LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS themselves call HANDCLAPS & TAMBOURINES ‘the perfect album for your next rock-and-roll book club meeting’, even though I didn’t specifically ask RAY CARMEN and MIKE CROOKER what they meant by this, I understood at the end of the interview.

_{Release date: October 14, 2022}

NOWADAYS, SO MANY SONGS ARE VACUUMED BY SUPERFLUOUS PRODUCTION WORK. WAS IT A CONSCIOUS CHOICE TO LEAVE SOME AIR BETWEEN NOTES?

RAY CARMEN: It depends on the song. There is a lot of space in songs like I See You and When We Were Young, whereas a song like Lady Overdrive is all about the noise–wah wah guitars, feedback, and Stonesy-sounding backing vocals…!

MIKE CROOKER: From a production standpoint, we were already dealing with recording four guys in separate home studios. It’s my job in mixing to make it all sound cohesive, and much of that is finding space within songs so you can hear every instrument, backing vocal, handclap and yes, tambourine. Part of that remit is building a “universe” that each song lives & breathes within. To echo what Ray said though, the approach does depends on the song and what we’re trying to put across. I’m a big fan of layering things that you might not hear the first four or five times around, but eventually it may become your favorite little bit within the song.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS THAT LED TO THE RELEASE OF HANDCLAPS AND TAMBOURINES UNDOUBTEDLY STARTED DURING THE COVID PERIOD. IF SO, DID THAT AFFECT THE CREATION?

RAY: It affected my lyric writing for sure. Our single from last year, I Can’t Stop Thinking About You b/w Stumbling Down Memory Lane, was directly influenced by the pandemic. I Can’t Stop is, underneath the surface, ultimately about the possibility of losing touch with family, friends, and bandmates for long periods of time. Stumbling is about the passing of people like Prince and David Bowie, and about getting older in a troubled world. There’s also a little bit of my daughter going off to college in there, as well.

MIKE: You can’t escape the elephant in the room, and as I said, it definitely affected how we did things with all the recording done apart from each other. We started right after LONG OVERDUE finished its run around October 2020 and made pretty good progress, but we ended up taking a step back in the middle of the process and re-evaluated some of the 30 or so songs that were under consideration. In the end, the 12 that ended up on HANDCLAPS & TAMBOURINES are not the same group of tracks that would have come out had we finished in 2021. The good news is there’s plenty of material to work on that will surface in the future!

I CAN EASILY HEAR THE INFLUENCE OF THE BRITISH INVASION BANDS, BUT I CAN’T INTEPRET THE MODERN INFLUENCES AS WELL WHILE THEY ARE VERY AUDIBLE. WHAT INLFUENCES GAVE RISE TO THE LIBRARAINS WITH HICKEYS SOUND?

RAY: Well, we each have our own influences. My influences are bands like the Beatles and the Monkees, which is pretty obvious. I also love Martin Newell, who we’ve covered, and R. Stevie Moore, who I’ve worked with. Mike and I also love Queen, and bands like the Church, who we often get compared to–which is OK with us! Mike and Rob Crossley, our drummer, both love early industrial bands, and Drew Wilco, our bassist, loves bands like Rush and the Police. But we all love three minute pop songs with catchy choruses, great harmonies, and guitar riffs. As for modern influences, Drew sent me a YouTube link to a song by beabadoobee a while back, and we’ve both been huge fans of hers ever since. She’s just a great songwriter.

MIKE: That’s a great point – many reviewers haven’t really pinpointed much in the way about modern influences – I mean, there must be, we don’t live in a vacuum – but the four of us have deep record collections We’re all students of music in many different forms, as Ray mentioned, and eventually some of that seeps into what we’re doing, whether it’s a guitar chord voicing from a Church song, or a rhythm pattern from The Pretenders or a lyric fragment nicked from psychologist William James, somehow, inexplicably, it all comes out sounding like a power pop band from Akron!

THE QUALITY OF THE SONGS IS SO HIGH THAT YOU MUST HAVE OFTEN LOOKED AT EACH OTHER HAPPY, OR DID NOT REALIZE HOW GOOD IT IS DURING THE RECORDINGS?

RAY: We realized the songs were good early on. It was just a matter of getting a satisfactory recording and mix for each song. Mike and I both co-produced the album, but Mike does the mixing, because he will notice things in the mix that I don’t. I told him the other day that our songs sound both modern and from the past–like AM radio, but in stereo!

