Watch this sweet live session of The Symptoms playing one of their new songs, and make sure to check out the interview below for all the details on their new album…
The Symptoms are in the midst of recording a currently untitled album at The Record Company. They were nice enough to answer a few questions about their process, snack-foods, and future plans via e-mail.
The Symptoms are:
Ben Berners-Lee: Keyboards/Vocals
James Fraser: Bass/Vocals
Drew Smith: Guitar/Vocals
Mariana (a.k.a Maru) Migliore: Drums/Vocals
Allston Pudding: Where are you recording it? Is it a professional studio?
Mariana: We booked the studios at The Record Company. Our producer and engineer was Giuseppe Taccini, from Italy. He was great, really got the sound we are looking for and made sure to get the best from us in each recording session.
Drew: Giuseppe is the man! We’re recording at The Record Company: definitely more legit than the last album. For Contrasts we recorded everything in a homemade bedroom studio, it was a lot of fun going to a real studio and playing with nice gear. Love making those amps produce some sexy feedback!
AP: Say a little bit about the recording process.
MM: We started by recording drums for the first two singles and then built the tracks up from there, recording everything separately.
DS: We’ve been trying to finish all the tracking on one or two songs before moving on, as opposed to recording the entire record for an individual instrument. This allows each song to develop slightly differently. We’re still in the studio now.
AP: How do you plan to release the music?
James: Definitely electronically, but i’m pushing a physical release on vinyl (perhaps CD & tape too…).
AP: What’s different about the new recordings from the stuff on Contrasts?
MM: Me! I wasn’t there when these guys recorded Contrasts.
JF: The process of writing the demos also differs significantly from our previous EPs because we really have an idea of what the songs sound like live, whereas before we wrote layer by layer not thinking so much about how we would pull off performing the songs.
DS: Building on what Jim said: Contrasts was written as we recorded it. It was only after it had already been released that we started to play it live. This led to us adapting the songs to the live scenario, making the live sound different than the album. For our upcoming album, we tried to finalize all parts prior to recording so there would be no surprises.
AP: How new/old is the material you recorded?
MM: We finished the oldest songs around January, so 6 months.
DS: We are constantly writing new songs, the album is not finished at the moment. We have songs in all stages of production: initial sketches, “finished songs” (that we go back and totally change), “totally finished songs” (that we still go back and change), recorded songs etc. The material is constantly changing the more we play it.
AP: What were your recording snacks?
MM: Maru had Mate, her Argentinean tea, to keep her awake during the sessions!
JF: La Befana Pizzeria in Allston–the firepiff of pizza.
DS: Seconding the firepiff available at Befana. Also lots of kimchi after each session.
AP: Were there any surprises? Were any parts of the process unexpectedly difficult or easy?
MM: Recording sessions can be long and it is hard to keep the energy up take after take. Keeping a sense of humor and positive energy in the room definitely helped, especially around 3 or 4 am.
DS: As we said, when we adapted Contrasts to a live setting there were a lot of surprises. We wanted to avoid surprises this time, so we tried finalizing everything before we actually got into the studio. This time the hardest part was deciding how much studio magic to add. We really wanted the recording to be something we could reproduce live, but at the same time we wanted to fiddle with all the cool toys at the studio and make the best record we could.
JF: Some of us have had issues with surviving off solely pizza and coke, and subsequently having lots of stomach pain during recording session.
What are your priorities when you record? Do you look for perfect takes or are you more concerned with feel?
DS: Feel, baby! Our music is very personal and important to us; our priority is getting an accurate representation of our emotions on tape. That being said, we tried to make Guiseppe’s life easier by doing consistent, in time takes.
Are there any musical influences you think people will hear in these new recordings? Any that they won’t hear but were important to making the music?
Here’s some influences you might not expect:
Ben: Darkside
JF: Björk
DS: American Analog Set
What would be the last thing you want the new stuff compared to?
BBL: The old stuff.
AP: What would be the highest compliment?
MM: “You guys have your own unique sound.” I think that’s the highest compliment any artist can get, after all, you are trying to add something new to the world.
DS: “Your music made me feel something.” I want someone to sit down alone, turn my music up loud, and get something out of it.
AP: Do you have a plan for cover art?
MM: James had the idea of drawing ourselves although I am terrible at drawing!
DS: Many plans, nothing finalized. We usually develop the cover art as the music is finishing. The cover art is a reaction to the music.
AP: Did you go into the studio with everything planned out? How much did you work out while recording?
MM: Yes, we practiced a lot and had very specific ideas about what worked for each song, although some solo sections were improvised during takes.
DS: I’ve been touching on this throughout, but yes, for this album we are trying to go into the studio with a finished idea. There are little things to work out during recording (e.g. different mics/different songs), but we’re trying to go in with an almost finished product. This is a different method than we are used to, we’re very excited.