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Chris Schlarb

@psychictemple

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Producer / Composer / Part-Time Dummy

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BIG EGO 2016 - 2026 #musicfrombigego taken in Long Beach, California by @psychictemple

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a month ago

Tomorrow is my 49th birthday and I wanted to take a few minutes to let folks know what I’ve been going through for the last year of my life. It’s a little long but I’ve been waiting...

I opened my recording studio, BIG EGO, in 2016. I happily ran my small business through the ownership of two different landlords. In late 2024 the property was sold again and on June 1st, 2025, my new landlord locked me out of BIG EGO falsely claiming my lease was forged. The judge saw it otherwise and on June 2nd, issued a temporary restraining order against the landlord and his agents enjoining them from interfering with my lease and returning possession of the studio.

Despite the court order, the landlord has continued to wrongfully interfere with my possession and use of the studio in violation of the order in what appears to be an ongoing course of action seeking to drive me out of the studio. I have not done a single paying session at the studio in 13 months and my legal bills are nearly $100,000.

I have not spoken about the details publicly for a number of reasons but here is a brief (and I mean brief) timeline of events over the last year.

After the restraining order was issued, in July 2025, the landlord instructed his agent to remove my rear security door was from the building. Despite power having been cut to the studio, my alarm went off before anyone could break in. LBPD responded, took evidence, a report, and provided escort while I reattached the door. Had my alarm not gone off, the studio and everything in it would have been vulnerable to theft…

I have posted the rest of this update and a current video walkthrough of the studio over at the GoFundMe page. The link is in the bio. by @psychictemple

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3 months ago

I was in a funk. Locked out of BIG EGO with an ongoing lawsuit and Max kept talking about some old building in Northern California that he liked. I said, “Let’s record an album there.” Eventually “there” turned into the room above Michael Krassner’s restaurant Cibo, in Phoenix, Arizona.

I called up Ben Lumsdaine and we drove out from Long Beach together. It was my first time using a Cooper Sound 208D console and I fell in love with it. Transformers all over the place. Limiters on each channel. I put up two mics on Max and two or three on Ben’s drum kit. We cut the album so fast that it didn’t feel like work. All flow state and fun and fucking around. We ate good food and Max got us a hotel room through some kind of points system and we made one of the best records I’ve ever worked on.

Goat Pupil by Max Knouse is out now on Ruination Records. Produced and recorded and mixed by me with a little pixie dust from Max and mastered by Adam Gonsalves. All photos on Kodak Pro Image 100. Bandcamp link in bio somewhere. by @psychictemple

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4 months ago

Detangler and mssv just released new albums and I have returned to this terrible place/space to let you know about them.

Detangler is Davin Givhan’s band and he is one of my favorite musicians and thinkers. The songs and group of musicians assembled on Octave Madness are fantastic and I think we nailed the mid 70’s Zappa/Kerry McNabb sound. I took the cover shot on Portra 800 sometime after dusk at the Watts Towers last summer and am pleased to see Three Davins on the front and one on the back. Honored to share some room with Jake Tobin’s artwork for the album title.

See You Through is the fourth mssv album and the final full length record I produced at BIG EGO. Baggetta, Watt, and Hodges came in a day after finishing their US tour and sounded incredible. Thanks to Sam Plecker for engineering this one and big thanks to Baggetta for always sticking with me. I helped with this album cover too: a high-res image of my own retina combined with some Hubble deep space photography. I took the back cover shot on XP2 in David Lord’s driveway in Wichita, Kansas. David Woodruff made it all work visually and JJ Golden mastered them both.

Anyway, I’ll give an update on my trials (literally) and tribulations soon enough. Right now, go listen to these records made by friends who are wonderful and fearless artists. I am proud to have produced and mixed these albums! Vinyl ships out from BIG EGO Records the first week of July and they are available exclusively on Bandcamp today. Both links in the bio. taken in Watts Towers by @psychictemple

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4 months ago

Although BIG EGO is still without full electricity or air conditioning we were able to host Carel Struycken for a recording of the Curt Bloch poem, “De eeuwige glimlach” or, “The Eternal Smile.” We were asked to donate our time to this project many months ago but without access to the studio we were unable to help.

It was an honor to invite Carel to BIG EGO and, as you can see, we put up two different microphones for him: a Gefell UMT71S and a Coles 4038. At first, I thought perhaps there was something wrong with the Gefell. It sounded saturated and overdriven. Then I put up the Coles and heard the same characteristics. Devin said, “He has a SILK circuit built into his voice!” We went with the Coles.