MIKE: Sometimes, you can tell early on that you’ve got a good one, and the trick is to not mess it up! Once we figured out what direction the album was headed in, the songs really took care of themselves, we just need to capture that essence. That’s the happy fun part, but easier said than done! There were nights sitting in bed falling asleep with headphones on and listening to whatever song we were working on a loop,. I’d wake up at 3:30am and finally hear the thing that needed fixing – usually subtracting –  to tighten the song up. There’s really no wasted action in any of these songs – get in, hit the hook, get out and hopefully end up with a great song between 3:02 and 3:30.

There’s enough little weird time signatures (much to our drummer Rob’s frustration) that make things interesting. I’m not saying it’s like Rush or even Burt Bacharach time signatures, but somewhere in between to keep us all on our toes! 😉

STUMBLING DOWN MEMORY LANE, LAST DAYS OF SUMMER, WHEN WE WERE YOUNG, ME AND MY BIG MOUTH ARE MORE MELONCHOLIC AND NOSTALGIC. IS IT A CONSCIOUS CHOUCE TO MAKE THEM THE LAST FOUR SONGS OF THE RECORD?

RAY: Not really. When Mike and I were putting the track list in order, we had two different ways of looking at it. Mike looked at it as if it was a set list for a live gig. I looked at it as if it was a vinyl record: side one and side two. It just seemed to make sense to put those four songs last. Initially I thought the album should end with When We Were Young, and Mike thought it should end with Over You. Mike decided to move Over You up into more or less the middle of the album, and I thought it would be nice to end it with Me And My Big Mouth, which is musically more upbeat.

Mike made a comment to me the other day that Handclaps And Tambourines is very nostalgic-sounding–and he’s right, it is. A pandemic-induced lockdown will do that. Plus, at our age, you inevitably start looking back at some point. But the thing is, you can’t spend too much time doing that, or you’ll get stuck in rewind. The next album will be more forward-looking.

MIKE: The whole album has a nostalgic flavor, but it doesn’t live there full time. We did move Over You up to follow I See You & I Can’t Stop Thinking About You as sort of a trilogy of “You” songs. That meant the end of the record naturally gears down a bit before sticking the landing with Me And My Big Mouth.

CLICK THE IMAGE and LISTEN to this SweetSweetMusicblog Podcast.

Emerald Street is an LA band, you will hear about how they look at playing the Viper Room, translating raw emotions into lyrics and their place in the LA entertainment business. And you will hear 5 beautiful songs of their new record Torrid Bliss.

Punch Drunk’ is the second album from London-based trio More Kicks on Dirtnap Records (USA) and Stardumb Records (EU), and it’s easily one of the best Power Pop records of the year. Everything is right; the melodies are powerful, the hooks sharp, the lyrics effective, and the performance outstanding.

James Sullivan explains that there was no grand master plan behind this masterpiece.

I like to believe that there was a moment during the creative creation of Punch Drunk when you must have thought, ‘Okay, we’re that good. This is the new level.’. Or don’t things like that happen?

Thanks! That’s a very nice thing to say. But sadly, I don’t think I had that thought at any time. I knew I liked the songs but the distance between me writing a little song in my bedroom and the three of us actually recording the ‘finished’ version is really quite large. Not in time, necessarily, but if you heard my crappy demos, you’d see how hard it is for me to imagine how it will all sound in the end. So many variables are involved in how the songs evolve to the point when they’re released into the world, so it’s hard to have the bigger picture in mind.

I will say that I was always excited to hear what Kris and Paolo would bring to the songs. And then, once we’d rehearsed and changed things, I was always excited to hear how it would be once we’d recorded. And then, once we’d recorded, I was always excited to hear how it would be after we’d mixed it, and after we’d mastered it, and then how it worked in combination with the other tunes on the album. But, yeah, that all feels a VERY long way away at the start of the process.

You just never know. There have been times where we’ve been in the practice space playing a song that we think is great, and we work really hard to make it as good as it can be… but then, in the end, with a bit of objectivity, we decide it’s not good enough – and then it’s gone, and we move on. I can never really tell which songs that will happen with.

The world has changed since the release of your 2019 debut. Has that affected the way you produced the new record?

It stopped us from touring and playing live, a very large part of how songs evolved. We had to practice much more and in a much more focused way to get to the point when they felt ready to record. Playing a new song in a gig is equivalent to playing it for probably ten practices. Things sounding good is much quicker when you can try things out on stage.

