Post by Fuggle on Sept 14, 2006 22:59:52 GMT -5
Proper little sunbeams
No one expected the Rapture, 2003's kings of yelping punk-funk, to make an upbeat, soulful record - least of all themselves. The band tell Chris Salmon how they cheered up
Friday September 15, 2006
The Guardian
'The last band I saw doing that was Coldplay," says the TV presenter Lauren Laverne, standing outside her dressing room in the Belfast studio where she's presenting the latest episode of Channel 4's music show Transmission. Down the corridor, the Rapture are killing time before their performance with their first attempt to play cricket. Inspired by watching the England v Pakistan Test match on TV earlier, they have crafted a bat from cardboard and drumsticks and are testing it out. "So, when do I get to declare?" asks drummer Vito Roccoforte, after facing a brisk over from guitarist/singer Luke Jenner.
This is the band the NME labelled "the coolest band in the world" in 2003. Three years ago, the Rapture were as achingly fashionable as can be. Like all the coolest things at the turn of the millennium, they were based in New York. Their records were released and produced by the trendy DFA duo. And, most importantly, they were responsible for House of Jealous Lovers, 12 inches of taut, yelping, punk-funk that tore up the world's hippest dancefloors, laying the foundations for bands such as Franz Ferdinand and the Killers, who took the Rapture's template and translated it into commercial success. While the Rapture signed a big-bucks deal with Mercury, and their artful 2003 debut album, Echoes, topped many critics' end-of-year polls, the plaudits did not translate into record sales. But they remained untouchably cool.
So they never seemed the types to stand in a corridor with a cardboard cricket bat, laughing until their faces turned red. "If you listened to our first record, you'd probably think we were really serious people," admits Jenner, whose hyena laugh isn't unlike his singing voice. "But what people don't realise," deadpans bassist/singer Matt Safer, "is that the life of a funk warrior can be a hard one." Guffaws, again. Laverne looks on, amazed the band who gave her such a sullen, monosyllabic interview when they came offstage at Glastonbury 2003 have morphed into "proper little sunbeams".
The band's music, too, seems peppier, reflected in their new album, Pieces of the People We Love. "People say this one sounds more soulful and upbeat," says Roccoforte, sitting in a Belfast pub a few hours earlier. "And I think all that is just reflective of where we were at when we made it." "There's less angst," agrees Safer, "I feel like we're strutting now."
Although Echoes was a strikingly good album, there was something slightly po-faced about it. It was also, as Jenner admits, "kind of a difficult record" - the title track, for example, built to a jarring, disjointed climax, over which Jenner screeched and howled like Robert Smith with a nasty splinter. Pieces of the People We Love is built on similar influences - Public Image Limited, Happy Mondays, Bowie, the Cure - but its beat-driven tunes are noticeably brighter and funkier, more celebratory and focused. "Going into this album," says Roccoforte, "I think there was an understanding that we would be writing 'songs'. Y'know, like pop songs."
The cynical response would be to point out that the Rapture's shift in direction may have been inspired by the fact that, despite the enormous critical acclaim, they didn't sell very many copies of their debut album - unlike their successors.
Not surprisingly, they insist otherwise. "People seem to expect us to say, 'Oh, we feel terrible, our sound got ripped off,'" says Jenner. "But the reality is that we gave up our day jobs and travelled the world doing what we love to do. I honestly felt like we won the lottery by getting signed to a major label on our own terms and being able to experience things like opening for the Sex Pistols and the Cure or meeting David Bowie. I guess 1% of me hoped we'd magically sell a million records, but I didn't feel like I was owed or deserved it."
"The whole idea with Echoes was to make a good album, an interesting album," insists the band's sax, keyboard and percussion player Gabriel Andruzzi. "We always thought it would be something that would build slowly." "Besides, it would be really insincere to change your sound to sell more copies," says Jenner, to noises of agreement.
So how did the Rapture come to brighten both their sound and their mood? "I think the difference is just that the recording process was a lot more positive and collaborative this time," says Roccoforte. "We focused on our personal relationships and on making a record that we were all happy with," agrees Jenner.
Although clearly fond of each other, there are times when the Rapture act like people who have been through relationship counselling, walking on eggshells in order not to imply criticism or offend each other. That seems to be the result of some troubled times. "Two years of touring pretty solidly would put a strain on any band," says Roccoforte. "And I was acting like a jerk," shrugs Jenner. "I feel like I've been really selfish in the past and I had to win their trust back. This record is great, but it would have been shit if I'd continued acting like that."
Jenner admits that in the past he had demand to have things done his way. "And that was really not okay," he says. Andruzzi explains that when the Rapture started work on the new album at the end of 2004, they were "at a very shaky place", with all four members pulling in different directions. But after several false starts and some time apart, they say they overcame their problems by learning to compromise and accept that they were all crucial to the creative process. As Roccoforte explains, the band has become "a team, with everyone taking an equal responsibility".
