“The band formed in 1998. And we went on hiatus in 2007. It’d been almost ten years of writing, recording and going on tour for long periods of time,” says guitarist Mia Clarke, reached from her home after a day spent in University classes. “And although it was very fun, very amazing and we all felt fortunate to be able to do what we did, eventually it started to take its toll. On our lives outside of the band, I mean. We didn’t have time to do anything else in our lives. We felt like we needed to take a step back and just concentrate on things that we’d always wanted to do that weren’t music related. And it felt very natural, like it was the right time. We thought it best to nip it in the bud and have an actual break.”
With the large white elephant now shown the door, Clarke is ever more eager to discuss the conditions of what brought the band back together.
“We weren’t approached by any promoters or anything. I think everyone just assumed we were done. But a few emails started being sent back and forth. We realised how much we missed playing together. We all simultaneously had six weeks off together in the summer, so we figured we should take advantage of that time. It’s pretty rare we all had time off together. So we got back in touch with some of the people we used to work with, and things began to take shape after that.”
Chemistry was easy to find between band members as well, notes Clarke. “It was better than it’d ever been, which was really lovely and surprising. I don’t know whether it was the break or the fact that we were older. The energy on stage was that much better because we were having so much fun. It felt more fulfilling than it had been, right before the break.”
Without a new record to promote, Clarke says that the setlists for this tour will be largely comprised of the band’s back catalogue, including tracks from the band’s second and third full lengths, 2004’s The Power Out and 2005’s Axes. These albums mark an important time for Electrelane, as the band traveled to Chicago to work with famed producer Steve Albini.
Noted for his hands-off approach, Clarke concedes that the band were forced to have a long hard look at each other while making the record, without having a producer that was ready to dictate the course of the record.
“The responsibility was very much on our shoulders. We came in, and he recorded what he played. And that was it. We had to make sure that we were in a solid place before we even entered the studio.”
Clarke continues, noting the effect that those two records, and working with Albini in general has had on the band’s career.
“I’m not sure if I could say that they changed the course of the band, because I don’t know what the alternative would’ve been. But they were very important to us discovering our sound. The key with Axes was that we recorded the album all in one take. All of us, in one room, together. We wanted to be able to capture our live sound. And it’s quite difficult to do that in a standard recording environment. That was a very important moment for us as a band, because we had a very strong vision of what we wanted as a band.”
What followed was 2007’s No Shouts, No Calls. Electrelane chose to get as far away from Chicago as possible, entering Planet Roc Studios in Berlin to write and record No Shouts, No Calls. And in doing so, they wrote during the height of the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The band became fans of the beautiful game, going so far as to include clips from a local match in the song Five.
“We were in Berlin during the summertime,” says Clarke, with a noted enthusiasm. “It was beautiful, with matches being shown on big screens in beer gardens everywhere. It was just so lovely to be practicing and writing all day then head out afterwards, have a few beers, watch some matches. I think we just got hooked so easily. So much so that we scheduled our writing sessions around the matches.”
Now ready to have a crack at their back catalogue during this tour, Clarke says that while there are no immediate plans for the band to record new material, they’re keen on just taking things one day at a time and enjoying the moment.
“We do want to make another album. We’ve got to figure out things like timing, financing. There are hurdles, but I think we’re all excited to see where this goes.”
BY JOSHUA KLOKE
ELECTRELANE play the Corner Hotel on Friday March 23.
