Lake Of Fire is was partly inspired by the R.L. Burnside/Jon Spencer Blues Explosion collaboration ‘A Ass Pocket Of Whiskey’ and the Charles Manson’s Live At San Quentin album–so it was destined to be odd. Skewing it even further down the weirdo hole, Lincoln’s crazed licks sound like something Zoot Horn Rollo would have played on a Captain Beefheart album (with a nod to “Soul Man”).
During recording, we often referred to Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategy cards; for this song, we drew “Make It Dirty.” Since the interpretation of the card is completely open, it led to a three man “instrument” I dubbed the Eno-Tron: Sam playing a Mellotron vibraphone sound run through a Chorus Echo (that I was knob-twiddling to the point of feedback), while Brad ran the board faders to keep the signal from distorting. Surprisingly subtle, it adds an almost dreamy twist to the latter “La Dee Da Da” sections and outro.
08 Lake Of Fire by nathanwademusic