Perth Music

The boys from The Living End are back and set to release album number 4, titled “State Of Emergency” on February 5th 2006. Justin Middleton had a chat with drummer Andy Strachan about the process of recording the new album and how the band has become more political, for the kids.

“There is always drama when recording a new album and this album was no different. We wanted to get the vocals just right on this album, so we took our time on each song and I believe it gave each song it’s own vibe. At the start of the recording process the drums were sounding very dull, so we moved the drumkit out into the living room of the studio and that created a whole new sound. We recorded all the songs while playing together at the same time to create a live sound with a real energy to it. Producer Nick Launay suggested we just bash out the songs together and we respect him so much that we knew it was the right idea.”

The band is over 10 years old now, so with each new album comes brand new fans as well. I asked Andy if it was difficult to entertain old, faithful fans of the band at the same time as getting new fans interested. “It is a challenge but I believe the old fans appreciate the growth that the band has had over the years and the new fans are just enjoying us and our music. So far the balance has worked out well.”

The guys are gearing up to do another year of Big Day Out shows starting this Friday in Auckland so I asked Andy if the band preferred big festival shows or small pub shows. “Well, both are nice. You can’t beat the feeling of playing in front of tens of thousands of people singing along at festivals like the Big Day Out but it’s also very intimate to play the smaller shows in front of maybe 100 people. We sometimes play secret little gigs under the name “The Longnecks” and it’s always nice to have that intimacy with a small crowd. It’s very easy for me in both situations because I’ve got the 2 best musicians, I believe, in the world in front of me so I can just enjoy the show.”

The new single “Wake Up” will be released February 18th with a very political vibe and a Pink Floyd‘esque ending to the song including a kids choir. “Chris (Cheney) had all the lyrics ready when we went in to record. It was a way of saying to Bush or whoever ‘Wake Up and take a look at what is fucking going on in the world’. The world has been changed forever since 911 and the London bombings and all the crazy shit with suicide bombers and this generation is going to always have to live with it. They will be asking their parents what it was like to live in a world where suicide bombers weren’t an issue. The first time we played this song in the studio Nick (Launay) broke down in tears and from that moment we knew it was a special song with a message we wanted to tell. The guitar sounds really creepy in it and Scott (Owen) plays an awesome bassline, the kids actual sing in the correct key as well.”

This entry was posted on Monday, January 16th, 2006 at 1:29 pm and is filed under Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.