Today we have one hell of a treat for you all, a brand new track from Above Them! Check out the track ‘Cutting Loose’ below and read our chat with the band about the new album
It’s been three years since Are We A Danger To Ourselves?. Had you planned a break or did real life just get in the way?
Yeah it’s been a while now since Danger came out, I think it was February 2012, it was recorded in the summer of 2011 so those songs were written a good time ago.
We never planned to have a break, we were playing pretty much every weekend, plus planning tours with our time off from work, so it really was as case of playing as much as we possibly could do whilst working 40+ hours a week, but we enjoyed that, even though it was hard.
However, as our circumstances changed in respect of real life, we had to slow it down a bit, it just wasn’t fair on loved ones to be going full pelt anymore, we had to be a bit more responsible! We realised it’s not just about us lot; my wife moved 200+ miles away to Exeter to study for a PhD, I was still living up in Yorkshire, I wanted to be with her, I didn’t want to be away every weekend so could never see her, why would I? I love her to pieces; Tom Rob met Sophie and became a dad and now they have an awesome little girl, Betty; plus, Bilboa was trying to create his tour managing business, which he has been able to successfully do. None of us could have done any of those things if we were going at the same pace we were, it wouldn’t be fair on people, it’s selfish to do that. So yeah, it wasn’t a planned break, but a responsible one.
New album, Water Lane, will be released once again on the always-great Specialist Subject. What can we expect from you guys? Have you picked up where AWADTO? left off or has there been more of a departure? Was it a no-brainer to work with Specialist Subject again?
It’s still as it was for me, our influences are still the same, it’s still a mix of American 90’s college rock, late 90’s early 00’s US punk / emo and first decade of the new millennium British post-hardcore.
I feel like Water Lane is still definitely an Above Them album to me in the respect of the song writing and sound. I hope people who like Above Them find something in this album and it’s up there with everything else we’ve done.
Working with Specialist Subject Records is definitely a no brainer, Andrew and Kay are fucking real do-ers, we are so, so proud that they want to work with us. I just hope we do them proud.
When I first moved down to Exeter I went round their house and SSR was being run from a little space they had behind the stairs. I got involved with the pop up shop they did back in December 2013 in Exeter and it was a fucking incredible experience, they really made that happen; I can talk a good game like we all can but those two really go do it. Now they’ve got the office in Exeter City centre and they have just stepped it up even more. They graft at it and mean it, so to be a part of that is brilliant.
Has the song writing process changed in your years away? Did it feel natural straight away or did it take a while to get back into it?
Yeah, it has for me. I really haven’t been involved this time round to be honest because I’m down in Exeter. I’d just come home to Pontefract, they’d run through what they have, I’d give my opinion and that’s about it. For those two (guitarist/singer Oli Wood and drummer Tom Robinson) I don’t think it’s really changed – they went to practice, Oli has a good idea of a melody and the basic music around that, then it’s built up from that with regards to the structure of the song. They had Bilboa in there too helping out, but I think it was how it’s always been for Tom and Oli. Oil brings the main pieces, it’s worked out, changes done where needed, then that’s it.
I don’t think it took them any time to get back into things and as for me going back home to practice it felt natural, it was awesome to be back in the room with them. The only problems for me were not playing bass for such a long time, I was a bit rusty but soon got back into the swing of things.
You’ve been together for 11 years, can you ever see a time when it would stop? You’ve been through a lot!
Definitely been through a fair bit yeah! Losing jobs, break ups, marriage, births and deaths. A lot happens in 11 years, a lot changes, Oli was 15 when we started this band. I think we will continue as long as we enjoy it and as long as people are bothered.
Were you nervous to start again or just excited?
No, not nervous. Definitely excited. Making the album was brilliant, it was great to get back to it and be away recording with Tom and Oli. I’ve always said that the making of AWADTO? was the best experience I’ve ever had with Above Them, better than any show and any tour, making that album was such a good time for us all.
This time around we worked with Paul Yeadon again, but this time down at his new house in Devon instead of the studio in Nottingham. It was the first thing he had ever recorded out of there and he was still piecing the studio together 24 hours before we went in. It was a little nerve-racking not heading into an established studio, but once we got in there, the feeling I had when making AWADTO? came flooding back and he did such a great job. He’s such a good bloke to work with.
Has the ‘punk scene’ changed in any way since you’ve been away?
Yeah, no one buys CDs anymore, we have (SSR have) got a shit ton of CD copies of AWADTO? still haha! It’s seems in the week that came out on CD everyone stopped buying them (that’s my excuse anyway). Dead format for sure. Someone buy them, I’m sure Andrew and Kay will do you a bulk discount if you fancy 300 of them.
In all seriousness though, even though we’ve not been playing, we’ve still been going to shows, still in touch with everyone and they still seem as enthusiastic and active as they were, which is great.
What are your plans for the next year? Are you looking forward to playing shows again?
Keep playing as much as we can really, can’t wait to get back to it. Probably will be going to mainland Europe early 2106 though nothing has started to be put in motion yet. There is talk of trying to go back to the US and maybe play Fest if Tony will have us back after all these years. Who knows, Japan? Australia? Could do, nothing really stopping us if we plan it in good time!
‘Water Lane’ is out on September 18th on Specialist Subject Records and pre-orders are up here: http://shop.specialistsubjectrecords.co.uk