The recording process was more or less the same though. We recorded it on tape at the same studio as the first album. Playing live in a room and recording on to 2″ tape. Just trying to get a good take that captured some kind of energy, even if some of the playing wasn’t perfect. There are a couple of extremely dodgy guitar takes on the album but in context with the rest of the instruments it works so that’s more important than any kind of perfection in technique.

I love recording on tape. It’s not for everyone but I like that there’s nowhere to hide. To me, the record sounds alive. I can hear moments of hesitation, or how the bass slips under the kick drum at points, or how the vocal struggles to keep up with the tempo in other places. It sounds exactly like us playing and I love that.

When I try to interpret Punch Drunk, I hear a multitude of different styles that you bring together in a natural way. Was that a goal in itself, or did it come naturally?

Pretty naturally, I would say. Although I was really determined to make this record as extreme as possible. That might sound strange because it sounds like a poppy rock and roll album. But the loud bits are louder, the quiet bits quieter. I didn’t want any two songs to be similar in any way – either in chords or in atmosphere. There were a couple of good ones that didn’t make it on to the record because it felt like we had that base covered already. “We already have the mid-tempo, harmonized chorus, doomed love song covered – let’s put the slow, existential nursery rhyme drum machine song on instead.”

Clearly, much thought has gone into the lyrics and how they are sung. It remains a challenge to get people to really listen?

Again, thanks! There actually wasn’t much thought into how they are sung. It’s just about capturing a good take. I usually sing the song twice and use the second one. I really like using full vocal takes instead of cutting anything up – it’s more fun to record and as long as you can sing in tune, it almost always results in a more compelling take. It’s fun to hear a singer struggling for breath occasionally.

I do tend to write lyrics quite quickly as well. I often write backward – starting with the chorus. I think at this point, I know when I’m on to something good and I can edit myself quite well. I have an ego about many things but I have no ego about dropping lyrics or ideas for lyrical themes that aren’t working. I can tell when is working and then I try to do it as quickly as possible to capture that thought.

But yeah it’s a challenge to get people to listen, haha! I guess we’re playing the long game here.

When did you know that this record was going to be very special?

Well, I’m glad that you think that. I wasn’t sure if we had pulled it off until it was totally finished and mixed. Having an objective view is almost impossible until you’re out of it. We had three days to record and then we mixed in 1.5 days. During those days, there was no sense of it being good or bad or anything – it was just about making the thing as good as we could in that moment. Then once it’s done and you can actually listen with something approaching fresh ears, you might start to think: ‘Okay, we did it and I like it.”

Again, that’s the beauty of recording and mixing on tape. You have to make decisions in that second, in that room. And then that’s it. You have to trust your instinct.

Terminal Love is my favorite. Can you share a bit about how that song came about?

I like that one too. It was written just after the first album came out. So it’s an old-new song, kind of. I wrote it in my old flat one evening just before Christmas. I didn’t realize it, but the relationship I was in at the time was about to end. It’s weird to think that because I was literally writing a song called ‘Terminal Love’ so clearly, my subconscious knew it was about to end, but my consciousness hadn’t faced up to it yet.

It’s a simple song in structure. I like starting and ending with the ringing, open chords but having that concise section in the middle. The lyrics are sometimes petty and bitter, sometimes just a bit wistful and romantic. It feels like one person having a conversation with themselves and not agreeing.

Scruff Myers’ Superhands is a great catchy Powerpop Punk-ish record , lots of great hooks! LOTS OF GREAT HOOKS!

How did this record come together?  

This is something I have wanted to do for a long time. I wanted total control of how the music I heard in my head was recorded. I did it to please myself; it would be a bonus if others enjoyed it too.  

Being busy touring with The Adicts meant I never had a long enough spell of downtime to record it. When my partner needed an operation, I missed a couple of tours while she recovered. It was this time that enabled me to finally get it done.  

The meaning of success has changed over the years. What would success look like for the new record?  

Neil Young once said that if you stay true to your original idea and do it, nothing is a failure; it is only a failure if you don’t.  

I made the record because I had to. I had to give something back to the bands and artists that made my life so much happier over the years. If Superhands music makes like-minded people happy, that is success to me.  

As an artist, you choose to show your emotions to the world. Is it always comfortable to do so?  

I think I write whatever comes out of my head, and most of the time, it sticks. As long as a line is not cheesy, I’m OK with most things.  

I like to put a couple of meaningful/emotional lines followed by a throwaway or humorous one. It may be honest or profound, but it doesn’t give everything away.  

You can pick three co-writers to write new songs with. Who? … and Why?  

