Jukebox Chatter: Make Do And Mend

Your new record sounds a lot bigger and more ambitious than its predecessor. Did you go into the studio wanting to make it sound big?

All of our songs have always been pretty ambitious, we’re always trying to achieve writing great songs. That being said we’ve never really gone into writing a record with a set of goals in mind it just comes out how it comes out and as cliché as it sounds there’s no real endgame.

What is your new single ‘Lucky’ about?

We get to travel the world playing music for a living which is pretty cool. We feel very Lucky to have that. Doing what we do there’s a lot of times where there’s a lot of stress that goes along with it, as stupid as that sounds, and it can really dampen the excitement and the joy that comes along with doing what we do. I had to take a step back and realise that when there are days when I’m thinking ‘fuck this’, this sucks’ I have to check myself and say ‘relax’ and that it’s not as bad as I think it is.

You guys always package your records in creative ways, how involved are you in that?

That was the big thing with Paper + Plastik our last label, Vinnie (Fiorello label owner) is really into collaborating with different artists and coming up with unique ideas. The new record is a bit more straight-forward packaging though, hopefully down the line we’ll be able to do something cool with it. In terms of artwork I feel like so many bands go overboard with their artwork but we’re more about sleek, classy and timeless.

There’s been a huge amount of bands coming from the hardcore/punk scene in the states recently who have been getting a lot of attention and making interesting music. Why do you think that is?
I think it’s because for a long time there was such a lack of those honest, tangible types of bands for a good 5 or 6 six years so when that evolution happened that these bands were in people’s faces a lot more there was such a craving for that tangibility.

At least that’s how I feel because I was so detached and disenchanted by from those vapid ridiculous bands so when I saw this resurgence of new bands that don’t have an act and don’t have a costume I started to think like ‘yes I want this, give me more of this’ and I think on the whole that’s how a lot of people felt.

Finally, you have one credit for the jukebox - what's it gonna be?

Apartment Story by The National.