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Trans-Pacific three-piece Favored Nations bridge land and sea while creating entrancing music from studio bases in both Los Angeles and Australia. The eclectic trio have found a formula that works and with the release of their latest album ‘The Great Unknown‘ one thing is for certain, they know how to create sonic goodness. GroundSounds recently caught up with the guys to talk about their latest project, musical inspirations and more, check out the exclusive interview below.
For those just discovering Favored Nations can you tell us about the formation of the band, how you guys met and started making music?
James and I met randomly one night while he was visiting L.A. He’s a man of easy and tremendous charisma so we ended up talking for a while about music and such and trading info. When he got back to Adelaide he emailed me a folder with about 1 zillion instrumentals and invited me to write anything I wanted over them. As of now, I am only about halfway through the list. He and Sid met through mutual friends in Adelaide. They got together and wrote two songs in a sitting, which explains the deep catalog and all the homework I still have to this day.
What made you guys decide on the name Favored Nations?
Favored Nations is a legal term. It caught our attention because it’s so archaic and abstract when you stumble on it in legal paperwork. To me, it’s bit of a tongue-in-cheek comment on being from froofy spoiled countries like the U.S. and Australia, as if we’re part of some sort of global country club cabal. When it comes down to it, it’s really just a name. We didn’t go too nuts choosing it.
Can you tell us about the writing and creative process involved with the track “Always?”
“Always” went through the same mill as the others. Having done so many tracks together we had a pretty predictable process. It starts with an instrumental that Sid and James made in probably 30 seconds. They are such obscenely talented musicians that it’s no sweat to have them finished the track in the afternoon. They sent it to me in the pile and I spent way too long doing my parts and futzing endlessly. I have a rule that I don’t pick and choose the tracks, but I just go through the list, one by one and sing along with the first listen. This usually ends up as a chaotic sketch, but with real potential: all the basic components are there. Then I start chopping and rearranging and fiddling and figuring out themes for the lyrics. Lyric writing is really painful for me. I can come up with snippets and concepts but gluing them all together is the least fun part. “Always” has so much of its history embedded in the vocal performance as I left every stage of the process in. That’s why there is such variation in the vocals. Some of them were recorded through the MacBook mic on my first pass.
Can you tell us about working on your latest album The Great Unknown? What inspired this album title?
We didn’t originally set out to make an album. I really just address each song as I go. The fact that we have this monstrous 17-18 song album, is just the natural product of this period of our lives. I’m always trying to make great songs. I guess this album is a collection of those attempts. The Great Unknown is the title of a little snippet we were knocking around and I guess it made sense that it describes the place that these songs, our little offspring, were headed.
With studio bases in both LA and Australia you guys are a trans-Pacific trio, what has it been like working coast to coast?
I suppose its informed the character of the music. Not only do we have coasts in common, but west coasts. I can definitely hear some sort of beachy, sunny thread through the record. I think the most defining part of the puzzle is that we work from different corners of the globe and we use the Information Super Highway to get stuff done. We talk though Viber and Skype and email, and we trade songs through WeTransfer and DropBox. It’s such a different process than jamming with your buddies in a crappy practice space. In a lot of ways its far more gratifying and productive. It allows me to take the time I need to develop a song. I think James finds it a little frustrating at times that we can’t be in the same room, but we get to do that sometimes too. I’m headed to Australia in October for a tour and we’ll get some writing done as well. Now I live in Stockholm so we’ll see how that informs the next wave of songs.
What is it about bouncy baselines, disco-tinged guitars and therapeutic synth that attract you guys to this sound?
I would have to pin that on Sid. His main instrument is bass. He plays all instruments like an angel but it’s his bass that drives much of the sound of these songs. The synths are all James. He has the most outrageous, dream synth collection. He just set up a new studio in Adelaide and it looks like a museum.
What musicians/bands are you guys currently listening to?
I’m not that up to date on what the other guys are listening to. They are huge music fanatics and DJ a lot so they are always burning through new stuff. I can give you a random list of a few songs I’ve been into lately:
-Mac Demarco “Another One”
-Young Thug “With That”
-The Clientele “Reflections After Jane”
-America “Rainbow Song”
-Nitro “Freight Train”
-Giorgio Gaslini “Bliff “
-Udo Lindenberg “Reggae Maggi”
-Juan Wauters “Grey Matter”
-The Truffle Tribe “Aki”
-Le Ying “Getting Drunk Twice in Yueyang”
-Dao Bandon “Mae Jom Ka Lon”
-The Whispers “Keep On Lovin’ Me”
– Ibrahim Maalouf “Paris”
– Camel “Echoes”
After the record release, what’s next for Favored Nations, what can fans look forward to?
Well we’re headed out on the aforementioned Australian tour starting at the end of October and looking into American dates now. We have a pile of fairly well developed demos so we’re well on our way with the next record. Then after that… well, I guess the album title describes the rest.
Stay in touch with Favored Nations: FACEBOOK | SOUNDCLOUD
