Neil Young's "Greendale" Puts 'Green' Production to the Test
Young has always been very engaged about the way his creative material is printed, going back to the days of his early albums, where he insisted on using certain paper stocks to give the project the right "feel," according to Gonzales. Therefore, when it came to printing "greendale," Gonzales says, "we needed an eco-friendly paper that would take the story's environmental overtones from the world of fiction to the world of reality. And we wanted it textured, in keeping with the book's homespun feel.
"Because of our knowledge of quality sustainable papers and processes, we were able to win Gary's and Neil's confidence, and they, in turn, influenced the … publisher that we were right for the job," says Gonzales. "It was my job to come back to them with a quality, textured sheet with the environmental composition they were looking for."
He sent samples of Domtar Feltweave, a premium textured sheet with a felt finish and 30-percent post-consumer content, produced by Domtar, a Montreal-based paper manufacturer, among other samples. Gonzales says Feltweave quickly emerged as a top choice.
"Its application in every aspect of 'greendale,' from the dust cover to the text stock, is a unique example of a premium textured paper meeting a highly specialized need," he says. "The fact that it was recycled, able to be precut to a no-waste size, in the right price zone and readily available made it easy to convince us, and the client."
When it finally came time to print, there weren't any challenges in regard to using recycled paper, says Gonzales. "It worked exactly as we intended. There were no jam-ups. It ran beautifully."
He adds that there is a misconception that using recycled paper means sacrificing quality or price. "That isn't the case. Today's recycled sheets are just as cost-competitive as virgin sheets, and they print just as well."
