The Dangerous Summer - Mother Nature (June 14, 2019) Album • Page 37

Yeah first day hanging together actually my wife was at the studio at this moment (she never stops by) and we were all just hanging taking about the new stuff and AJ was like “yo can we like use a voicemail and stuff?” And I was like YEAH DUDE! THAT’S TIGHT! And they were like “Holy shit really? Cause previously our producers totally hated those ideas” and it was a moment of like “Yo I’m not that guy. I want to experiment and get weird” and so then one of them played the demo and then AJ played the voicemail off his phone at the same time and we were like “That’s fucking amazing.”

The whole context of the voicemail is that it’s from a friend of AJ’s in LA who he crashed with and this opening track is all about that AJ’s going through a rough time. He needs a place to crash and to be able to just let him just go down the emotional bender of figuring it all out. “I can see her” running away from it all and it still just right in front of your face.

Makes me cry now to be honest. Just such a great emotional triumph story and it’s all real.

 

The electronica transition from Part A to Part B as you put it?

 

I LOVE when Blue October utilized it on Foiled.

 

Tbh, having SO/SD and Better Light as the two “slower” songs is way more effective than the two acoustic songs idea imo

 

Agreed - I just wish Better Light went on forever lol.

The scream at the end is one of the single most rad things this band has ever done

 

Thank you! The drum sound and setup is pretty much my “standard” approach. But I take a lot of care in making sure the patterns support the music and create a great impact and sense of space. On the end of Slow Down I had Ben do all these crazy drum fill overdubs and then I chopped them up and tried to be Aphex Twin and I failed so I muted them. Then I had this crazy space echo going on them at the end and started to just strip all that away. It was like I was overcompensating for the song feeling simple and vulnerable... which it is. So I instead just did a slight space echo trail at the end there.

We also used every room in the studio for the drums. My main West live room. My iso booth. My wearhouse. And some of the pre pro material from my East Live room made it on final mixes.

 

Glad you agree. It would be very “contrived”. I unfortunately feel that way about The 1975’s be my mistake. It doesn’t sell the emotion of the song for me. Feels contrived. I only want to record an acoustic song when the artist envisions the inception of an acoustic song.

 

Fun fact. That half of the song has no “keyboards”. It’s only my analog Hammond organ, bass, and drums.

 

Luckily they do pretty much everything else with their songs that its a small detractor. I agree, though. I also think that By My Mistake is pretty contrived from a conceptual stand point/writing stand point as well, so it certainly doesn't do them any favors.

 

Pretty cool. Just a lot of tinkering, or was it something one of the guys really wanted?

 

risky move criticizing The 1975 here haha

its not one of their best songs haha

 

...also the acoustic guitars in the first part of the song. LOL. Somehow we COMPLETELY FORGOT TO RECORD THEM. We had a print and everything going into mixing and the dudes were like hey did we ever do the acoustic for that. I was like WHAT?! THERE IS SUPPOSED TO BE AN ACOUSTIC?!

So they did a shitty iPhone recording of the parts. Sent them to me and I was in the middle of mixing and having their label and management literally throwing fits at me for not being done AND I was making new songs with the band Stickup Kid. So thankfully their guitarist Bo who is such a homie came in early and stayed late and helped me figure out the progressions and strange tuning and chords and we recorded the acoustic. As I was printing the mix their manager called me to ask where the record was. I was like “I’m literally working my fucking ass off on it now. Fuck off”

Crazy stress. But extremely funny to look back on now. So if there’s is one corner I cut on that record... it’s the acoustic on that song. That was a “get this done now Sam” moment.

 

I think most people here don't like Be My Mistake haha. I like it enough but I agree that the sparseness doesn't work to its benefit

 

Definitely my favorite band an album of the year. It’s the only song I skip.

 

I think I was the guy that really wanted it. I like my instruments and think they have a sound and a vibe and would rather use real tools than software ones.

Also side note Matt is an avid xpand genius. Literally. He’s so good at that. So most of the synths in other songs are that. Which is awesome cause no one uses Xpand. But we did.

 

Looking back, how does the band personally feel about Self/Titled and did they enter the studio hoping to absolutely improve/fix/alter things about that approach and the result?

 

Early on when the album was announced there was a lot of discussion about the album cover. After spending time with the album I think it clicks and works well. Any insight on that process of choosing the album cover, if you were apart of it, etc?

I feel like this question can be the equivalent of asking someone with a tattoo "what does it mean?" so totally fine if you don't wish to expand much on it!

 

@Samuel Pura really enjoy hearing your approach, especially since you’ve been responsible for some of the better tunes coming from this corner of music in recent times.

It sounds like the key here was TDS running with your desire to experiment. This kind of music needs that innovation so badly right now that’s both relieving and inspiring to see it can still sound awesome and relevant in 2019.

So yeah. You’re doing the lord’s work. Keep it up!

 

I viewed that album as an important “re-ignition” of the band. And from what they told me I believe it was made in 2 weeks. All digital tones etc. I felt that they were in need of a heavy sonic thumbprint that would match the emotion of the songs. And I also just wanted them to abandon “their sound” and create a new one for each song.

 

When the album reaches the mastering stage usually everyone is burnt out on chatting with me. Hahahaha. So I never get involved in album cover convos etc. however I think it’s a brilliant photo and cover.

 

This guy gets it. Thank you. The only thing that matters is content. Content is king. Meanwhile the industry focuses on touring and merch and see’s experimenting and spending a lengthy amount of money and time on the creation of content as unrealistic and unideal. I’m trying to fight the good fight and all of these records required extreme emotional investment on my end. I spent over $100k of time on this record and was compensated for maybe 10% of that. If it was strictly limited to the money these records wouldn’t be made. Reading these comments and interaction validates my emotional investment and hard work. Thank you!

 

What a beautiful thing to read popping into this thread.

 

This is my favorite tidbit in the whole thread so far. I’ve been wanting more bands in this style to use Autotune and no one ever does because of the stigma around it for some dumb fuckin reason. It’s the year 2019, autotune (tastefully used of course) is IMO one of the most rock n roll things you can fuckin do

 

Well holy shit. That’s a fact I’m not gonna take that for granted when listening to this record.

Disappointing to hear the industry is literally working against you. It explains a lot of the scene’s stagnation. All the more thanks for your hard work and breaking through the mould.

 

@Samuel Pura

Some have said that this might be their most dangerest summer yet. Do you agree with that sentiment?