How can you describe the career of You Am I? The band have been around nearing 10 years on now & have become part of Australian music history. As we near the release of the band's new album, it's interesting to look back at where the band have been to make it to this point.
A
couple of weeks after the release of the band's latest single Damage,
I caught up with Andy from the band & we chatted about the usual
things, including the upcoming album, airplay & what it means to
the band to have been around for as long as they have in the music
industry.
My first question was about the term 'elder statesmen' that had been included in the band's press release with their new single.
"Yeah, what's that all about. I mean I know we've been around for a while, but I think that's probably a term better reserved for bands like Midnight Oil in Australia, or if you're really talking about elder statesmen, The Rolling Stones. Tim & I have been doing this for all of our twenties, so I guess in context, we've been around for longer than many bands ever last for."
I asked about the album & how it was coming on, nearing the release date.
"Look, we've gotten most of it done, but we're still picking songs for it really. We have a lot of songs to pick from, but it's never really easy to pick & choose out of those what you think are the best, so it's a really hard process to go through."
While it's been a little while since the release of the band's last album, I wanted to know a little about the recording process.
"I suppose it's not really all that different from our other recording sessions, except that now we can take a bit longer to do things. This album in particular, we've been able to take a more relaxed time in the studio & we've been able to put some of that time in getting better arrangements happening on the songs that we've out down. I guess that's one of the benefits of being on a major label, we can take the time we need to get our music how we'd like it."
So you're probably wondering, as I am, how the recording was done in some of the band's past albums.
"We'd spend less time working on those songs I guess. It's not that they weren't good songs, but we never had a chance, especially during those early records, to spend the amount of time we'd have liked, you know, get in, get 'em down & get out again."
With the topic of major labels, I asked what Andy thought was one of the best benefits of being on one.
"One of the best things as far as I'm concerned, is being able to help out bands who are struggling. We know where their coming from, because we've been in that position & we know how hard it is. I'm helping out a couple of great bands at the moment, one called USSO & another one called The 9 Volts - as in batteries. I have a studio in my house, so if it takes the band a week of playing guitar in my house, then that's how it is. I certainly saves them the huge cost of spending that week in a full on studio."
Lastly, I asked where the band's best airplay had been coming from.
"There'd be no doubt that Triple J have been right behind us from the start. They do an amazing job,, especially when you consider that they cover the whole country. Then of course, the community stations are a great support for any band. We've also been lucky just lately with the Austereo network, so maybe they've just started to figure our that we've been around that long & we're just not going to go away."
Check out the band's new single Damage out now through BMG & watch soon for their new album.
