Electric River

Electric River were in tHe Garden and Engine recording studios in September 2010. Here is a band interview from the sessions.

Miloco: It’s great to have you here at Miloco. What project are you working on and how’s it all going?
ER: We’re working on an EP with the intention of releasing a single off it in the next coming months. It’s been a pretty ambitious project and at times painstaking, but we’re starting to hear the hard work pay off and are really excited for people to hear the end product.

Miloco: You’ve been working in The Garden and The Engine Room. What have you enjoyed about the studios?
ER: We’ve recorded in quite a few studios, but one thing we noticed about The Garden, was that its live room was head and shoulders above anywhere we’ve been. It literally made acoustic instruments, especially drums and piano, scream with life. The control room had a lot of nice options without going overboard, and offered a lot of nice and relevant outboard gear. It’s also in a great location, and when your ears are fried, there’s nothing better than stepping out into a bustling street to try and regain normality. To top it all off, it had great toilet paper. The Engine Room is a great mix room, with really accurate monitoring, and it has been easy to hone in on certain sounds and conveniently achieve what we’re going for.

Miloco: How would you describe the material you are working on
ER: This project in particular has taken on a really ‘dancey’ vibe whilst keeping to our punk rock roots. A good analogy would be like modernising and updating the ethos of The Clash and crossing it with the production and melody of the Killers. We’re trying to take our music to a more accessible market whilst keeping a raw and integral energy.

Miloco: Who was your studio assistant, and how were they?
ER: In the Garden our studio assistant was Mark. He was great and really got involved with our work. It was nice to be able to put trust in someone who basically lives and breathes the studio and has the knowledge, experience and enthusiasm to help us out.

When we went to the Engine Room we had Rhys assisting us, who was nothing but helpful, and really looked after us, making things ten times easier to just focus on the job at hand. He also makes top-notch coffee.

Miloco: How did you come about working with Joe Fields on this project and what do you feel he offers that other producers/engineers might not?
ER: We’ve been on a long journey with Joe, and first started working with him in the early summer of 2009. On our first project, as with anything, we were trying to get to grips and understand each other, but we kept in close contact at gigs etc and his genuine passion for the band has always given us the extra edge to work with him. He’s naturally a great person to be around, always goes the extra mile for us, and is very modest with everything he does. A lot of producers and engineers are set in their ways, but with Joe we’ve found a formula, and we are both constantly learning things off each other.

Miloco: What’s your favourite record of the last 12 months (give or take)?
ER: Favourite record of the last 12 months, would probably have to be ‘I told you I was freaky’ by Flight of the Conchords. It’s very innovative and heartfelt. ‘American Slang’ by Gaslight Anthem, Billy Talent ‘iii’ and K’naan ‘Troubadour’ are close runners up.

Miloco: You are placed in front of a time machine. Which year in the past or future would you travel to and why?:
ER: I’d travel to the last five years of the 70s to watch Bruce Springsteen play at the Hammersmith Apollo, and experience The Clash putting their foot on music.

Miloco: If you could change one thing to benefit today’s music industry, what would it be?
ER: I would take 75% of the so-called ‘promoters in London to Dover and ship them off with a no returns ticket to the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Time and time again, we feel, bands like ourselves, have to be willing to make a loss and exploit ourselves just to get a crumb of the slice of the pie. The scene, partly to a lot of these people, is corrupt on every level, and puts a brick wall in the face of any young budding musicians who just want the opportunity to play live in the places that supposedly count. With the exception of a few, they don’t do any favours to anyone without an endless supply of cash, and certainly aren’t in it for the right reasons.

Miloco: Draw us a picture!
ER:

Electric River were speaking to Miloco in September 2010.