In the basement of its recently renovated Philadelphia studio, the Disco Biscuits are huddled around a computer, blaring hip-hop and working on tracks for a Def Jam mogul (sorry folks, anonymity required). For a band known for its long, improvised blend of trance and fusion, commercial rap seems like an unlikely source of inspiration- let alone work- especially given the band’s recent collaborations with psychedelic DJs like Simon Posford. But after inheriting a recording space from DJ Jazzy Jeff in 2005, the group rented an extra room to famed hip hop producer Dirty Harry, the man responsible for a number of Beanie Siegel’s biggest hits. Quickly finding common ground, the band soon began cranking out backing tracks some for some of Philadelphia’s hip-hop heavyweights.

Since its last studio effort five years ago, Senor Boombox, the Disco Biscuits have picked up a new drummer (Allen Aucoin), issued multiple live albums (including the TranceFusion series), and survived a somewhat unplanned mini-hiatus (loosely between ‘03-’05). And now, with the hands-on addition of Harry in the mix, the stage has quite a different setting. Though the results are being kept under lock-and-key until they’re completely ready, they gave us a sneak peek at the process.

Making Hippie Hoppy

Dirty Harry: It started out when we rented some space to do some of our own shit for artists like Ludacris, but then we started throwing around ideas with these guys. They’d lay down some instrumentals on our shit and I’d throw some ideas their way.

Marc Brownstein [bassist]: He’s only 19 and already one of the city’s hottest producers. We were working on a track and Harry rolled in and laid down on our couch. He woke up and was like, “Wow, that kind of sounds like Coldplay.” He nodded back to sleep and woke up and said, “Yo, I think I got a hook,” and then he went into the booth and sang this verse.

Harry: I had heard of them, but never heard them before I started working here. I still have never seen them live outside this space. Most of the rock bands I listen to are like Queen and Guns ‘N Roses, so I’m trying to bring a little of that influence into their world.

Marc: We’ve never really been exposed to the hiphop side of the music industry, so it’s been nice to have a new perspective on how they write, record and produce their material. There is definitely a hip-hop flavor going on, but this isn’t going to be a hip-hop album. We take trance beats and work them into our style, dub beats and work them into our style, and I can see us taking hip-hop beats and working them into our style.

Division of Labor

Jon Gutwillig [guitar]: My job, typically, is to sit on the couch and write lyrics. I don’t do as much producing, mostly because I don’t know how to use the software as well as the rest of the guys and there aren’t too many other people in here with notebooks full of lyrics.

Aron Magner [keys]: Jon will come with a cool chord progression and plug it into our system and, while he fleshes out his lyrics, we’ll build around his initial idea. It’s actually been really organic.

Harry: Philly has these two different worlds and it’s cool that they’re coming together. Usually I’m under the gun with my work and it’s really stressful, so it’s cool to be able to slowly develop their ideas.

Marc: Part of making an album in our own studio is we don’t have to turn it out in 14 days. We can release it in 2007 or 2008. All I know is this album will hit stores before Chinese Democracy. Axel is clearly waiting for China to adopt democracy before releasing that thing.

Loosey Goosey

Jon: We are only going to play songs we know aren’t going to make the album until this comes out…

Aron: …It’s a cool way to do it, without letting people hear the songs before the album comes out like every other Biscuits album. People form attachments to those songs and we can never replicate them live in the studio.

Jon: I’m here until 6AM three nights of the week. We do some hanging out, some fucking around, and will end up with these quarter finished songs. One song has some Spanish shit on it and another has this great rock climax.

Aron: It’s a really comfortably environment for everyone to work in. After the bars close, I’ll bring some musicians back here and we’ll play around with some ideas.

White Men Can Freestyle

Jon: Historically, the writing has mostly fallen on me and Marc, but we have never had a space like this where we can just write. It used to be that I wrote at home, and I still do to an extent, but now I hang here all day and Harry and I will sit and write lyrics while the rest of the guys put the songs together and we’ll work around their beats…

Harry: A lot of time, I will hear the beat and then me and Jon will go in and freestyle something around it.

Jon: I’m writing 25 songs simultaneously. Because we have been a band for so long, it’s good to have someone like Harry come in and say, “This is good, keep it,” or “This is no good, lose it.” The rest of us know each other so well, we can’t tell which ideas are good anymore…

Harry: …Or they don’t have the heart to tell each other. Now that’s my job.

The Disco Biscuits will release its next studio album sometime before Chinese Democracy hits stores. Despite Axl Rose’s claim that Chinese Democracy will be released in March, the Disco Biscuits still believe its studio album will be released first.