Man the Clap’s recording studio is in an undisclosed location–a storage shed of sorts, hidden away in the mysterious concrete jungle of Sparks. I found myself drinking Miller High Life, the champagne of beers, for an entire Saturday afternoon, observing the band from afar like a pseudo Jane Goodall.

The band’s collection of gear nearly reached the ceiling, competing for space with the bouncing sound waves emitting from Travis Axe’s Fender Blues Deluxe tube amp. Axe is recording a solo for the song “Sunny”. He has found the perfect combination of effect peddles to get the burnished tone he has been looking for all morning. Like some mad scientist mixing rainbow-colored chemicals in a beaker, Axe and Steve Widmer, Man the Clap’s newest member, tweak knobs and adjust levels.

Widmer replays Axe’s solo over the track, then discusses how to make it work.

“It’s hard to record this solo,” Axe said. “I’m trying to match the notes of Pete’s voice, but he sings in a lot of quarter notes.”

This year, Pete Barnato, Man the Clap’s leader singer and guitarist, made an impressive improvement in vocal range. He belts and screams. He carries a note and inflects—like a climax to something wet and messy. It’s a sound that pairs well with his stage presence. If you’ve ever seen the band perform the song “Dirty Blues,” you would know exactly what I mean.

The 10-foot by 30-foot recording space is half full of instruments, tube amps, speakers and other recording devices. A Tibetan singing bowl sits in the corner. The band uses this bowl to open the song “Hallway,” a song that producer Danny Fiorentini of the hip-hop duo Canto I, guarantees will be a single.

Fiorentini joined the bands recording efforts in 2008. His hip-hop background has given the band a modern touch that pairs well with their eclectic vintage sound.

“He [Fiorentini] adds really unique effects to our music, but tastefully,” Axe said. “He’s also really good with vocals,” Widmer adds.

One of Fiorentini’s claims to fame with Man the Clap was when he saved a bass track from the unintentional presence of a mariachi song. During a recording session, Adam Carpenter’s bass amp began picking up a Mexican radio station. The band recorded the track anyway and Fiorentini simply added an effect to the Spanish sound, looped it, and added it to the song. The outcome was surprisingly good.

Earlier this afternoon, Fiorentini joined Axe and Widmer at the studio. The trio diligently discussed techniques to perfect every segment of every song on their to-do list that day.

After a couple hours in the studio, I badly wanted to sit down but the last remaining chair (an obvious relic from the 70’s) was occupied by a Roland Keyboard resting across the arms. The keyboard was teased throughout the day by Widmer, a purveyor of pianos and guitars. His church organ-like presence has played an important role completing the band’s sound, which mixes antique blues and psychedelic rock with a modern electronic effect.

The band would like to play more live shows, but their drummer, Spencer Griffith, is currently living in Las Vegas. They hope to release their album sometime next summer.