Since their inception in 2007 in deepest, darkest Livingston, Super Adventure Club have gathered a cult-following, thanks to their pleasingly wayward tunes and the outlandish onstage antics of their horse-headed chum Johny B.
The band recently released their second album ‘Avoid Zombies’ on up-and-coming Glasgow label Armellodie Records so we quizzed Bruce Wallace (guitar/vocals), Mandy Clarke (bass/vocals) and Neil ‘Waz’ Warrack (drums/vocals) to find out more…
How did you all meet each other?
Mandy: In Argos, Bruce and I were Christmas temps and Waz (aka Neil) was our Stockroom Manager, we just got chatting about music and stuff, we stayed behind one night and opened up a bunch of kitchen utensils, a kids glockenspiel and sang in some of those echo mic things, the rest is history.
You have one previous album, ‘Chalk Horror’. How do you feel ‘Avoid Zombies’ differs? Do you feel it is a progression for the band?
Bruce: ‘Avoid Zombies’ is better. We’ve gotten more intense with harmony and chord structure so it feels a lot more involved – full of subtle stuff and nuances that make the first album seem less rewarding to me. Ask Mandy – she listens to it about 8 times a day.
Mandy: The songs are different, ‘Chalk Horror’ had 8 songs on it but ‘Avoid Zombies’ has 8 different songs. I don’t really know how to answer this question, it’s quite difficult, when we wrote ‘Chalk Horror’ we were really proud and we’re totally proud of Avoid Zombies, I don’t see it as a progression really, we’ve just written more music, maybe it is a progression then….
Neil: I feel it’s a progression. We’re unlikely to re-visit something just because it worked well or just because people like it, as long as we keep changing as people we’ll keep changing as musicians, change is something we enjoy and embrace. ‘Avoid Zombies’ feels like a more refined record to me, its pop identity seems more apparent than the raw and slightly untamed feel of ‘Chalk Horror’. I love them equally but they’re definitely two unique records.
I believe the recording of the album only took two days, how did you find the recording process? Was it stressful or fun?
Mandy: It was fun. You can’t ration fun.
Bruce: Always fun. We always choose the cheapest way, which usually involves us setting up in an environment that we have no time constraints in, so no pressure either to be tight right away to save time/cash, and Laurie Irvine mixed this time instead of us doing it ourselves.
Neil: It was a lot of fun, personally I enjoy the recording process and this one was no different, we were presented with a couple of unexpected challenges and we dealt with them well. It got a bit edgy towards the end when we were all so jacked up on coffee that it was hard to tell if things were sounding good or not, it’s a strange feeling to doubt your own opinion but sleep deprivation certainly gives you the edge and if there’s one thing you can’t afford to do in this band; it’s lose that edge.
How does the songwriting in the band work?
Neil: In a variety of ways but our most common approach is Bruce writes the main ideas, often the majority of the song, and we structure, restructure and rewrite the parts together. That said, since recording ‘Avoid Zombies’, we’ve been writing as a group a lot more. Like I said before, change is not something we shy from.
You’re known for your inventive, imaginative music. Do you have a wide range of musical influences? What inspires you?
Mandy: Yes, to both.
Neil: We have a huge range of musical influences, between the three of us we pretty much like everyone except Little Boots and I went to see her just to make sure. We really enjoy a lot of pop, alternative music and music from smaller local bands. Our general influence stretch beyond the music realm too, we are film an TV addicts too and I’m personally influenced by artists and writers as much as I am musicians – our music has a philosophy and that only exists because of exposure to other artists philosophies – it doesn’t matter what their creative outlet is.
Bruce: I only really listen to The Monkees.
What plans have you got for touring the album?
Mandy: We’re planning to tour France, Switzerland, Spain and Britain in October/November. We had to turn down main support for Kanye West tour recently, we’re just not fans, he keeps calling us though, it’s quite embarrassing.
Super Adventure Clubs new album ‘Avoid Zombies’ is out now on Armellodie Records. New single ‘Hip Hop Hot Pot Pot Noodle’ is released on Monday 21st June.
www.myspace.com/superadventuremusic