Thank you to Thilo von Debschitz for asking us to be a small part of this project and thank you to Devin O’Brien for taking Carel’s portrait on Kentmere 400. I will put a link to the poem in the stories. #carelstruycken #curtbloch #poetry #twinpeaks #kentmere400 #musicfrombigego by @psychictemple

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a year ago

My friends Joe and Tara set up a GoFundMe page to help with my legal bills and months of lost work at the studio. I honestly thought I would be doing this on my own. I would always rather help someone else than ask for help myself. Time to swallow my pride and just say thank you. Link in the bio. by @psychictemple

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a year ago

After nine years of record making the sign at BIG EGO was taken down sometime during the first week of June, 2025. I was locked out of my studio and accused of forging my lease agreement which runs through 2027.

A judge granted a temporary restraining order on June 2nd, 2025 and two weeks later my locksmith and I were given a police escort to return the locks to their original state. Within weeks, I was locked out again. Over the last four months I have asserted my legal right to continue running BIG EGO as I have for nearly a decade.

I have not been able to work since May. By the time we return to court in October, it will have been five months. Before being locked out, I sold some equipment and tapped into my savings to pay for legal representation. Due to the amount of work this case has required, my attorney fees will soon pass $30,000.

On the bright side, I’ve had a wonderful summer with the kids. The most time I’ve had with them in years. Unfortunately, more than a few days were spent waiting for the police to show up at the studio. I also found out that the George Deukmejian Courthouse has a very good daycare program.

Since the day we opened in 2016, I have never raised the studio rates at BIG EGO. It has always been a space for the artist and the community. In the early days of this ordeal many friends privately suggested some kind of fundraiser and I declined. I was hoping that my savings would cover the legal bills and I could get back to work quickly without asking anyone for help. However, after months of expenses and dwindling resources, I have decided to share what I can and let everyone know where things stand.

If the final records have been made at BIG EGO, I could not be more proud of what we accomplished. #musicfrombigego #e100 by @psychictemple

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a year ago

REPORT: Feeling kinda beat up by the world.

Thankfully, I’m playing my guitar with BLACK & WHITE PILOT tomorrow night at Zebulon. We open for mssv (Mike Baggetta + Stephen Hodges + Mike Watt) at 7:30pm. Joe Cunningham, Danny Frankel, Matt Crane and me. Quartet improvisation from some other place. A better place! Sam Plecker is gonna record the set to tape. Looking forward to seeing a smile or two.

See ya,
Chris taken in Zebulon Café Concert by @psychictemple

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a year ago

People of the Metaverse! I am returning to your alternate reality, briefly, to let you know that Psychic Temple is playing a benefit show this Saturday, March 29th at the Art Theatre in Long Beach. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Calfund.org - helping the victims of the recent fires in Altadena and the Palisades. Califone is headlining with support from us, Alyssandra Nighswonger, Tin Angel, and Tristan Dolce. Tickets are $25 and the show starts at 5pm. We play around 9pm and it should be a great night of music and community in the real world. #psychictemple #metaverse #instagram #facebook #calfund #space by @psychictemple

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2 years ago

“On And On” is the third mssv studio album that I’ve produced and mixed at BIG EGO. I think it’s their best record yet. It’s hard to put a band together, get out on the road and develop a sound nowadays, but they have. Baggetta, Hodges, and Watt are doing something special in this rotten world. I love them and am grateful to be a small part of it. Huge thanks to John Herndon for creating the album art and helping Devin and I the photography right. Thanks to Tristan Dolce for engineering and to JJ Golden for mastering.

The album came out yesterday but I was driving to Death Valley Junction and didn’t have any service. It’s okay. I’m okay. I’ll put a link to Bandcamp in the bio. Shipping the rest of the orders out next week. taken in Amargosa Opera House and Hotel by @psychictemple

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2 years ago

Deleted Instagram from my phone and haven't missed it once. Saw the new Dylan movie with my son and took this picture in the bathroom. Ilford XP2. Been making records and pictures and plans. Daydreaming. Gimme a call or send me an email or come by the studio or send me an angel. taken in Regal Promenade by @psychictemple

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2 years ago

@psychictemple’s cover of “’Til I Die” (@thebeachboys), from 2013, features the ethereal vocals of @sufjan, Raymond Raposa and Nedelle Torrisi, bringing new depth to this timeless song. by @psychictemple

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2 years ago