY rips. Playing lead but throwing in fat bass notes on the low E at the same time. I like the way Anton uses the guitar with The Brian Jonestown Massacre. It’s got a looseness and subtlety to it and great tones. It’s not flashy but it hits hard when it needs to. I feel the same about the guitar playing on the Velvet Underground albums. It’s hard to put into words really. I’d also say the approach to guitar by Kevin Shields and Kurt Heasly from Lilys seeped in somewhere when I was starting out. But I suppose that’s only present in a small part of what I do when compared to our whole catalogue. I’d say more recently that stuff like Harmonia, Black Moth Super Rainbow and Boards Of Canada has inspired me synth-wise. But I guess what they do just further tickles this part of me that’s always gravitated towards analogue sensibilities anyway. Ever since I was a kid I’ve been drawn to worn out cassettes / VHS tapes et cetera. Those subtle and randomised imperfections in pitch. It’s something I’ve managed to incorporate into my guitar tone in the last 5 years or so and I’m really satisfied with that. It’s like running your guitar rig through a giant cassette player with a slightly worn out tape head.

Klemen Breznikar

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