Favorites: Bloc Party, 3EB, Gaslight, Tokyo Police Club, The Kooks, Pete Yorn, Andrew McMahon
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Kingston, NY band Bishop Allen recently released their excellent new album Lights Out. GroundSounds caught up with Justin Rice to chat about the new album, writing music for films, hula hooping, and more. Check it out below and pick up a copy of Lights Out HERE.
Tell us about the new album Lights Out. How long has this been in the making and how was the writing process after a 5 year break from new BA music?
We’re always collecting bits and pieces of ideas — singing inane melodies into our phones, scribbling lines in an armada of notebooks — but they don’t amount to anything until we sit down and make a deliberate effort to turn them into songs. We started doing that two years ago, spent half a year making demos, shared those demos amongst ourselves, then set to work recording in our attic during an August heatwave. It took us a few months to arrange, refine, and record, and another to mix, and we finished at the tail end of 2013. The process this time was more patient and measured than before, and we wrote, and cut, more than usual. In the past, our records were made with momentum we’d built with years of activity. This time, we started at a standstill, and had to give a big push to get moving again.
The song “Start Again” is a memorable song that perfectly encapsulates NPR’s summation of your music as “simultaneously sophisticated and playful.” What inspired this track?
We’d been going and going for years — touring, recording, touring, recording — and so much of real life had been left unattended, so we took a year off in 2010, which somehow became two, then almost three years. After that long, we confronted a decision — should we forget about the band and move on? or start again? — and to inform that decision, we started playing around, working on songs without knowing if they’d live or die. And it was fun. “Start Again” was the first piece of new music we worked on, and we used it as an opportunity to describe our situation.
You guys went all out on the hula hoop for the “Why I Had To Go” video. Where did this idea come from?
We had a hula hoop on our back porch last summer. I’m not sure where we got it, but whenever people came over, they’d give it a whirl. It was interesting how different every approach was: some people were graceful, some were awkward; some were overjoyed, some were deadly serious. Not only is “Why I Had to Go” about, to quote the lyrics, “the endless repetition of an action,” which hula-hooping seems to embody, but it also seemed like a good way to get everyone who worked on the record (and our friends in and around town) to be totally unselfconscious in front of a camera. It’s like dancing, but you’re distracted by a simple activity, so you don’t overthink your movements or facial expressions.
Is there a new song from the album that you are particular excited to play live?
We’ve been away for so long that playing in general is super exciting. The new songs are fresh, but the old songs also have a new vitality. I’m most excited to play “Bread Crumbs” live: it’s a wild party jam.
I’m always interested in how albums end. When did “Shadow” come along in the writing process and when did you decide to close the album with it?
Shadow actually came early in the writing process. It was something I wrote late at night after working all day on loud songs. My ears needed a break. We played around with the sequence of the record a lot, and “Shadow” only felt right at the end. We wanted a quiet moment of reflection like a night winding down.
What was the experience like scoring films? Is this something where you’d create music based on watching or reading the scene; or would you create your own music and try to fit it into the films at appropriate points?
I usually write music to picture. I sit down with a scene, and the dialogue is like a vocal track: I try to respect it, support it, and pace the music around it. I always start with a palette for a project — certain instruments I use throughout — and so I try to pick sounds from that palette that best match the action on screen. It’s all about timing, and often about laying back, which is interesting.
What bands/artists have inspired you with their new music this year?
I love the new Parquet Courts record, Sunbathing Animal. In the 90s, I was obsessed with an under-appreciated Scottish band called The Yummy Fur, and Parquet Courts are a dead ringer. Minus the brogue. Also, we live in Kingston, a small city 100 miles North of New York City, and a lot of bands have been playing a venue here called BSP, often as a warm-up show at the beginning of tour. I’ve really been enjoying that first show energy: there’s serious nervousness born of uncertainty, and it’s kind of thrilling to witness. The War on Drugs show here was a real stand out.
What’s next for you after the album release? Where will you be touring?
We just finished three weeks in the US, and we’re about to embark on a second three-week leg. This time we’re making a beeline for the West Coast with stops along the way. We’re working on shows in Europe, too, but nothing is confirmed yet. Stay tuned.
What is the best place to stay updated with you online?
For anyone visiting Brooklyn or New York in general for the first time, what is one must-see place or one must-do activity?
We left Brooklyn four years ago, so I’m not really up to date. If you go to New York City, you should make the trip 100 miles North to Kingston. The train ride alone is worth the trip: it runs right up the Hudson, under six bridges, past the Palisades, the old robber baron estates, West Point, Bear Mountain, and Bannerman’s Island Armory. Once here, you should walk around the Stockade district, check out stone houses from the 1600s and storefronts from the 1800s, go record shopping at Rocket Number Nine or Rhino, get an amazing cocktail at the Stockade Tavern, and find me at a show at BSP.
Bishop Allen – “Why I Had To Go”
