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No Need To Be Downhearted (album) 30th April Myspace If That's The Case, Life In The Backseat, Appropriate Ending vMix If That's The Case, Cold World, Misunderstanding SxSW.com Download If That's The Case A new page is coming soon with people's thoughts on the album... In future Tom's thoughts will be posted on the official website Below you can read what he had to say in 2006. Tom on 16/09/06: No Need To Be Down-Hearted is finished. Tom on 27/8/06: ESP LP #3 is nearly there - just spent three days down The Metway with Jake Rousham, mixing all we’ve recorded at Truck over the last 6 months. Sounds fucking sweet - we’ve got about another half day of work, just doing final jostling etc. then we’re done!! Mega. Tracklisting something like: No Need To Be Down-Hearted (Part 1) God Is In The TV Zine How's work on the new album going? Didn't you stay on after Truck Festival this summer to record it? Alex: Yeah, it's finished, being mastered. We recorded it in a barn on the farm Truck Festival is held on (in Steventon, Oxfordshire). We put ProTools in a barn and ripped-out minibus seats. The new album was literally just me and Tom engineering it ourselves and using ProTools. There's a full length album out next year too, will it be a follow on to American Adventure? will there be aspects of Brakes in there? or is it completely different? Tom: Well, it'll sound like us, that's for sure. I'd say more that aspects of us can be heard on the new Brakes album. I guess there's a line that can be drawn through all the records, but for me, it's a clear change in thinking that starts at The American Adventure, follows through The Human Body EP, and ends with this new record. Sound-wise, its sprawling as ever - produced and engineered totally by me and al for the first time- orchestral motifs, garage rock, stripped bare folk, a diary entry on the eve of the apocalypse.....scary at times, and of course, sending us mental. It's comforting though, to be at this point in our careers, and have perspective on what we've done in the past, and know what was good about it and why people liked it (or didn't!), yet also know exactly how to keep pushing it forward. Truck have allowed us the time and resources to do that, no-one else. Anything you want to say about the upcoming record? Tom: We're doing it with Truck up at a studio in Oxford. It's pretty stripped-down. We're doing it three or four days at a time. We're doing a lot of Brakes stuff at the moment and have a lot of festivals coming up this summer, so we're just doing it as we can, and we're slowly getting there. Musically, it's the first time we've been in the studio without a producer or engineer or anyone else, with just a few people coming in and out and plugging things in. Matt, who plays with us live on bass, has been playing with us on a few tunes. It's kinda cool. It's never really just me and Alex. The band is always a kind of gang when we get ready to do a record. On the inspiration for the new album: Robert Wyatt. I love him. I'm slowly working to get his back catalog, discovering a new record every couple months or whatever. I think he's a big influence on some of the EP and quite a bit of the new album. Me and Al have just returned from yet another few days' sojourn to Truck's mighty room of rock in deepest Oxfordshire... this time coming away with 11 rough mixes, all with vocals. Album almost there, save for the possible addition of another couple of tunes and a whole load of mixing. Had a playback round 'Twaites's house last night and all sounding damn good. Should be done by end of July!! tracks include: No Need To Be Down-Hearted (Part 1) If That's The Case, Then I Don't Know Life In The Back-Seat Appropriate Ending Misunderstanding In Ruins Shore Song Woken By A Kiss Secrets Have You Ever Felt Like It's Too Late? Come Back Inside No Need To Be Down-Hearted (Part 2) stokesound.com has a Brakes interview (22nd April) Alex talks about recording the new LP. Alex: "Me and Tom with Soft Parade were on BMG for a long time and every decision was just a big fight, a big argument, it was pretty full on" ... "We've got a Soft Parade record coming out which we're finishing just after this tour, we're going to have a few days off then go and finish that in Oxford, bosh them out, see what happens really, see if anyone picks them up" The third album will be possibly titled No Need To Be Down-Hearted which is a lyric from the song 15 Ways by The Fall on the Middle Class Revolt album - Lyrics Headline set time on 6 Music on the Dream Ticket tonight we welcome Electric Soft Parade... On the subject of being busy, I read you'd been in the studio recently doing the new Electric Soft Parade album. A: Yeah totally well we've kind of been in the studio doing the new Soft Parade record for a couple of years now, so the party line is. But we're actually doing it now properly 'cos we've done it and recorded it for different labels and we just wanted a fresh kind of start on it... we're with Truck records now and we've done an EP with them at the end of the year. So you've been holed up in a studio with your brother and Electric Soft Parade laying that down. Now the EP's coming out in May (that's the US release with an extra track) What about titles for the album and when we can hear all of it? A: The album's probably going to be called No Need To Be Down-Hearted. That's kind of what we've called it from day 1 of thinking about it as the third record, but it's kind of changed a lot so we'll see. There's a song on it called No Need To Be Down-Hearted, Part 1 & 2, so it's probably going to be called that. Ok we'll think of it in that way from now on. A: It's a good title. It's a Fall lyric actually, it's a lyric from a song by The Fall on (the album) Middle Class Revolt. We've got an Electric Soft Parade headline set on the show tonight, it's Glastonbury 2002. A: I'd like to hear it. I can't get radio down here, we've got a DVD player, we haven't even got a tv or nothing. There's no link to the outside world. There's a window that's about it. No laptop nothing like that? A: There's laptops, I think there's internet upstairs perhaps but that's not in our room anyway. I'll get my Mum to tape it, they've got digital back at my house. We'll send you one, we can't have you going without this. A: A CD of it would be lovely. I'd love to hear that. Have you got any memories of that Glastonbury? A: That was a pretty good one that. I remember my mate got really messed up - he wasn't in the band or anything - and he was chucked out of the backstage a few times, he got back over the fence and ended up nicking my tent, or slept in the bus, or slept outside. It was a good old first Glastonbury. I think The Coral were on just after us, I remember seeing them, and Beta Band later. It was great. It was really cool. Everything you think Glastonbury should be. I was about 19 or something. I was like yeah. We're going to relive it with you now. So thankyou very much for joining us. A: Brilliant, thanks for playing it. We'll get out and see you when you're doing Brakes tour and we await the new Electric Soft Parade album. A: Cheers, nice one. Bye now. 13/03/2006 Just spent four and a half days off from Brakes stuff up at the homely Truck Studios, Steventon, Oxfordshire, starting the recording proper for ESPLP3... Gone v. well so far, though also slightly raving as well, as there's only me, Alex and a bunch of cows to break things up (oh, and I should just give props to The Fox Inn at the bottom of the road, who have filled our bellies and righted our brains in times of studio fever). Still, we have three tracks done save the mixing, and two more backing tracks down... hoping to finish the record ourselves (engineering and mixing) which is only scary if you think about it I guess - it's something we've always wanted to do, but I really don't think bmg would have entertained the idea for a second. It feels natural to be doing it now though, and having worked with seasoned pros and all that in the past, I think we've got the ability to make the record we want to on our own... anyway, off in a giant metal bird to the other side of the world on Wednesday. Wish us luck! tom x |