Decade have just released their second album, Pleasantries, the follow-up to their critically acclaimed debut, Good Luck. Using irony and honesty to express themselves allied with smart and sharp grungy pop tunes, ironically or not, Pleasantries is a damn awesome sophomore release. We talked to Connor Fathers about their new album, recording it in several legendary recording studios with Romesh Dodangoda and much more.
It took a while for you guys to release the follow up to your debut album, Good Luck. What had you been up to during that time?
To be honest, we’ve been doing a lot of writing. We burned through quite a lot of songs to get to the final 11 for Pleasantries. We went through so many demos and we changed labels, we changed management and it all took a lot longer than I think any of us would have liked, but we’re finally here with a team that we’re happy with. We’re with Rude Records for this album and they have been really supportive which is great. We took a bit of time to line that up and to be honest we’ve already written nine or ten songs for the next album, so we’re headed of the game a little bit. [laughs]
Like you mentioned, you guys have a new home label, the good folks of Rude Records. What led you to work with them?
We’ve been speaking with them for quite a while and they’re just really nice and easy going guys. They’re passionate about what they do and they’re just really enthusiastic for our music which is great! That’s one of the good ones, if you know what I mean, when it comes to the music industry. They are really nice.
Good Luck received such an amazing feedback worldwide, so was it in any way stressful to write album 2?
No, I don’t think so. To us, we were really kin to follow up from Good Luck. Our sound was sort of naturally progressing a little bit and sometimes I think we feel like we can’t publish music at the same rate that we write it. We evolved our sound a lot quicker than the conventional ways in which you release music nowadays. I know it sounds ridiculous because it was such a long time between our records, but there’s also deals going on with labels and management that prevented us from being faster as we would like. It was effortless to write this album, it just sort of went the way we wanted it to go and it felt really natural. And again, where we’re going now, it feels like a very natural progression. It’s a joy to write honestly, it doesn’t feel difficult.
What did you want to convey with Pleasantries?
Pleasantries is just really about chronicling the story of life up until the point you get to your mid-20s, it’s a funny time when you get here and you enter adulthood. Being an adult really hits you. I think what we tried to convey as you listen through the record from the beginning to the end is sort of like the story of your life up until the point you are now and the things that you learn when you are a child that you’re not indestructible and your body can take some real hits that you’re mentally and emotionally not indestructible. You go through really low points and really high points, you fall in love, you fallout of love… It deals with all those sorts of human emotions and it’s all composing in that regards. I think with the title Pleasantries is just meant to be ironic. A lot of time is spent on small talk and we’re all sort of crossing over the real issues and the deep meanings in everyone’s lives, and it’s about stopping for those moments with this record.
“It [Pleasantries] deals with all those sorts of human emotions and it’s all composing in that regards.”
Was there any reason in particular to pick up the word Pleasantries to name the album?
It’s from the line of the opening track “Human Being” where it says “Exchanging pleasantries / With people you don’t really like / Don’t care for what they say / Have a nice day.” It has a couple of meanings to it and one of them I think is also about the cult within the music industry where it’s all just small talk and people being friendly to each other for the sake of it. Lots of sucking up to each other, you know? It’s about that sort of way of exchanging pleasantries and get to the real issues. It’s in a way an ironic title, much like as the title of our debut album. Good Luck was meant to be ironic, like “Oh you want to be a musician? Good luck with that!” [laughs] We just got a thing for irony and sarcasm. We’re smart asses really. [laughs]
Does that has a connection with the rotten flowers on the cover art?
Yeah! That was an idea that I had. I took that photo myself. It’s the cheapest artwork ever. [laughs] The cover is really meant to say “Here, I got you these” as the same way you exchange pleasantries. You give someone flowers, but it’s tainted. It’s meant ironically and it’s not as it seems, the flowers are dead. There’s nothing nice about that.
Lyrical wise, what did drive Alex to write such immediate and sharp lyrics?
