Jetplane Landing - Part 3
How did it feel to just record vocals?
Brilliant. All the pressure was off. This was the only record where I went into the recording knowing all the lyrics inside out from start to end. It was the first singing I’ve ever done in the studio without a piece of paper in front of me.
Did it change your performance?
Totally. I was really going for it. I didn’t use the pop shield. I recorded in the studio in front of speakers, singing live - like Metallica in Some Kind Of Monster…fucking ridiculous really. It was full on and hopefully a little bit of what it’s like live; pretty haphazard and all over the place. This is also the first record I’ve ever sung in my indigenous accent, which is really important to me. Everything I’ve ever recorded before has been some sort of weird hybrid Derry / American thing. I don’t know why, probably a lack of confidence, or trying to copy J Mascis or something. But this time I sound Northern Irish, even pure Derry in some bits. I’m really happy about that. It has a lot to do with the preparation; Jamie and I spoke about it. You really have to make decisions on certain words – you can choose to pronounce them in an American way, because that’s how you’re pre-programmed, or we can bolt in a bit of software that says, ‘no, you’re actually from Derry. That’s your modification. You can choose words and learn them differently’. So I did, and I’m really pleased about that.
When do you think the band will be ready to tour the new album?
Jamie always talks about ‘duende’. It means, roughly, the right moment, everything at the right time. There’s a time for everything. There’s a time to fight the bull. There’s a time to get married. There’s a time to have children. There’s a time write an album. There’s a time to play gigs. When Jetplane were in full-flow touring loads there was nothing else we wanted but to play the best shows we could and absolutely set ourselves on fire for people – anything to get the crowd going and make sure people had a good time. Whether you liked us or not, you walked out going ‘fucking hell, they went for it’. We never want to be dishonest to people into our music, so we decided to stop touring because we felt we would be going through the motions. We’re not karaoke. It does sound a little conceited to say, but we absolutely mean it. Every single word. We hit the stage running and we never let go until we’re finished. We’ve tried to transfer that into making this album – just absolutely meaning it. Every single song has been thought about and lovingly produced. As a result it’s the band on full-power and maximum speed in the studio. We hadn’t done that before.
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