My all-time two favorite songwriters are Tom Petty and Paul Westerberg. Tom has sadly gone, so one has to be Paul. His slacker-style songs have always felt relatable and musically a bit more achievable (guitar, bass, and drums).

Robert Pollard (Guided By Voices), what can I say? The guy is a songwriting machine. The older I get, the more I understand that his way is the right way. His DIY Lo-Fi approach is something that is a big influence on me.  

Robert Forster (Go-Betweens). To me, he has a Lou Reed feel, a songwriter who manages to combine poetry, humor, and music so well. He also seems to be such a nice all-around nice guy.  

With all 3, I would just like to meet them, really.  

Those magical moments when you’re working in the studio. Which moment was the most magical?  

When Randall, our drummer, heard my demo recordings, he insisted that we work with George Perks (Producer) as he knew he was the right man for the job, which he was in every way. Randall, George, Craig (Engineer), and I had such an amazing bonding period during our first recording session. It was one of the most amazing times of my life.  

The record is done, and the music is out. Is the best fun done now, or is it just beginning?  

My original plan for Superhands was to try to release an album a year for the first five years. Then Covid happened soon after the first couple of gigs. I always try to be busy and constantly want to be doing something creative. Lockdown put that on hold from the performing side of things, so I wanted to keep myself busy in other ways. I managed to put out a couple of DIY online efforts. These compiled older, unreleased, pre-Superhands recordings that I like to refer to as “clearing out the ashtrays”. A third is now in the pipeline.  

The fun is just beginning; the new shiny vinyl is the starting point. From here comes the opportunity to play the songs live; if that isn’t enough, the next release is already being written!  

The Glad Machine’s new release “Hey!” contains eight wonderful, very personal hard rockin’ Power Pop songs.

Sweet Sweet Music spoke to Brad Thayer about how the new record came about.

Slow Motion July is such a beautifully melancholic anthem. Did it feel like a special song when you were writing it?

It summed up for us how early COVID felt. The line “you’re weighed down, but your way downtown” really nailed how we were feeling at the time .. the world was scary now. Nothing felt safe. Blocks away. Densely populated places were dangerous territory… glad that’s changing.

‘Somewhere between The Knack and The Outfield,’ I answered to my son when he asked where you were. Would you take that as a compliment? (And ‘yes’, my kids know both The Knack and The Outfield ).

The Knack Is a great example of a band that wrote great pop songs, but also appealed to a more discerning listener, so we’ll take it! And who doesn’t like that Outfield tune, right !?

If I could make songs like you, I’d dream about playing them in a packed stadium. Do you recognize that dream?

Stadiums … huh .. we definitely swing for the fences when we write, and at one point in my life, I imagined it daily, in my room, with my air microphone. Now, the thought of packing a large club with great sound is the ideal situation.

The world has changed since The Glad machine came out in 2017. Was ‘Hey!’ created differently than the previously published music?

It was a different process. Covid didn’t allow us to be in the same room, so most songs were written and recorded remotely. Mike Franklin and I did the lion’s share of the writing, and Mike did most of the heavy lifting with the recording. We produced it together, but he’d get it really close and send me mixes, which I would then send him notes, and we’d go back and forth like that for a bit. He worked his ass off on this!

How much fun is it to write a Christmas song?

Days Gone By … inspired by my best friend Gary Comstock . He lost his mother at 12, and could have easily given the holidays the old middle finger. But he didn’t . For the last 15 years, this NYC artist/writer / chef would post the most sentimental, beautiful, childlike yearnings for the season. His untarnished glee of the season inspired the song. Unfortunately, Gary died July 4, 2021, so the song means so much more to me now.

The record is dedicated to the memories of Gary Comstock, Chris Carr, Adam Schlesinger, Joshua Stoddard, Amber Reeves, and Ross Haberen. All people we lost, during the recording of the record, which absolutely directly affected and molded the end result.

Push Puppets is an indie pop/rock ensemble from Palatine, Illinois.

If you are looking for well-crafted and smart Power Pop, don’t look any further!

Sweet Sweet Music spoke with Erich Specht about how Allegory Grey came about.

It’s a fantastic record, treasure it.

^{Release date September 30th}

What was the moment you knew you were on to something?

There were several. When “The Bane of My Existence” was written (the first song written for Allegory Grey), I felt I was on to something.

Then when we recorded bass at Gravity Studios with producer Doug McBride helping guide the already nicely arranged bass part that John William Lauler was playing and really getting all of it, I could tell that this album was going to reach new highs.

