We Are Carnivores are currently getting ready to release their new EP em>Theodor’s A Don, Bro. We caught up with them for a chat to find out more about recording it, and also quizzed them about their latest single.
So since we last spoke, you’ve recorded your new EP Theodor’s A Don, Bro. How did that go?
It was super-duper laid back. We threw caution to the wind of our finances and busted a bunch of studio gear on Beu’s credit card, so we had the luxury of writing and recording everything as we go, which really allowed us to experiment with our song-writing process. There is nothing quite like replacing that “you-gotta-get-this-take-right-or-get-your-wallet-out” vibe with a slightly more horizontal philosophy of “we-literally-have-no-time-scale-who-wants-another-cup-of-tea”.
What would you say fans can expect from it?
Hopefully just more WAC but with some weirder bits. Wacky WAC amirite. We tried to take what we feel like are the most distinctive aspects of our sound and amplify them, by 11. We like big catchy choruses and we like trying to count time divisions in djent-y breakdowns so we’re taking a leaf off the tree of 21st century multi-genre-ism (or something) and throwing it all in the mixer. Downsizing ourselves to a three-piece has meant we’re throwing a load of synth bass on backing tracks for live shows now, so it’s been fun (life-consuming) having a dabble with new instrumentation to see how we can fit it into the sound we’ve developed so far.
Were there any songs that were more of a challenge to get right?
We do always usually get it right so we weren’t worried about it (never worried). I’m Not An Alcoholic was probably the most challenging as we did that thing where you write a riff on Guitar Pro that you can’t actually play and then have to learn it before getting it down on take 117.
Which one are you most proud of?
I mean, they’re all bangers really and we’re proud of them all, so it’s hard to pick one, but You Can’t Argue With Sharks produced some ground-breaking moments for us. James bought this guitar pedal like a year ago and everything he did with it sounded like tinned mushy peas ‘cause he’s so Yorkshire, but on YCAWS he got it sounding real quirky like a cheap Hammond organ, which really helped the chorus soar like a camel with a jet pack.
How would you say this differs from past releases? Did you do anything different this time round?
Beu’s been soaking his feet in warm water to soften up his verruca’s and it’s added a whole new dimension to his playing.
Any interesting tales from the studio?
Seeing as we recorded it in our flat that could be pretty much anything in the last few months. Biggest things to go down have probably been our egg-catch tournament (nobody won) or Harry’s League of Legends pentakill. Harry actually spent a couple of days making a weird (/well sick and badass) electronic track to go on the end of the EP but nobody else liked it so he basically just wasted a couple of days (writing this in third person and it still hurts).
You also chose to release the title track as a single ahead of the release. What made you choose that one over the others?
Theodor Adorno’s ghost came and visited us to say it was such a wicked-banger, it just had to go out as the first single. He seemed like a pretty scary guy when he was knocking about slagging off the composers of his day, so we definitely didn’t want to upset the undead version of him and just went with it.
What’s the response been like for it so far?
We’ve never written anything that’s come close to bringing people back from the dead before so it already feels like its surpassed our own expectations. Maybe the next single could bring back Beethoven, or maybe even Dumbledore, would love to know what those guys are rating.
How did filming the video go?
Bad. So bad. There were already some people recording a music video in the exact location at the exact time we went over to shoot ours. What are the chances of that? Two bands BOTH with the same idea to shoot in a forest? We should have found an old warehouse or windy hill or something.
