John Barrett of Bass Drum of Death clues the AU in on the band’s new album Rip This, as well as reflecting n the experience of making the album with a new creative process and approach in mind. If you’re a fan of the music, there’s some good Australian news in the works as well!
Let’s talk about the recording of Rip This: how long ago now did that happen and how long did the recording process take?
i guess I started writing demos about a year ago, after we finished up our tour with Hanni el Khatib. After about three months of that, we kinda whittled it down to 10-12 songs that we wanted to go with and started learning to play those live, because the plan was to do the basic tracks live to tape in the studio. Studio time started in early March and recording and mixing lasted about a month…so the actual recording process didn’t take very long, but there was a lot of work being done before we got there.
How do you feel the experience, compared to previous Bass Drum of Death recordings?
Pretty similar, but also different; similar in that I recorded the demos in much the same fashion as my first two records, I just wasn’t as concerned with recording it perfectly, because I knew we were taking it into the studio. Different, in that I was working with other people, which I haven’t done before with this project (at least musically). Turns out it’s a lot less stressful to have some other people to bounce shit off of. Normally, I’m a wreck when I’m writing and recording, but this one was a lot more chill.
How did you come to work with Jacob [Portrait, of Unknown Mortal Orchestra] and what was it like working with him?
We’ve been buds for a while now and have toured together a few times and always seem to run into them, so we’d always talk about recording and shit like that. We started to talk about it a lot more seriously when we were on tour with them last summer and it ended up working out…he knows the band well and knows what we’re good at and how to make us sound gnarly, so it was a no-brainer, really. Plus, he makes a wicked Manhattan.
There’s been a lot of talk about the evolution between your last two records, moving away from the “lo-fi” feel – did you go into the recording with this intention or did it happen in the studio?
It was definitely the intention to move away from it a bit. With Len [Clark] in the band now on drums, it would be a bit of a travesty to have his parts be muddy or hard-to-hear, because he’s the type of drummer that is very technically gifted but also hits hard as fuck and that shit needs to be recorded well. From my end, I kinda wanted to show people that I didn’t have to hide behind reverb/effects. The idea has always been to have recordings that sound cool, we just placed a little more emphasis on it sounding technically “good” on this record as well.
Ultimately, what led you down that direction?
Thinking about records I grew up listening to and how they sounded. Also, just working with other people, I wasn’t allowed to go too far down the k-hole that my mind is sometimes without being checked on it.
How do you feel the record has been received so far, particularly by fans?
I feel like it’s gone pretty well! I know it’s probably weird for some people, just because a lot of the grime is stripped away, but it definitely still sounds like us and I think people get that.
How do YOU feel about it now that it’s out in the world?
I’m just stoked to finally have it out…a lot of the set-up work with a record release is pretty taxing, so I’m glad that part is behind us and we can move on to playing shows and working on the next one.
How are the songs translating on stage? Any particular favourites to play?
Pretty well, so far. It’s always a bit strange playing songs that people aren’t as familiar with, but some of these have been going over well from the jump…”Lose My Mind” is probably my favorite to play live.
What have your experiences been like touring Australia in the past?
Well, the only time we’ve been was for three shows in four days, then back to the States, so it was a whirlwind. I felt like I was on a plane longer than I was on the ground. The shows were sick and everyone was super nice and down to party. Melbourne in particular, was a crazy show.
Are there any plans to get back down here?
Yep, we are working on it now…Hopefully for longer than four days, this time!
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Rip This is out now!
