“You don’t become a joint author unless you control the supervision,” Malone’s lawyer Christine Lepera argued Monday, claiming Armes only offered “suggestions” in the room and never had a say over what ended up in the final product.
“So, he then had the ability to simply say that none of this is going to be recorded?” the judge asked.“Well, then he’s not in control,” Judge Wright argued. “If you’re in control, you have veto power.” Armes has claimed he was “sitting next to [Post], verbally singing the second half of the melody and cadence out loud, giving Post direction as to exactly which notes to play.” He said the trio mutually agreed the song sounded better stripped down to just bass, guitar and drums — what he called “a totally new sound and style for Post.” Armes claimed his input also included the suggestion that the vocals and guitar “should have a large amount of reverb on them.”in April 2020 in California.
Armes told the court that he memorialized the session by making a voice recording on his phone in which Dukes purportedly plays back the final “Circles” version from the session, Post calls the song “super special,” and Dukes exclaims, “It’s so fucking good! It’s a whole new sound man.”