What’s the first album you remember loving as a kid?
Slade – Don McLean American Pie
Adam – The Beatles’ Revolver. Not so much the whole album, but I remember playing to “Good Day Sunshine” to death in third grade.
What as the first album you bought with your own money?
Slade – Bobby Brown-Don’t Be Cruel
Adam – Bush-Sixteen Stone
What was the first local band that caught your ear?
Slade – I heard Mad Brother Ward on a mix tape my friend made me. That might have been the beginning of my awareness of Charlotte’s music scene. My friends’ band in high school, The Blind Venetians were great, they recorded on 4-track and released tapes. Superchunk were my heroes and On the Mouth was probably the first indie rock (rather than punk) albums I got.
Adam – There was a hardcore band from WV, where I grew up, named Zao that was the first band that really caught my attention as being “real people” that were “like me.” Shortly after that, I had some close friends that started a band called In Search of History (I don’t know if they’ll ever read this, but hey Marc, Andy & Jake!). They were the first band that made me realize making music with my friends was something I wanted to, and could, do.
What’s the most recent album you bought or have been listening to lately?
Slade – Bill Fay Time of the Last Persecution
Adam – Howard Ivans “Beautiful Tired Bodies” & “Cannots” by Ryley Walker and Charles Rumback
What was it like recording your latest album in comparison to your previous releases?
Slade – More laid back and we were more confident about making decisions. We played a lot of the album live in the studio. Working with Mitch Easter and John Plymale and a bunch of North Carolina badasses was a dream come true and the album sounds like how it did in our heads before we went into the studio more than anything else we’ve done. We also recorded some songs sooner after they were written than we have before and it was exciting to hear them come together while they were still new.
Adam – One of the biggest differences between the recording of the two albums was the span of time between starting and finishing the recording process. There was a much longer span in the recording of the first album, so I remember it as feeling like a pretty disjointed experience. The new record was done in about seven days over the course of only a few weeks. I think that helped with a feeling of confidence about the decisions we were making, and not over-worrying about things that could be perceived as flaws. There’s a pretty real feeling of “studio magic” at Fidelitorium because, simply put, it’s just a really rad studio. Mitch has put in a lot of work to make it comfortable and homey, and that creates an environment where it’s easier for that “studio magic” to come through in the music.