The meaning of success has changed over the years. What would success look like for the new record?

I already feel that the record is a success in that we achieved musically and lyrically what we set out to accomplish – which is making a recording that brings the songs to life in the best possible way. I consider myself to be a slave to the song, and when a song goes to where it feels it should be going, that is success to me.

Beyond that, our hope is that the album will gain us many new fans that will keep the momentum going. That is already happening.

How great is the urge to stay creative? To keep writing songs and lyrics?

That is what I live for. This period of waiting for the release has been difficult – knowing there is so much more that people haven’t heard yet. So to stop dwelling on that, I’ve found that writing songs for the next album is the best distraction. And I’m pleased to say that the follow-up album (likely to be recorded in 2023) is already shaping up to be something special.

As an artist, you choose to show your emotions to the world. Is it always comfortable to do so?

I often wear my heart on my sleeve and it definitely has led to some discomfort, but I think that’s just part of this trade. I do try to write with characters a little more often these days, which somewhat obscures exactly what is being said, but those who know me can figure it out. In the past I’ve used names that made is immediately clear who I was writing about. In one case I suppose that I really did want that person to know I was talking about her, even though it made it uncomfortable to be around her.

You can pick 3 co-writers to write new songs with. Who? … and Why?

• Andy Partridge from XTC. I love the way he crafts lyrics and has such a breadth of knowledge to draw upon.
• AC Newman from the New Pornographers. I’m a big fan. He takes songs in such interesting directions while avoiding being sappy or over sentimental. And all the harmonies!
• Jeff Tweedy from Wilco. I find his prolific output to be inspiring. I’ve been reading many books about songwriting these days – his being one of them – and am empowered in finding that my heroes don’t have any secret sauce and approach it very much as I do.
• Elvis Costello. Lyrically he is so amazing. And for someone with so many great songs, he comes across as fairly humble. Funny story – I have a slice of pizza that Elvis handed me preserved and framed in my studio. I met him using a fake backstage pass.

What’s the gig you will always remember? And why?

That would have to be when my band from the mid 90s was performing at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin. On the way there, we noticed that the safety chain on the trailer was hitting the ground and sparking. When we stopped, we found that the welding had given way, so we just tied it.

Then when we were driving in the fast lane in rush hour traffic in Dallas, the ball of the hitch broke and the trailer was dragging behind us, and the tied chain was all that kept it from hitting the cars behind us.
Then as we were loading in to play at a bar on 6th Street, I slammed my left hand in the door of the van. I was barely able to play guitar, but the show went ok. The next day my entire hand was black and couldn’t move.

When was the last time you thought ‘I just wrote a hit!’? 

Pretty much every time I write a song, I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever written and will be loved by the masses.

You can’t control the way people ‘hear’ your music. But if you could make them aware of certain aspects, you think, set your songs apart. What would they be?

I think something that is unique in my songwriting is how the words marry with the melodies. I listen to the words to hear their natural melodies.

Suppose you were to introduce your music to new listeners through three songs. Which songs would those be and why? 

– “Sometimes the Buds Never Flower” – This is one of those songs that came in a flash. It was the last song written for the album and rather than work on one that I had partially written, I thought about what I wanted to add to the album. I wanted something upbeat and sweet to offset some of the melancholy that is present throughout much of the record. Most of it came within a half hour. I feel that the verses of this song tell a beautiful story that applies to life in general. I did need to ask my mom some questions about flowering trees.

– “There’s No One Else Like Lynette” – I think this song is so much fun. It’s not the most mature song lyrically, but it is focused. I love the way the line “There’s No One Else Like Lynette” is set up with the feel changes and the Tommy James style guitar lick.

– “The Bane of My Existence” – I love the melody of the chorus and how the chord pattern changes for the second half of it. The upright bass supports the retro vibe of the song, and the drum fills at the end kill me.

If you could tour the world with two other bands, who would you ask, and why?

• Wilco – I love the writing and Nels’s amazing guitar playing. Plus they seem like they’d be nice guys.
• Guster – They too seem like great guys to hang with.
• The New Pornographers – I love all the harmony!

‘I consciously decided to sand down some of the jagged edges and make a nice collection of lesser-known pieces that have a more friendly or straightforward approach.’, says Nick Bertling about An Andy Bopp Compendium (reimagined and compiled by Nick Bertling).

The result is overwhelmingly beautiful, a work of art, a great introduction or a most pleasant re-acquaintance.

Nick Bertling explains how this anthology came about.

