Today sees the release of “Youthless” for pre-order on iTunes (en cue mass hysteria) and with sexy artwork from the genius that is Hanro Havenga and a little Christmas surprise waiting for you on the other side of that pre-order, you should definitely go ahead and treat yourself. I sat down with the guys to find out a bit more about their much-anticipated release.
Texx: So I’ve heard that the sound on your new album “Youthless” is a bit of a departure from what you’ve released up until now, do you rate this was a conscious decision, or did you step back at the end of the process and go, holy shit this sounds super different?
Shortstraw: We made a conscious effort to not replicate the last album. We had some ideas for a while and never thought they’d fit with our style, then eventually we just said ‘fuck it’ and did it anyway. There are definitely still songs that resemble the last album, but as a whole it’s quite different. Some may even say maturer. We’d like to meet them.
Texx: Tell me a bit about the recording process of “Youthless”, what was a typical day like in studio/wherever you recorded?
Shortstraw: Well we got to spend a decent amount of time doing the pre-production on this album. Which meant we could have a bunch of ideas for songs, go into studio and totally rework them, then get decent quality recordings of them, go home and see what we wanted to change, then go back into studio and refine them. It allowed us to really know what we wanted before starting the recording process, which is pretty much the polar opposite of how the last album worked. We then pretty much all tracked our various bits individually, then Al sat with Jacques at High Seas and produced the album. We also drank a lot of red wine.
Texx: Your last album had two rad colabs (Zubs and Shane Durrant) on it, any sneaky colabs on “Youthless”?
Shortstraw: We have the amazing Marcus Wyatt featuring on trumpet on a few of the tracks. We also got Big Willy in from Fuzigish to play some trombone.
Texx: So if I pre-order “Youthless” I’ll get a “Christmas Surprise”. Sounds dodgy. What would your ultimate Christmas surprise be?
Shortstraw: Probably 5 or 6 tracks from my favourite South African band. That, or a puppy.
Texx: If you had to pick one song on “Youthless” to sum it up, which one would it be and why?
Shortstraw: Heaps Keen is probably the best summer upper. It’s got the right attitude and sound to portray the album.
