Roger:
This was the first real record I had ever recorded, even though my first "all original" band was ten years earlier. So, given my perhaps excesseively emotional nature, I imbued it with all sorts of meaning that later perhaps dissipated somewhat: i.e., this was the most important thing I had ever done; this has to be the real thing; etc.

It was recorded at SOUNDTRACK STUDIOS in Boston, which was primarily a "commercials" studio... so it ended up sounding kind of dead to us. However, this pushed us in odd and/or confusing directions. Rick Harte (producer) had more of an idea of what was going on than we did, which likely helped make the single be as effective as it was.

The first copy I got of the disc I hurled across the room (at the Channel in South Boston).

Academy Fight Song
We ended up layering 3 or 4 electric guitar tracks (I think I was playing a Stratocaster at that time, but maybe not - at any rate, the Peavy amp I had really sucked.). An acoustic guitar track was also added, and i think maybe a second bass track an octave lower (or higher....was I really in the band?). Some people thought my double-tracked "ooo" vocals at the end were a synthesizer....hard to get that kind of "at the break falsetto" vocal thing in tune. Academy ended up sounding much calmer than we intended, but perhaps that helped the single out. In some respects we were depressed by it.