“ All the beat replacement and auto tune in the world won’t help you if you’re not a good band with solid songs. That’s where I focus. ” –Acey Slade

Guitarist, bassist, singer, DJ… producer. The musical journey of Acey Slade has been a character-defining arc that has enriched his skills as a producer and helped to shape his understanding of what it takes to achieve a desired effect and get results. More than just meeting goals: his is a singular philosophy of technique and spirit.

In 1999 musician Acey Slade moved to New York City from Philadelphia to join Sony recording artists Dope. Their debut album “Felons and Revolutionaries” had already been written and demoed. The beginging stages of recording were being done at Green St. Studios in Soho and produced by John Travis ( No Doubt; Social Distortion; Kid Rock; Buckcherry ).
Slade was enthusiastic. “It was an incredible opportunity to learn about how albums were made at the major label level, working with a producer who had multiplatinum credits. I was in the studio every night as a fly on the wall for the sessions. It was great!’ Overdubs and mixing commenced at legendary Quad studios in Times Square, which had great live rooms and cutting-edge Pro Tools technology, not readily available at the time.
“Seeing how fast technology was moving, with all the limitless possibilities - and that you could bill the label back for studio time rather then pay for it Dope invested in a Pro Tools rig to take on the road.” In fact, the single for the American Psychosoundtrack, “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)” was recorded in hotel rooms on tour. Unheard of in 2000.
Having a Pro-tools rig on tour helped the band to capture inspiration when it came to them, but also facilitated pre-production when they got off the road. After two years of straight touring with everyone from Fear Factory to Kid Rock, Dope was fully prepared to enter the studio for its’ second album “ Life.” Recorded in Los Angeles with producer Josh Abraham ( Pink; 30 Seconds to Mars; Velvet Revolver) “Life” bowed in the Top 50 on Billboard’s Album Charts and featured the single, ‘Now or Never’ (co-written by Slade), a top 10 Heatseekers hit.
After leaving Dope, Slade joined the Murderdolls, featuring Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison. The band toured incessantly for 3 years. In 2005, alongside Jordison and a host of metal luminaries, Slade recorded the track “Tired and Lonely” for RoadRunner United, (the Roadrunner Records
25 thAnniversary album). Produced by Jordison, the group that recorded the song (Slade, Jordison, et al) played it live on Fuse TV - and was the first live band to perform on the fledgling video channel.

In 2007 Acey formed his own band Trashlight Vision and used the knowledge he gained over the years as a producer in his own right. “After working with all these great producers and observing their various techniques, I was ready to go forward with what I had learned.” Recorded in Philadelphia, the result was the debut album “Alibis and    Ammunition” with the single ‘Nola’ charted on the Billboard Top 10 Heatseekers chart.                        
“With TLV I was really striving to get the sound you might find from a producer like Gil Norton ( Distillers; Pixies; Foo Fighters) or even Ross Robinson ( Amen; Slipknot; The Cure). We rehearsed and demoed like crazy so that we were prepared - one hundred per cent and knew our parts exactly. But we were able to let go of thinking about the technical aspect to focus on the emotion we were trying to get across.”
In 2009, Acey befriended English drum and bass producer Shaun (“Stakka”) Morris and what started as a side project became the band Acey Slade and the Dark Party. The album was a step in a more electronic direction and Acey co-produced with Shaun. The Dark Party album garnished a 4 K review in Kerrang magazine and was praised for its’ production value. “With Shaun I wanted to try something different and work with a producer who didn’t normally work with live instruments.”
It was at this time that Acey started to work with bands out side of his own. In late 2009 he flew to England to produce acoustic punk artist Billy Liar for his “It Starts Here” EP. Billy Liar was recorded in Bedford at a cottage in the English countryside. “It was my first time working with an acoustic act, and besides his amazing well of talent, was a reason I wanted to work with him so badly. It was tricky because I had to assemble a whole team - percussionist, engineer and bassist - from the US. And I had to make sure that Billy Liar was ready for the studio while I was in the States. But it all came together wonderfully and it's one of the things I'm most proud things I've done in music.”
In 2010 Slade worked with NYC-based His Mighty Robot and helped refine the songs for their third full-length album. “With HMR I would take a train out to Long Island where the band rehearsed, and we would hammer out 2 songs per rehearsal. The goal was to make the songs more impactful, adding harmony to the hooks, really making sure we knew how to get the mood across in the songs-bringing the quiet parts down quieter and making the loud parts bigger. For me, a perfect take is the one that is most believable. Not the one that is technically the best. But I still want to capture it sonically as best as it can be.”
“I’m very lucky to have had such diverse mentors to learn from. Each one radically different from the other, and it’s the same with the bands I’ve produced.”

For Acey Slade, production values begin with the music. “The common thread of success lies in PRE production. I’m a believer in having all the ducks in a row before the record button is hit. It saves money and in the long run it builds the confidence of the musicians. And that,” he says, “is always going to help them give the best takes and performances to the engineer.”