What’s your songwriting process like?
I just think that we all work on [songs] together, we come up with ideas, we edit parts out, then I think we go through a similar process when we’re actually recording the songs. The music comes from the four of us working together.
Do you have a specific moment when you know a song is done?
I guess when it’s been recorded and we send it off. With the last one we kept making little adjustments until the end so it was very much a drawn out process and I anticipate we’re gonna do the same thing on this one as well.
Do you know when you will go into the studio for the next record?
I just know that we’re practicing like every day in January. We’ll probably take two weeks off after the tour in December and then just get back at it. We’ll start recording pretty soon after that. But we’ll record probably in a drawn out process. We’re not going to go into a studio and give ourselves two weeks to make a record. That’s not how we did our last record and I don’t think that’s how we’re going to do this record. We’re gonna work together and do it in parts and listen back and constantly revise. It’s what worked for us last time. I could see how having a strict time deadline could help a band, but for us I think it’s best to do it this way.
Will you record in New York?
Yeah. We talked about maybe going some other places for a week at a time. That’s still to be decided.
When do you guess the record will actually come out?
Definitely some time next year, maybe in the fall.
Do you tweak and revise the songs in a live setting as well as in the studio?
I think there are some thing that change from night to night. I don’t know. For example the last song we recorded—in September of last year—we had been playing it for six months but the string arrangement on the album was written pretty much that morning. That was something changing almost at the last minute. As far as live we do try different things. We haven’t gone the route of completely retooling all our songs or playing them completely differently. There are some little things, like on the last tour Rostam was using this new keyboard and that was pretty fun.
I think that once it’s recorded and out there, that’s pretty different than everything leading up to that moment. Some people also say we’re a much better live band than we were a year and half ago. But for us, up there onstage every night, we don’t really notice any changes. It seems like same band. I’m sure there are a few differences you could point out if you looked at a performance from a year and half ago and today.
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