Demob Happy On NEW Album, The Grown-Ups Are Talking: ‘Our Love Letter’
Demob Happy release new album ‘The Grown Ups Are Talking’ this Friday 13th February. Image credit: Linda Eklov
‘Our tastes have evolved naturally. But we still love the things we always loved and we still just want to be Led Zeppelin.’
Hailing from Newcastle Upon Tyne, Demob Happy have graced the alt-rock and indie circuits for over 15 years. They’ve headlined tours at home and abroad, shared stages with Jack White and Royal Blood, and earned comparisons to musical peers such as Queens of the Stone Age.
With a psych-garage sound and a suave, sexy 70s aesthetic that would have made Burt Reynolds proud, it’s easy to see they’re comfortable in their own skin. Made up of Matthew Marcantonio (lead vocals/bass), Adam Godfrey (guitar/backing vocals) and Tom Armstrong (drums/backing vocals), Demob Happy are a well-oiled indie machine humming with the confidence and self-assuredness that comes with experience.
In the lead up to the release of new album, ‘The Grown-Ups Are Talking’, released on streaming platforms this Friday, TOPNOTE spoke to Marcantonio about Demob’s latest release, how the band continue to push each other, and what’s next for the Geordie trio.
Read on for the full interview.
Demob Happy, ‘The Grown Ups Are Talking’ album artwork. Image credit: Demob Happy
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Interviewer: ‘The Grown-Ups Are Talking’ is now out on vinyl and Bandcamp, and will be releasing on streaming services on 13th February. How does it feel?
Matthew: It's amazing. It was a big undertaking for us. I was producing it and mixing it, and then putting it on our own label, self-promoting it… we self-funded the whole thing. We're all really proud of it. And it's just nice to finally have it out there, spreading some of that love.
Do you feel a greater sense of pride having done it all yourselves?
Matthew: It's good to have it be completely our artistic vision, but we've really discovered how much labels do, because this is the first time we self-released. But I'm glad we've done it this way, and it felt like the right time. This is our love letter in a way - a pure representation of what this band is for the first time.
What do you hope fans will take from the album?
Matthew: I just hope get the sense of love that's been put into it but also the weight and importance of it. I think it does a few things at once. There's a lot of heavy subjects in the lyrics, and then the music is actually just a lot of carefree fun. What I would love is for people to just get lost in the feeling of it all.
“That is a lot of where Demob comes from, wanting to be soft and beautiful, but also aggressive and powerful.”
In the decade since your debut album, ‘Dream Soda’, was released, what has changed in your songwriting?
Matthew: After ‘Dream Soda’, I felt like I was doing something that was an expression of angst and rage. There's not a minor chord on that album. It's all majors that modulate because I was so drawn to that unnerving, suspenseful, modality. It was meant to be an unsettling journey. But I'd expelled that from myself in making that record… and is it a true expression of me? Probably not. That is a lot of where Demob comes from, wanting to be soft and beautiful, but also aggressive and powerful. [This] was the most fun we've ever had making a record, but it had its difficult moments.
You've been together a long time. How do you keep things fresh and push each other creatively?
Matthew: We're quite honest with each other, and everything is vibe based. We know how we're feeling together, and we know where our heads are at. It's a kind of unspoken bond between us, we spend so much time together, our tastes have evolved naturally. But we still love the things we always loved and we still just want to be Led Zeppelin. Aim for the greats, you know?
The album was put together at Rancho de la Luna, a recording studio in the Californian Joshua Tree desert with a long history of big names in rock [Arctic Monkeys, Iggy Pop, Foo Fighters]. What was it like to work there?
Matthew: A dream come true. I've had a bit of an affinity with Joshua Tree since I first visited. I was drawn to the mystery and vastness of it, this kind of magical aura that the studio had. It was an influence on us because of their ethic of ‘let's disconnect from everything and just be in the moment’. And then finally meeting Dave Catching [studio owner] and finding out he was a fan of Demob… It was just incredible serendipity.
“I love ‘Give It All To Me’... I wrote that song perched atop a boulder out in the middle of the desert alone, one of the first times I ever visited Joshua Tree. I had a guitar, and in the vastness, kind of put this little riff together.”
Dave famously has a reputation for instinct over perfection. Was he involved or were you left to your own devices?
Matthew: It's such a little space, so he's kind of intimately involved in everything. He's a bit of an oracle, he was just good to bounce ideas off. So it was collaborative in a sonic sense, but not in any writing sense. If Dave says it was great, then it's probably great, you know.
Do you have a favourite track from the new album?
Matthew: The drum sound on ‘Who Should I Say Is Calling?’ I'm really, really happy with – this kind of punchy 70s kit sound, which I've always wanted to nail. I love ‘Give It All To Me’. It feels the most ‘desert-y’. I wrote that song perched atop a boulder out in the middle of the desert alone, one of the first times I ever visited Joshua Tree. I had a guitar, and in the vastness, kind of put this little riff together. So that feels like a really precious moment.
What's next?
Matthew: We're announcing a UK tour with all the regular spots for the end of April, and we're doing a few dates at the end of February supporting a French band [Last Train]. Then hopefully some European touring and, fingers crossed, we might get a US support tour.
‘Demob Happy’ in conversation with TOPNOTE. Image credit: Jack Hope
‘The Grown-Ups Are Talking’ is available now on vinyl and Bandcamp, and releases on streaming platforms on 13th February.