Barely into their 20s, brothers Tom and Alex White are practically veterans in the U.K. music scene. Albums such as Holes in the Wall and The American Adventure display their knack for guitar based, indie rock. Their new album, No Need To Be Downhearted, is actually the first to receive a proper U.S. release. Out on Tuesday, the new album brings the brothers into new territory with lush arrangements alongside some epic, pounding guitar rock.
When not touring under the name Electric Soft Parade, the brothers make music with British Sea Power's Eamon Hamilton as Brakes (or BrakesBrakesBrakes). Both forms of the band will be on tour in the states this May and June.
Tom is one half of the brothers White. I talked with him last month about making the album, so I would like to welcome him to this space.
First off, congratulations on the new album, it's your best to date.
Thanks. I think your recent work should be your best.
Before we get into the new album, I just want to touch base with your other project. You keep pretty busy between this and Brakes. Is it that you need something to do or just you want to create music outside of the Electric Soft Parade spectrum?
I just hate having days off. It's like some bloke, when he retires and just goes crazy because he has nothing to do. Humans are happiest when they are doing something. So it's boredom and having shitloads of ideas.
Did you have to reassess your previous albums before you starting making the new one?
It's more about perfecting what we do. We got some things wrong in the past, so on this one we got it right.
What are some things that you wanted to correct?
We sounded too conscious of what we were doing. We wanted to sound a certain way. This one we kind of just let it out naturally.
Was it by design that you recorded it by yourself, so that you didn't have any outside influences?
It was by necessity. We just didn't have the money. If we were going to make a new record, we would have to do it with no budget. We worked in enough studios to know how to do things and what's going to sound good to us. We taught ourselves how to work ProTools so we could achieve what we wanted.
Where did you go to record it?
In a barn on a farm outside of Oxfordshire. There's a little space set-up by our record label where we could record live instruments and have a stage. It's small. The control room is barely 5 x 5.
Was it an adjustment working with just the two of you to bounce ideas off of?
Yes, it was. Alex listens to a lot of hip-hop and DJ music. I listen to indie, so we needed to come to a middle point.
Did you have songs planned out for when you went to the barn?
We started in the beginning of 2006, just a week at a time. "Misunderstanding" was written in 2003, so it just evolved until something real.
The first song on an album usually sets up what's to come, but "No Need To Be Downhearted (Part One)" is kind of a misnomer. It's not like the rest of the album. Was that by design?
Well, I think an album should be a lot of things. It should really take you on a journey. I didn't want to start off with a rock track. I wanted to show that there are different sides to this band.
Was Part One and Two originally one song divided into two or two different songs?
It was two different songs. We wanted the record to be a circular thing. We wanted to bring the dynamic back to where it started.
"Woken By A Kiss" is an epic song. Walk me through the process of creating that song.
It was a long process. That, and some others, just evolved from such a point that I don't remember how they started in the first place. The guitars was a home 8-track demo. We chopped it up and add the drums in the studio. The arrangement changed around for two years until we settle on the final version.
"Cold World" is my favorite track on the album, but it's actually a previously released song.
Yeah, it was the lead track off the EP. We just added to the album in case nobody heard it the first time around.
Any of the songs on the album you feel personally connected to?
Well, I kid of enjoy the bookends of the album, and stuff like "Shore Song." It's hard to make rock music and have some space in there. We try to make it clean so that your ears can get right in the middle of the mix. We never really nailed those types of tracks before so I glad we got it right on this one.
Now that you have the album finished and to your liking, would you ever want to work with a producer again, even a Nigel Godrich or Jim Abbiss?
I wouldn't want to work with Jim Abbiss. He's shit man.
Okay, how about somebody you admire?
Well, it would have to be somebody who's familiar with our work. Production should run along side the song. It shouldn't change the song completely. When we write songs, we have the production side of it planned out as well.
You're 22 now and you've been in the business for 5-7 years. Do you feel like you're veterans at it?
I can gauge better at what people's reactions will be. That's one thing about making this record -- it was up to us to make songs that could be played on the radio. Any band can say that they can make their own record, but to make a record that stands up against the Bloc Partys of the world, that to me is a major achievement.
Do you see that Mercury Prize nomination as a major achievement as well?
Not so much. We were on a major label and I'm sure they pulled a lot of strings to make that nomination happen. That album was so over-produced. It took a year to make. It was ridiculous. I don't think Adam and I were prepared for it. If it happened now, we could handle it in a different way. We would embrace it or just appreciated it more. I was 17 when that happened. It was a good thing at the time.
Well, you got to go to the ceremony and hang out with Mike Skinner, Doves and Ms. Dynamite.
It's not our scene. In America, the press knows how to handle award ceremonies. In England, everybody freaks out. It's over the top and people get caught up in it. They make such a big deal out of it. The press wouldn't stop writing about us. I was like, "Come on, give us a chance. We're just starting out." The label just pushed us too quickly into it. Right now, if we got a nomination, we would feel like we earned it.
What's the secret to being in a band with your brother?
[Laughs] Watch what you say. We're on the same page anyway. We usually answer our own questions the same. Finish each other sentences.
Final question, you got any recommendations of new music from the U.K.?
Definitely check out Actress Hands. They just made their first album and hopefully they'll find their way to the States. I think the new Field Music album is one the best things I've heard in the past two-three years. I think so many British bands try to sound American, but they sound like who they are. The songwriting is years ahead of anything out of the U.K.
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