How would you describe An Andy Bopp Compendium (reimagined and compiled by Nick Bertling)?

I would describe the album as a playful, lighthearted glimpse into the vast world of the records of Andy Bopp.

How did the idea come about, and how did you proceed?

Andy has been part of my chosen family for many years. He’s always been supportive, critical, and brutally honest with me about my work, and I’ve been a fan of his for years. I’ve taken the de-facto role of “archivist” since I’m more familiar with Andy’s back catalog than he is.

As we’re both home recording artists primarily out of necessity, I was allowed access to multi-tracks, and we have a back catalog of work together. I decided to take songs I knew I liked and edit them with no regard for anything other than showing a slightly different approach.

Basically taking a piece of artwork and coloring over it for the pure joy of doing so.

Andy Bopp is a great songwriter and musician. What do you find attractive about his songs? Why did you think it was a good idea to redo the songs, and how did you decide which songs they should be?

Both Andy and I share mid 60’s and 70’s AM radio music as a musical language despite the 19-year age difference. Andy is a tireless songwriter, and he’s always written songs with a few core musical values that we share.

I started by asking Andy about songs he likes of his, and then picked songs I had either multi-tracks that I could remix or alter, or simply used existing mixes to modify the speed, equalization, and pitch. I overdubbed parts where I felt they might help a song keep its momentum and generally tried to have a good time reimagining songs I’d known all along.

You and Andy are both special, a little different from the rest, and certainly not average. Isn’t it complicated when two such personalities have to work together?

The easy answer is “yes, it’s complicated”; however, it’s far more complicated than that. We started working together knowing “things we’d heard” about each other, so we made a pact to be friends above all things.

At this point, we’d both seen and heard enough that we could relate on an almost telepathic level since I was a fan, and I already had my own musical path that wouldn’t be strayed by anything we did together.

When we started the band Alto Verde, we got on like a house on fire. Loudfastchaoticaudiencepummelingvolumelunacyfulltiltwholealbumin22minutes. That’s how we used to do things. At the heart of all of that volume and destruction is a great songwriter.

I consciously decided to sand down some of the jagged edges and make a nice collection of lesser-known pieces that have a more friendly or straightforward approach.

How will the record be released, and when?

Much like all of my academic life, I’ve come unprepared. At this very moment, Andy has several copies with him for the next few shows, and I’ll be sure to coordinate with his label so it can see a proper digital release and a more deluxe cd package.

I told Andy that I think he will gain a lot of extra listeners with this collection; there’s no denying the quality of what’s on offer. He won’t take it from me like that, do you?

I truly hope he does gain some new listeners! He’s one of my true musical brothers, and there are a lot of really sweet moments nestled inside a bag of broken glass. I decided to pick them out and present them like a little art piece. I hope it’s fun for those who are already fans, and maybe a fun little ride for folks who’ve wanted to dive into an extensive catalog of music.

L.A. Mood is the solo project of Melbourne musician Dave Mudie; he is also touring the world as Courtney Barnett’s drummer. “A Print out of the Sun” is the debut record. Incredibly tough and classy Power Pub Glam Indie Pop.

Or: “Charging power-pop, waltzing country and hazy slacker rock, all joined in an unshakably accomplished feel that belies the fact it’s his debut release as a solo songwriter.” – For the Rabbits

How did this record come together?

The album was recorded over two years in a few different locations, including an old school house by the beach where I tracked the drums and guitars. That really bought out the sunny references throughout the record.

I then sent it across to Collin Hegna from BJM to mix in Portland and had the record mastered by Mikey Young.

You can pick three co-writers to write new songs with. Who? … and Why?

Gaz Coombes

Kurt Cobain

John Lennon

They have an amazing way of writing songs; I’d love some of that to rub off on me.

What’s the gig you will never forget? And why?

We played this year’s Glastonbury Festival and closed out the Park Stage, and it was definitely the best show we’d collectively had as a band; such an electric atmosphere after the last couple of years.

If you could tour the world with two other bands, who would you ask, and why?

T.Rex and David Bowie, in the early 70s, they were both just such a force live.

The Joe Cockers Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour would have been brilliant.

What compliment you once received will you never forget?

You’re my favorite drummer – Jim Eno from Spoon said that to me one night, and I’ll never forget it; he’s an amazing drummer and producer, so that was super nice.

Indian Summer, the second record released by Chris Lund this year, is an ode to the days when life was a little less complicated. Eleven hard-rocking Power Pop songs that make you long for the time when you drank a beer with friends and listened to Cheap Trick, Thin Lizzy, and Van Halen.