Consequently, they all found that the recording of Pieces of the People We Love was a far more enjoyable experience than it had been for Echoes. "It was great," says Jenner. "We wrote 30 or 40 songs this time and the only ones we put on the record were the ones everyone agreed were good. Whereas last time, we only recorded 12 songs and one B-side and then we fought the whole time about how shit should work."
Last time, of course, they were in the studio with DFA - the production duo regarded as having steered the Rapture away from the scratchy post-punk of their early EPs towards the dancefloor. Many critics have been surprised the band didn't enlist DFA's services for this album. "There was a lot of history with them," says Roccoforte, choosing his words carefully. "We didn't want to step back into something that would take a lot of, uh, energy."
"As our confidence and camaraderie as a band grew," continues Safer, "I think we really knew what we wanted to do and that DFA weren't the right people for that. They were very opinionated producers. I didn't want to sit and debate direction for a long time." The band insist they would work with DFA again, but it seems after Echoes' fraught, lengthy and argumentative recording sessions, they decided they'd be better off without DFA's strong personalities in the studio. Instead, they make a point of praising the big-name producers they did use - Paul Epworth, Ewan Pearson and Danger Mouse - for being able to smooth any conflicts.
The danger for the Rapture is that despite making an album that's worthy of attention (and proves they can thrive without DFA), they'll find the fashionistas have moved on and the media have new darlings. But the band seem untroubled by the notion that their moment may have passed.
"Absolutely not," says Jenner. "I think we're actually lucky in that we got popular last time, but not too popular. And now we've got a really strong record that can take us to the next level." The fact that the album's vibrant first single, Get Myself Into It, has already attracted more radio play than any other Rapture release seems to back up his confidence.
"I feel like we still have work to do," says Andruzzi with sudden passion. "When people say, 'Are you happy with your new album?' I'll say, 'Goddamn, it's the best album of the century!' And part of me believes that. I'm really happy with the work we did for the album. I'm really happy about the collaborative writing. I'm super fucking happy about the experience we had with Paul and Ewan and Danger Mouse. Every step of making this album was exceptional and magic and emotional. But I am not satisfied. We can do better. This album sets the bar for us, but we can raise it."
Surprised by the fervour of Andruzzi's impromptu speech, his bandmates gaze quizzically at him for a moment and then fall about laughing. "Yeah," beams Jenner. "What he said."
ยท Pieces of the People We Love is released on Monday on Polydor
No one expected the Rapture, 2003's kings of yelping punk-funk, to make an upbeat, soulful record - least of all themselves. The band tell Chris Salmon how they cheered up
Friday September 15, 2006
The Guardian
'The last band I saw doing that was Coldplay," says the TV presenter Lauren Laverne, standing outside her dressing room in the Belfast studio where she's presenting the latest episode of Channel 4's music show Transmission. Down the corridor, the Rapture are killing time before their performance with their first attempt to play cricket. Inspired by watching the England v Pakistan Test match on TV earlier, they have crafted a bat from cardboard and drumsticks and are testing it out. "So, when do I get to declare?" asks drummer Vito Roccoforte, after facing a brisk over from guitarist/singer Luke Jenner.
This is the band the NME labelled "the coolest band in the world" in 2003. Three years ago, the Rapture were as achingly fashionable as can be. Like all the coolest things at the turn of the millennium, they were based in New York. Their records were released and produced by the trendy DFA duo. And, most importantly, they were responsible for House of Jealous Lovers, 12 inches of taut, yelping, punk-funk that tore up the world's hippest dancefloors, laying the foundations for bands such as Franz Ferdinand and the Killers, who took the Rapture's template and translated it into commercial success. While the Rapture signed a big-bucks deal with Mercury, and their artful 2003 debut album, Echoes, topped many critics' end-of-year polls, the plaudits did not translate into record sales. But they remained untouchably cool.
So they never seemed the types to stand in a corridor with a cardboard cricket bat, laughing until their faces turned red. "If you listened to our first record, you'd probably think we were really serious people," admits Jenner, whose hyena laugh isn't unlike his singing voice. "But what people don't realise," deadpans bassist/singer Matt Safer, "is that the life of a funk warrior can be a hard one." Guffaws, again. Laverne looks on, amazed the band who gave her such a sullen, monosyllabic interview when they came offstage at Glastonbury 2003 have morphed into "proper little sunbeams".
The band's music, too, seems peppier, reflected in their new album, Pieces of the People We Love. "People say this one sounds more soulful and upbeat," says Roccoforte, sitting in a Belfast pub a few hours earlier. "And I think all that is just reflective of where we were at when we made it." "There's less angst," agrees Safer, "I feel like we're strutting now."
