Interview: Chris Price on his new album ‘Homesick,’ recorded on iPhone using a $10 app (and some moxie)

Kevin Bronson on
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Three years ago, Chris Price fronted a major-label band that recorded an album costing who-knows-how-much with A-list producer Tony Berg.

Next week, Price will be featured on iTunes for an album he recorded for $10.

The Florida-bred singer-guitarist made all of his solo debut “Homesick” on his iPhone, using a ten-buck application called 4 Tracks. No other recording gear was involved, but some shenanigans were:  The 27-year-old’s “sessions” took him to far-flung locales, including the Nuart Theatre, a cabin in Pennsylvania, the Griffith Park Observatory and the Greek Theatre, where he sneaked in by jumping a fence to record vocals in the deserted amphitheater.

“The whole world is my studio,” Price says. “The iPhone gives you a lot of freedom, and it gives you pretty impressive sound quality. It’s all about mic placement.”

“Homesick” showcases Price’s devotion to retro power-pop – he worked with Taylor Locke & the Roughs on both of that quartet’s 2010 albums – offering lithe, Kinksian tunes that sound like they could have been documented on a tape machine of old. In an era technology can tweak, correct and manufacture, Price used his gadgetry to achieve multi-track recordings au naturel.

His project actually started when his Blackberry was stolen one night at the ArcLight. Upon replacing it with an iPhone, he experimented by making a video of himself performing a song, and posted it to YouTube. He was surprised how good it sounded. That tune, “That’s Your Boyfriend,” will be the iTunes Single of the Week.

Price also drew inspiration from a chance meeting with Emitt Rhodes, the ’60s and ’70s pop guru who famously made his records in similar DIY fashion. “He made his first record on an 8-track in a shed behind his parents’ house in Hawthorne – it’s still there,” Price says. “He gave me a lot of pointers on making records, and I set out to make one like he did … a 1960s 4-track album.”

On his recording forays, Price was accompanied by Kyle Safieh, a friend who made a video – on his iPhone, naturally – for each song. They will be included with the album.

There’s one other moment in the making of “Homesick” that sticks with Price. It’s the final song, “Deep Cut,” which was recorded as he wrote it. “I was laying in bed at 3 a.m. when it came to me, so I reached for the phone and that’s when it was recorded,” he says. “You know, when you play a song for the first time, it’s the most deeply felt that song will ever be. To be able to capture that on your album is very special.”

||| Stream: Three songs from “Homesick:”