El Michels Affair
Album: Return to the 37th Chamber
Release Date: 2017
USA
Leon Michels talks about Iron Man
When we toured with Raekwon and members of the Wu Tang back in 2008, we used to play this instrumental as walk-on and walk-off music. Since the first time I heard it on Supreme Clientele, it’s always been my favorite interlude from any hip hop record. It’s a genius sample. Taken from Gap Mangione’s “Free Again“.
On Enter the 37h Chamber, we covered a lot Wu’s more well know catalogue, so for Return to the 37th Chamber, I knew we had to do some of the deeper catalogue stuff and this one was at the top of the list. The rhythm was tracked with Nick Movshon on drums and Jacob Plasse on guitar. Vince John added the piano and then me and Dave Guy added the horns. I took some mellotron samples of timpani and audience SFX and laid that on top. I had also just purchased an Op1 and the synth on that song and most of the record is that keyboard. I knew I wanted to do some vocals like the original, so I triple tracked myself humming the melody and it was done. It came together really quick and was one of the first songs we recorded for that record.
“I sent him the record and told him to choose whatever song he wanted. He knew right away he wanted to do Iron Man. ”
on Omar aka El Oms
During the making of that record I was loving the sound of these Altec 1606 B’s. They are solid state mixers from the 70’s that I used as preamps and they had really cool distortion, I used those a lot on the drums and horns and you can really hear it on Iron Man. The drums were recorded with one Altec Birdcage microphone as an overhead. It’s one of my favorite drums sounds I’ve recorded.
When it was time to do the video there was no question I wanted Omar aka El Oms to do it. I had just met him through the Arcs project and we became fast friends. I sent him the record and told him to choose whatever song he wanted. He knew right away he wanted to do Iron Man. He took the kung fu aesthetic of the Wu and mixed it with his own unique style. He came up with the whole story line, concept, that little flashback middle part by himself. I trusted him completely and I saw it for the first time when it was finished. I love that video so much! I love the way it packed so much story into it, and of course his style is incomparable.
Lyrics: Iron Man
[Instrumental]
Tracklist: Return to the 37th Chamber
1. “4th Chamber”
2. “Iron Man”
3. “Shaolin Brew”
4. “Pork Chop Express”
5. “Snakes (Ft. Lee Fields)”
6. “Drums for Sale”
7. “Shadow Boxing”
8. “Sipped Up”
9. “Tearz (Ft. Lee Fields & The Shacks)”
10. “Verbal Intercourse”
11. “Wu Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing ta F’ Wit”
12. “You’re All I Need (Ft. Nicole Wray)”
13. “The End (Eat My Vocals)”
14. “Iron Maiden”
