Like Frightened Rabbit, the 1990s were forced to cancel dates in the US due to Volcanic ash last week. Fortunately they have been able to reschedule their New York show for the Bell House in Carroll Gardens this Friday night. If it’s anything like the Yummy Fur gig earlier this year it will be packed:
John McKeown spoke with Webcuts last year about recording the 1990s new album ‘Kicks’ with Bernard Butler:
Kicks is a very upbeat record and sounds like it was fun to record. Were any of the songs more fun to record than others?
(Laughs). That’s an interesting question. I don’t remember any of the songs being amazingly fun to record. I remember quite a tense atmosphere in the studio. Even though we were quite calm and really up for doing it we had a few problems occasionally with the producer and so sometimes it was little bit strained in the studio. But it didn’t affect the music and in fact made the music better.
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That’s interesting because you once again employed the services of Bernard Butler to produce. I assumed there was a healthy relationship from the first record.
There was a good relationship and that good relationship still exists. I think we work well with each other in the studio. The first time it was just like there was no other way to make the record, it was only every going to made that way, everybody was on the same page. But with the second record, because we it didn’t have that Stonesy, New York vibe we were really obsessed with on the first album, it wasn’t immediately obvious how to record the songs or know what to do with them. So a lot of disagreements came up. Each song was quite self contained and there were so many elements you could mess around with which led to many different versions. It was kind of weird, but I think it was good because you would keep the best ideas of everybody.
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What qualities did Bernard bring to the recording process?
He is very good at taking songs apart, in a good way. Bands always think they’ve got the last say on a song and they’ve got it perfect but a producer, a good one, can do things that make the song much better. He very good at focusing in and doing edits and stuff and it works. Once he’s got an idea he’s very good at pursuing it. Unfortunately if you’re not quite thinking the same idea that he wants to pursue you can get in trouble.
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So you ganged up on him a few times?
No he ganged up on us!
Full interview at Webcutsmusic, by Caleb Rudd, May 14th 2009
The 1990s play The Bell House on Friday night with Crystal Slits, The Oranges Band and The Forgery Series.
Buy the 1990s on iTunes in the US:
1990s – See you at the lights
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1990s – You’re supposed to be my friend
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh4Y3MW1jwI
Photo Credit: Mick 0