Interview: Male Bonding - "They're just simple songs..."

One of Ragged Words' personal highlights from this year's Primavera Sound festival was Male Bonding's Friday teatime set down on the Parc del Fòrum waterfront. The Londoners' slacker punk din hovered just the right side of haphazard throughout, and succeeded in reigniting a jaded hipster crowd – most of whom were intent on gazing at their navels while waiting for James Blake to show up. What's more, their faithful cover of Fountains of Wayne's mid-nineties anthem 'Radiation Vibe' provided one of those singular festival moments that pops up out of nowhere and lingers in the memory long after the buzz has subsided.

But enough nostagic rambling... Since then, the band have put out a new album (August's Endless Now) for Sub Pop, capping a prolific noughties strike rate of two LPs and two EPs in little over a year. They've also been kept busy with recruiting a new guitarist, touring heavily on both sides of The Atlantic, and blogging (lots). Pádraic Halpin caught up with vocalist/guitarist John Webb recently to ask him about what it was like to work with a big-name producer, the art of riffage and that shelved Rivers Cuomo collab.

Hi, John. Thanks a lot for taking the time to talk to us!

No problem.

I remember reading somewhere back in March that you had been thinking for a while about making a bigger-sounding record this time around... You described going down the lo-fi route as being a sort of easy way to hide, essentially. Did you intend, then, for the new record to go down that 'bigger' path out of a need to push yourselves?

I think it’s more of a natural thing really, and it would have happened anyway I reckon. We got caught up in that kind of (lo-fi) sound because it was more a means for us to be able to record our own stuff. We weren't in the financial situation to do it any other way, to be honest. But like you said, it is important to push yourself as well. I think maybe just a bit more thought went into it overall. We still record that way for certain things, but it’s not something we like to be associated with.

‘Bones’ is probably one of the clearest examples of this: for one thing, it’s about three times as long as any song on the first album. How early on in the process of putting Endless Now together was that one written? And did it perhaps have an influence on any of the other tracks?

I think it was the last song we did actually! It was definitely towards the end, but it’s probably the fastest song I’ve ever written... I just sat down and, because it’s just the same four cords, I played that riff for a bit before one of those vocal melodies suddenly drifted into my head. So it was super-easy really, and not a whole lot of thought went into it. I liked it from the start: it's repetitive and long, and it feels like there’s enough going on in it to make it still sound interesting.

It could actually go on for another six minutes and I wouldn’t mind, John…

(Laughs) Just put it on repeat so!

A song like ‘The Saddle’ is not just very different from anything found on the first LP – it stands out immediately from the rest of this one too. Were you nervous at all putting an acoustic song in there surrounded on all sides by the usual Male Bonding racket?

I think it’s always nice to have something that breaks things up a bit, particularly because a lot of our stuff is quite high-energy. But also a lot of the stuff I write is done on acoustic guitar; so, yeah, I have a bunch of songs like that, and it’s quite fun every now and again to just get one out there.

How did you arrive at getting John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, The Hold Steady) to produce the record? Was that someone you actively sought out to work with?

Yeah, definitely. I mean, his name had cropped up several times when we were working on the first LP... We had wanted to work with him as soon as we became aware that he was interested, but ended up just not being able to figure out a schedule in time for Nothing Hurts. So I think we all knew coming into it that he would be the first choice for this one. We eventually met up with him while we were in New York for a few days last summer, and he’s just the most amazing guy, so much fun, so positive. We were just really glad we could finally make it happen.

Does it make a big difference having a big-name producer like that at the helm? I mean, might Endless Now have sounded drastically different had he not been there, or is his job just to facilitate things more than anything?

He just keeps things moving and will make suggestions about song structure and things like that, but he’s definitely not a bully like some producers who won’t shift on an idea can be. As it turned out, we found ourselves agreeing with pretty much everything he suggested anyway. It just adds another angle, another opinion to the process as a whole; and we’re not very precious about that sort of thing, so it’s always nice to hear someone else’s view on something. That’s why I really liked working with him, it was cool. The first album was quite different in that respect, the recording was really intense... We didn’t have much time – we just plugged in, did it and were on a flight home the next morning. Now that I think about it, though, we recorded and mixed this record in the space of only thirteen or fourteen days, so we didn’t have that much time to spend on it either.

I see. I think I read in the press release, though, that, compared to your studio experience with Nothing Hurts, this time around you actually found that fortnight-period you've just mentioned a bit of a luxury time-wise. I’m sure a lot of bands probably wouldn’t share that attitude... Do you think maybe it's just the nature of your work that enables you to get so much done during an intense two-week spell?

They’re just simple songs. I suppose we could have spent countless months mixing it or whatever, but I don’t think that’s necessarily the best way to do things. You can quite easily get too caught up in that aspect, so it’s good to have time constraints. You have to press on, make quicker decisions. It’s a good way to be!

Does the same mantra apply, then, to the fact that you’ve gone with releasing the second record so soon after the first? Do you see yourselves being able to constantly keep pushing out a new album every twelve months or so?

Touring hampers that side of things, no question; it’s not really conducive to us making music. I think it’s best to just keep on the move... With the kind of music we make, though, it should be doable to make a record a year, yeah. Maybe it would be a bit more sensible to take some time before charging straight in to working on the next one, but not much thought generally goes into it, to be honest. We only really start thinking about it once it’s done, or once we at least feel we’ve a good enough bunch of songs to put out.

Your profile seems to be noticeably bigger in The States than at home – why do you think that’s the case?

It feels that way alright. It seems like we get more positive stuff back from The U.S., and I think it irritates quite a few people back in The UK. But that's fine, it doesn’t really bother me. Maybe we’ll be like that band Bush, who can’t get twenty people to come and see them in The UK but then go and play sold-out shows everywhere in The States!

Does it help being on Sub Pop?

They’re so supportive of us, and I think they just want us to be happy doing what we’re doing. I mean, we’re so lucky... Whenever I see a Sub Pop logo on our records, I still have to look twice – it hasn’t quite sunk in yet! [the band secured a deal with the iconic Seattle label in July 2009] We’re just the luckiest band to be able to work with those guys; they're so inspiring in the way they deal with things, and their overall attitude is really cool.

Lastly, we can't let you go without asking about the time you guys spent in the studio last year alongside Weezer's Rivers Cuomo. I presume he's someone whose previous work you admire? Did anything ever come of that collaboration?

No, not yet anyway. We actually got a revised version a few weeks ago, and it still wasn’t finished, so who knows what’s going to happen with that? I love it, think it’s great and would totally love people to hear it, but he’s a busy guy and he probably wants to work on it some more. That was definitely one of those of 'pinch yourself' moments, though... I can still remember where and how old I was when I bought The Blue Album, and when I saw that ‘Buddy Holly’ video for the first time. All that stuff is amazing.

Male Bonding play an UPSET THE RHYTHM show at London's Garage venue on Monday, October 17. Tickets are only £8, and can be bought right here. Check out the slackertastic video below for current single 'Tame The Sun'. You can also download 'Bones' – that epic, six-minute Endless Now centrepiece – for free by dropping your email address into that there Sub Pop widget down yonder.