Indian Summer is the second record you released this year. How did that happen?

I wanted to do a new Lund Bros record (Across State Lines) to reboot things after the disappointment of all the reunion shows we had booked that got canceled due to the Covid pandemic.  Also, Sean and I hadn’t put out a true studio record in about six years, though we did have the Live records and Remasters and Rarities in the interval. I thought we were well due to getting a studio album out there and it contained many of the songs we would incorporate into our live set. Being unable to play live post-pandemic due to my brother, Sean, being in WA and me having recently moved to AZ, a record was simply the best and quickest way to get back on the radar. 

Regarding the solo record, I usually have more songs written than I can put out at any one time, so I had enough material to do both projects. I had a bit of mixing still to do on the Indian Summer tracks, but that came together rather quickly.  Additionally, the songs on my solo record were very much part of a concept/theme personal to me, so I felt a solo record was appropriate. I am very happy with both records.

Is Indian Summer an ode to the time when life was less complicated, and why did you want to sing about this period right now?

Yes, absolutely. I put my mind back to the time of my teenage years to come up with a lot of these songs. “Time Runnin'”, about the last day of school and meeting up with a girl, is a perfect example. I suppose it is a nostalgic take on life as I remember it as a teenager, when the most important things were Rock and Roll, girls, hanging out with your buddies, and looking cool. 

The whole tech thing, especially after it increased during Covid, has been a real soul-killing thing for me and a lot of people I suspect. The loss of many record stores, clubs, bookstores (and even shopping malls, for that matter) is such a shame.  This is what modern teens are missing – places to celebrate youth and congregate. I don’t believe online gaming and online relationships come close to replacing those former cultural meccas of youth. 

For me, the Indian Summer concept boils down to an extended summer, where you get that extra bit of time to enjoy it and the freedoms it offers.  Symbolically or by analogy, I feel like that is where I am at this point in my life.  I’m a bit older now, but I now have my Indian Summer, a second coming of the golden age of youth, so to speak. I still have a good amount of time to make good music, feel cool, and get back to the simpler pleasures.  I came up with the title to this record several years ago before I wrote any of the songs. That set my songwriting in a certain direction and within a given set of parameters, namely the  Indian Summer theme.  Usually, it’s the other way around, where the album title is imposed on a group of songs afterward.  It was interesting to have the discipline to stay on theme in writing for this album. I think the songs benefited from it.

You sound so young, Chris. Your voice doesn’t seem to age. Many singers have to adjust the emotion and energy of songs at some point as the singing becomes more difficult.

I have heard that I sound young, and I think it’s kind of cool. I am grateful that is the case.  I’ve never had any trouble getting what I want on the recordings in the studio.  The only thing that can be challenging is getting ready for live shows after a substantial hiatus or break from playing live. That requires rehearsals, getting the vocal chords in top shape, and working out the phrasing, so you are comfortable in performance – ready for long sets and multiple shows.  As a result, I approach preparation and rehearsal in a very workmanlike manner to avoid any of those potential issues.

I hear the influences of Cheap Trick and The Knack, and the twin guitar on Please Me reminds me of Thin Lizzy. Did I hear that correctly? And how have these bands influenced you?

Yes, you heard it right for the most part.  Cheap Trick and Thin Lizzy are both heroes of mine. More specifically, the guitars on “Please Me” may have been inspired by the kind of approach Brian May of Queen might take – harmonized leads in three parts with neo-classical lines. Thin Lizzy does the harmonized guitar thing very well, too. Their Black Rose record is amazing. 

Vocally, I must say that  Robin Zander has been an influence on me. John Lennon and Allen Clarke of the Hollies were too.  Cheap Trick and the Beatles were always favorite bands of mine, and I don’t mind that those influences may sometimes be apparent in the music.  Just as the Beatles influenced Cheap Trick, we all have our heroes. The Raspberries were also a big influence for me along the way. Van Halen, too, as far as my use of the whammy bar on some of the harder rockers and even the songwriting.  My Stratocaster is all over this record – things like” Down the Line”, “Mary Jane” and “Military Girl” for example.

Where You Goin’? sounds just a little different from the rest, a little more psychedelic. How did that song come about? And how did the outro of that song come about?

