How to make an album in 6 easy steps with Shrag

1. DEVISE THE PLAN

Bob: By the time our first album came out, the new one - Life! Death! Prizes! - was already 50% written. We made a conscious decision to make an album that was more than just a collection of songs. The title was suggested by Leigh Anne, our original drummer. It came from the bizarre tagline to Chat magazine, but it seemed like a good starting point. The words kind of encapsulate everything so, as themes go, it’s pretty vague!

Helen: Because of the way the first album came about - it was a collection of our five singles to date - writing and recording Life! Death! Prizes! felt kinda like making our first album.

With the first album we were kinda just learning about what we were like as a band; Shrag came about more or less accidentally, and so with those early songs it was very much a case of finding out what we were about, really. So this time round I think maybe we knew ourselves a bit better, wanted to push ourselves a bit more, be a bit more adventurous musically and lyrically, and think of the way these songs would hang together as an album.

2. GET THE MUSIC TOGETHER

Bob: For each song there is normally a rough demo which I record at home. Then Helen works on it, adding vocal tunes and words. I think songs have to start somewhere. We’re not very good at writing songs from scratch in the rehearsal studio, so by the time it gets to the studio there is already a pretty sound structure. But it’s only finished when everyone has had some input and that only happens in rehearsals.

Helen: I think we’d love to have time to work on stuff in the studio, but we have no money, and so studio time is precious, so yeah the writing gets done beforehand, normally in Bob’s front room... And yes we had to leave some songs off the album. We decided which ones via a group vote system. I know I for one tend to get impatient with older songs quite quickly and want to do new stuff so I’m not sure those songs will make it out, but, you know, it felt good to have the luxury of choosing.

3. ASSEMBLE YOUR TEAM, CHOOSE YOUR STUDIO

Bob: We’ve known (producer) Woodie Taylor for years and he’s worked on all our recordings bar the first single. He’s currently drumming in Comet Gain, but over the years he has been drummer for The Meteors and Morrissey, as
well producer for the likes of Love is All and Veronica Falls. Making a record is mostly great fun. Someone else deals with the boring business stuff, thank christ.

Helen: We recorded this album in a new place - Church Road Studios in Brighton - and Julian Tardo, who we did it with, was amazing and seemed to get what we were about instantaneously. We loved the studio where we recorded the first album, but I think because so much was different this time - the way the album materialised, the fact that Andy had joined as our new drummer - it was good to have a change and a new place and see how that affected our sound.

4. GET YOUR ASS INTO THE STUDIO

Bob: We bicker a lot in the studio, but that’s a good thing. I tried to get glam rock “heys” on Rabbit Kids but I was slapped right down.

Helen: Ah, recording is probably one of my favourite things as a band. I love that feeling of going in in the morning, and something doesn’t exist, and then you come out at the end and you’ve made it exist, and the process of building it layer by layer and watching (or I guess hearing) it come together, it’s like nothing else.

5. BE PREPARED FOR LAME THINGS TO HAPPEN

Helen: Well, we finally discovered what to say when people ask us what kind of musical genre we fit into - we are definitely a ‘Post-Lunch’ band: most mornings in the studio are a bit stressful and we all tend to be a bit tense and grumpy... it’s safe to say whatever magic there is usually happens post-lunch, when we are all best friends again. And not hungry.

Bob: I’d like to believe lunch consisted of healthy nutritional things but it nearly always meant wine and beer. And maybe some houmous.

6. HEY LOOK - AN ALBUM!

Bob: The record took a long long time to finish and for a while I couldn’t listen to it, but now the dust has settled I’m really pleased with the results.

Helen: Yep, I’m happy. There are flaws, and for a while they were all I could hear - but I think that’s inevitable when you’ve been so close to something for such a long time, like a boyfriend. But then you fall in love with them all over again and occasionally those flaws become charming again and you learn to live with them.

I’m proud of the record, and my favourite song changes all the time which I think is probably a good sign. Oh, and I’m SO thrilled that we’re going to have vinyl copies, I NEVER thought I’d be able to hold my own vinyl LP in my hands, it’s dead exciting!