Black Rabbits
BAD habits, big beats and catchy lyrics have all been jammed-packed into Grinspoon’s latest album, Black Rabbits.
Black Rabbits is the seventh studio album from the Aussie rock band and includes 12 new tracks.
Bass guitarist Joe Hansen said the album was developed to have big, bold and catchy sounds.
"It’s a really catchy rock record," Hansen said.
"It has big choruses and it’s quite melodic.
"We haven’t lost our typical Grinspoon rock sound, it’s just less negative.
"This time we went for a more positive sound. More up-tempo and that’s what we are aiming to achieve."
Hansen said the group wanted to move away from the doom and gloom of hard rock.
"I think this time we wanted to do something reminiscent."
"We wanted to do something that was fresh and totally different from what we had ever done before.
"We’ve developed an album that has power pop rather than that rough rock sound."
The title of the album Black Rabbits is cockney slang for bad habits.
Hansen said the band didn’t know what to label their fresh new sound.
"We had been working on the album for a long time and we just had no idea what we wanted to call it."
"The idea for bad habits was suggested by Pat [Grinspoon’s guitarist].
"He knew about cockney slang and we thought it sounded good, it was catchy and suited the album."
Black Rabbits was created differently to past Grinspoon albums, which usually involved the entire group rocking out their beats in a studio.
Hansen said the band came up with the vocals and music for the new album in their homes.
"Basically we sat at our homes which are located in different towns," he said.
"We worked in our home studios, wrote and worked on different sounds and lyrics. Then we would email the work we did to each other. We would talk on Skype and await each other’s comments via email."
Once the songs took shape, the band members caught up to jam out their newly constructed tunes.
"Working at home gave us the opportunity to work on demos," Hansen said.
"Once we had produced our ideas, we went back to a more traditional approach and got together, jammed out and rehearsed our songs."
Hansen said working online worked well for the group.
"We live in different areas, so its really hard for all of us to catch up."
"It also costs a lot of money to travel and hire a studio.
"We have been working together for many years so we just knew what each other was like, we just have that connection.’’
But Hansen has warned other bands to be wary of using online apps and devices to communicate ideas with band mates.
"I think for other bands it might not work as effectively.
"You know it could become sterile, and you could run the risk of creating a very impersonal album.
"You could also run the risk of not being able to really communicate your music effectively with your audience."
To create their fresh new sound, Los Angeles-based rock producer Dave Schiffman, whose past credits include Weezer, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Bronx, was chosen to handle the recording session.
Hansen said Schiffman provided the group with fresh ideas.
"We went to LA for five weeks and worked on the album over there pretty quickly."
"Dave is a hard worker and we worked very hard also.
"We did days in the studio that [lasted] from 11am to 11pm. We did none of those fancy lunches or hanging out in the studio either. Just worked.
"Dave had really cool ideas and he would just put his ideas out there."
The band will perform songs from Black Rabbits at the Big Day Out music festival early next year.