“Where You Goin’?” is one of the few songs on here that dates back a few decades – the 90s, actually.  I always kept it around, planning to use it on a future record because I thought it had a good chorus and some interesting guitar. The ending was originally part of another song – notice the key change.  I wanted some kind of modulation at the end and the piece of the other song seemed to fit well. Particularly on the last few records I have used some synthesizer. I thought this song lent itself to some spacey wild sounds so I used the Korg in the breaks and on the outro. The key change combined with the synth give it a kind of sci-fi vibe, taking the song into another dimension as the record fades out. 

It’s kind of funny; when we performed this song live years ago, long before it was recorded, I used to use a violin bow on the guitar in some of the sections that now have the synth.

With Emerald Green, The Click Beetles release their best record. It’s all right, the songs, the (movie) atmosphere and the beautiful guitar sound on Green.

Dan Pavelich talks about how it came to be.

How did this record come together?

The songs were written over the last year. I do a simple demo of vocals, guitar and bass. Van listens to it for a while and then we add his drums. I take his drum tracks and start a new recording on top of that, paying more attention to getting my final parts the way I want them.

When did you decide to start asking for opinions on the new songs?

I’m always interested to hear what people think of my songs. I start trying to get feedback from friends as soon as we start the mixdown.

The meaning of success has changed over the years. What would success look like for the new record?

For me, success is breaking even and not going into the hole financially. If Emerald Green does that, I’m happy. If it makes enough to partially fund another project, I’m ecstatic.

How great is the urge to stay creative? To keep writing songs and lyrics?

Creating something out of nothing, and seeing it develop, gives me the same thrill now that it did 30 years ago. It’s always amazing.

As an artist, you choose to show your emotions to the world. Is it always comfortable to do so?

When I was younger, maybe, but I’m 55 now. It’s easier to roll with the punches without getting a chip on my shoulder. Most of the time now, I write from the point of view of a character, so, it’s not usually about me, or my life.  

You can pick 3 co-writers to write new songs with. Who? … and Why?

Jim Ellison, Pat DiNizio, Matthew Sweet, Susanna Hoffs….so many!  

What’s the gig you will always remember? And why?

Another band I play in, The Bradburys, was doing a small theater show. Cliff Johnson of Off Broadway came on stage and sang their big hit, Stay In Time with us, and it sounded fantastic. We also played The Beatles’ version of Bad Boy and Badfinger’s No Matter What. For four guys from the Chicago area, it was quite a night.

When was the last time you thought ‘I just wrote a hit!’?

On this new album, I think the lead-off song, Modern Girl, is one of the best I’ve written in a while.

Cassettes are back. Which 5 five songs would make your first mixtape?

1. Roll To Me – Del Amitri

2. That Thing You Do! – The Wonders

3. You Might Think – The Cars

4. What Girls Want – Material Issue

5. Sorry – The Smithereens

Playing music in front of a crowd. What’s all the fun about?

I don’t play live anymore. My hearing is going steadily downhill, so I try to avoid noisy environments. There’s also a sensitivity that makes most movies so loud to me that I have to wear earplugs. Around the time I decided to stop doing shows, we weren’t really getting many gigs that would tolerate original music anyway.

You can’t control the way people ‘hear’ your music. But if you could make them aware of certain aspects, you think, set your songs apart. What would they be?

I’d love to be able to sit people down in front of a good stereo system and listen to Emerald Green all the way through, but people just don’t listen to music like that anymore.

Suppose you were to introduce your music to new listeners through three songs. Which songs would those be and why?

Modern Girl, Natalie Would and Goodbye Margot, all from Emerald Green. I spent a lot of time on them and I think they’re three of my best.

If you could tour the world with two other bands, who would you ask, and why?

Probably Material Issue and The Smithereens. There’s a lot of similarities in our collective DNA.

What compliment you once received will you never forget?

I’ve had several of my musical heroes tell me that they really like my songs. It doesn’t get better than that.

Those magical moments when you’re working in the studio. Which moment was the most magical?

Probably recording at Shoes’ studio. Jeff & Gary both sang background vocals on songs by The Bradburys. We also had Ted from Material Issue in to play bass!

What place do you occupy in the music industry?

I don’t think I’m in the music industry, really. The artists, DJ’s, bloggers and fans of the kind of music The Click Beetles and The Bradburys play, are more of a community. We’re all kind of fans of each other.

If you could pick three singers to sing harmony vocals on your next record, who would you ask?

Shoes. No contest.

The record is done, the music is out. Is the best fun done now or is it just beginning?

The fun is just beginning! It’s always fun seeing which songs people react to.

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The Click Beetles:

Dan Pavelich – Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Keys
Van Dyke Brown – Drums & Percussion