Recorded at Mamasweed-Studio / Studio Saal 4 / K4-Studio Oct. 2003; Berliner Transporterraum / Mamasweed-Studio Dec. 2003 - Produced by Moses Schneider

The recording of Smack Smash started in October 2003. It was recorded in 4 weeks and Beatsteaks went to a new studio every week. The song “Big Attack” was intentionally the opener for the album. Thomas wrote “Vision” and Arnim was too scared to show Thomas his ideas for the vocals of the song. They began writing “Hello Joe” in December 2002, a tribute to Joe Strummer, who passed away shortly after Arnim discovered The Clash. They weren’t happy with the way the chorus for “Hello Joe” came out so they removed unnecessary lyrics from the song. When writing “Hand in Hand”, the vocals were the second take. The label wanted to remove the 2 guitar solos because it was going to be the first single. They didn’t record a demo for Hand in Hand. The instrumental took the longest to record on the whole album. Thomas and Peter wrote Monster’s demo and when recording, Arnim thought Thomas was going to be mad when he heard the vocals but Thomas was actually amazed by them. For the song, “I Don’t Care As Long As You Sing”, they re-recorded for the single. Smack Smash was already finished but Arnim still had to do the vocals of Atomic Love. “Rats are Rad” was going to be in the album instead of “Atomic Love”. It was a jam they played in the studio. Atomic Love is Peter’s favorite Beatsteaks song. They recorded the clap part for “Loyal to None” in the Knaack Club. Bernd sings Loyal to None. Thomas and Peter wrote most of the lyrics for Smack Smash. They knew that “My Revelation” was going to be the last song on the album.

Songs recorded:

Big Attack
Vision
Ain't Complaining
Hello Joe
Hand In Hand
Monster
Everything
I Don't Care As Long As You Sing
Atomic Love
Loyal To None (working title: Smack Smash)
What's Coming Over You
My Revelation
Rats Are Rad (unreleased)
Fly (unreleased)
I Hate Dogs (unreleased)
Evacuation (unreleased)
3 Tempi Song (unreleased)