Although Echoes was a strikingly good album, there was something slightly po-faced about it. It was also, as Jenner admits, "kind of a difficult record" - the title track, for example, built to a jarring, disjointed climax, over which Jenner screeched and howled like Robert Smith with a nasty splinter. Pieces of the People We Love is built on similar influences - Public Image Limited, Happy Mondays, Bowie, the Cure - but its beat-driven tunes are noticeably brighter and funkier, more celebratory and focused. "Going into this album," says Roccoforte, "I think there was an understanding that we would be writing 'songs'. Y'know, like pop songs."
The cynical response would be to point out that the Rapture's shift in direction may have been inspired by the fact that, despite the enormous critical acclaim, they didn't sell very many copies of their debut album - unlike their successors.
Not surprisingly, they insist otherwise. "People seem to expect us to say, 'Oh, we feel terrible, our sound got ripped off,'" says Jenner. "But the reality is that we gave up our day jobs and travelled the world doing what we love to do. I honestly felt like we won the lottery by getting signed to a major label on our own terms and being able to experience things like opening for the Sex Pistols and the Cure or meeting David Bowie. I guess 1% of me hoped we'd magically sell a million records, but I didn't feel like I was owed or deserved it."
"The whole idea with Echoes was to make a good album, an interesting album," insists the band's sax, keyboard and percussion player Gabriel Andruzzi. "We always thought it would be something that would build slowly." "Besides, it would be really insincere to change your sound to sell more copies," says Jenner, to noises of agreement.
So how did the Rapture come to brighten both their sound and their mood? "I think the difference is just that the recording process was a lot more positive and collaborative this time," says Roccoforte. "We focused on our personal relationships and on making a record that we were all happy with," agrees Jenner.
Although clearly fond of each other, there are times when the Rapture act like people who have been through relationship counselling, walking on eggshells in order not to imply criticism or offend each other. That seems to be the result of some troubled times. "Two years of touring pretty solidly would put a strain on any band," says Roccoforte. "And I was acting like a jerk," shrugs Jenner. "I feel like I've been really selfish in the past and I had to win their trust back. This record is great, but it would have been shit if I'd continued acting like that."
Jenner admits that in the past he had demand to have things done his way. "And that was really not okay," he says. Andruzzi explains that when the Rapture started work on the new album at the end of 2004, they were "at a very shaky place", with all four members pulling in different directions. But after several false starts and some time apart, they say they overcame their problems by learning to compromise and accept that they were all crucial to the creative process. As Roccoforte explains, the band has become "a team, with everyone taking an equal responsibility".
Consequently, they all found that the recording of Pieces of the People We Love was a far more enjoyable experience than it had been for Echoes. "It was great," says Jenner. "We wrote 30 or 40 songs this time and the only ones we put on the record were the ones everyone agreed were good. Whereas last time, we only recorded 12 songs and one B-side and then we fought the whole time about how shit should work."
Last time, of course, they were in the studio with DFA - the production duo regarded as having steered the Rapture away from the scratchy post-punk of their early EPs towards the dancefloor. Many critics have been surprised the band didn't enlist DFA's services for this album. "There was a lot of history with them," says Roccoforte, choosing his words carefully. "We didn't want to step back into something that would take a lot of, uh, energy."
"As our confidence and camaraderie as a band grew," continues Safer, "I think we really knew what we wanted to do and that DFA weren't the right people for that. They were very opinionated producers. I didn't want to sit and debate direction for a long time." The band insist they would work with DFA again, but it seems after Echoes' fraught, lengthy and argumentative recording sessions, they decided they'd be better off without DFA's strong personalities in the studio. Instead, they make a point of praising the big-name producers they did use - Paul Epworth, Ewan Pearson and Danger Mouse - for being able to smooth any conflicts.
The danger for the Rapture is that despite making an album that's worthy of attention (and proves they can thrive without DFA), they'll find the fashionistas have moved on and the media have new darlings. But the band seem untroubled by the notion that their moment may have passed.
"Absolutely not," says Jenner. "I think we're actually lucky in that we got popular last time, but not too popular. And now we've got a really strong record that can take us to the next level." The fact that the album's vibrant first single, Get Myself Into It, has already attracted more radio play than any other Rapture release seems to back up his confidence.
"I feel like we still have work to do," says Andruzzi with sudden passion. "When people say, 'Are you happy with your new album?' I'll say, 'Goddamn, it's the best album of the century!' And part of me believes that. I'm really happy with the work we did for the album. I'm really happy about the collaborative writing. I'm super fucking happy about the experience we had with Paul and Ewan and Danger Mouse. Every step of making this album was exceptional and magic and emotional. But I am not satisfied. We can do better. This album sets the bar for us, but we can raise it."
Surprised by the fervour of Andruzzi's impromptu speech, his bandmates gaze quizzically at him for a moment and then fall about laughing. "Yeah," beams Jenner. "What he said."
ยท Pieces of the People We Love is released on Monday on Polydor