Alex is one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. What goes on in his brain sometimes I don’t entirely know, but I love the visions he has, I love where he gets his ideas from and where he draws his inspirations from… I think like a lot of people in the mid-20s, you start to go through some strange feelings and feeling out of place in life and not really knowing what your purpose is… All those sort of existential ideas that can lead you to some dark nights and I guess people like Alex and myself are blessed to have music and that’s a way out of that. I think there’s a lot of emotion in that and he’s a really honest person with his music and it makes it really relatable. He’s a really clever writer.
Musically, did you guys did anything differently this time around that stands out in the writing process of this album?
We wrote a certain amount of the album mostly when we went into the studio. The first time around we had everything written, we went into the studio for a few weeks, we recorded it and left when it was done. But this time we went in with a little bits here and there to finish, a few decisions to make and that made it really interesting because we were recording in a few studios. One of them was Rockfield in Wales, which is out in the middle of nowhere and no phone signal, crappy Internet and it’s an old converted farm. We were all sleeping there for a week, there was a bunch of rooms and so we were really sort of living with each other with no access to the outside world. That was really exciting and really fun process to do, it made the songs a bit more personal and we really made a mark on there. That was the most fun part of this process I would say.
Like you said, you went to a few recording studios for this album, including Real World, Rockfield and Abbey Road studios, overseen by producer Romesh Dodangoda. Tell me more about that process and how the experience was for you guys.
It was Romesh’s idea for us to get out and about for it and we were really kin. Real World studios is just down the road from where we all live, so that made it nice and easy to do some long days there and still get the confidence of coming home, having dinner at home and things like that. We recorded the drums there and it had a really fantastic sound and a really great place to be. And then we moved on to Rockfield in Wales like I said. We did the guitars and make a start on the vocals. We really wanted to go there just because of the history of the place. So many amazing bands that have been through there, in particular I would say Oasis who we draw a huge amount of inspiration from. They did (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? [1995] there, they did a lot of takes for their acoustic guitar in that record outside and around the farm and you can hear birds from the farm. The people that are in the studio that live there would take us on tours around the studio. There’s even a hole in the wall that is still there now from where Liam Gallagher put his guitar through the wall. [laughs] The history of that place really drew us to it. And then Abbey Road, of course. Everyone knows about Abbey Road. Romesh is quite friendly with the staff that works there and really wanted to finish the record there. It was just perfect.
You guys just released a new single called “Turn Off Your TV” and it feels so accurate to our nowadays and how people act socially right now. What do you think about that?
Yeah, it’s crazy. It’s really getting kind of frightening, isn’t it? I can’t remember the last time I went to a gig and didn’t see loads of phone lights in front of me. Even just going to a gig and watch a band and seeing everyone with phones in front of me, people tweeting and stuff like that. It’s just crazy. Food, drinks and all things like that in moderation is fine. I think if you can take all in to context and try to see through the fake news use and take everything pinch of soul, I think you will be alright, but it’s scary times definitely. It’s easy to follow into the trap as well. It’s really comfortable to just sit and choose which friends you want to interact with and who you care about and who you don’t. It’s easy to follow into the trap because it’s very comfortable, but it’s scary and that’s what that song is about.
Why do you think Pleasantries marks a defining turning point to your band?
Maybe every band says it when they release a new album, I’m not sure, but I feel like if you want to feel anything else other than your latest work is your best, then why are you doing it if you don’t think it is your best? I think along your past as a band or an artist or whatever you do creatively, you’re always looking to improve, refine, evolve and get better and deeper into whatever it is what you can see, what you want to achieve and what you want to do. I think with Pleasantries we’ve got as closed as we’ve ever been to realizing what it is what we want to do and now with the new songs that we’re writing for the third record we’re getting even closer to that. But I will say that it’s never finished and all of our albums will just one day merge into one big and long back catalog and you will be able to look back and see the different things that we’ve touched on, all the different themes, sounds and ideas that we explored, because we never want to make the same album twice. We never want to make the same sound twice. We want to explore new ideas, sounds and feelings.