We Are Scientists follow up their mainstream label debut With Love and Squalor with their latest effort Brain Thrust Mastery. Chris Cain gives an insight to making this album and loosely discusses the prospect of another Australian tour.
We Are Scientists’ major label debut With Love and Squalor created quite a splash, raising the expectations for their follow-up Brain, Thrust, Mastery. “We’re extremely happy,” Chris reflects on the hard work for their new album. “I think we made sure to take our time with this one and not rushing the process. The label initially wanted it last January but we managed to take another full year and incredibly happy as to where we ended up.”
There is no doubt that the band had another quality album in them, even with the pressure of their label and fans wanting something that would exceed all expectations. “Um,” Chris pauses. “I don’t think there was – but there was pressure not to create junk. Having said that, there was a little less pressure with this album, because we already have a guaranteed audience and that there would be a listenership for it. I think there is more comfort in that than anything.”
A new album and some new tricks was something that the band worked hard on in the studio, trying not to replicate what had already been done previously. “I think we were far more focused and the creation process was more compacted,” Chris elaborates. “We did it all straight out, like it was a job and full-time pursuit. With the last album we were creating these songs over one to two years as a part of a hobby. When we happened to finish we decided to go in and record once we had enough songs. There was no set deadline or pressure to finish an album, as we were not really a professional band. This album got us off the road after a small break before sitting down to start work on it full-time.”
Life on the road is tough and returning home to record a new album was quite refreshing. “Well, it wasn’t bad,” Chris indicated. “The main thing about being on the road for a long time is that you get sick of being on the road. Coming home and beginning the creative process, being based in one place is eventually quite refreshing. More than anything it was about enjoying the change.”
With four albums in the discography now, what makes this one different? “I’d say this one is a lot fuller in sound,” Chris suggests. “The arrangements aren’t limited to three instruments. We decided to allow us to be more expansive with the arrangements. I think it’s a pretty straight-forward pop record, whereas the last record was more of a guitar, rocky type record. Also, it fits within a specific sub-genre against the spiky, post-punk, dance stuff. We definitely did not want to recreate that sort of sound, and I think we successfully avoided it.”
The creative process can be something that divides the band, but We Are Scientists has a fairly democratic process to sorting this stuff out. “I think that given we’re a financial concern we try to make as many decisions as we can before we get in to the studio,” Chris indicated.
“By the time we’re actually in there we’ve already decided what the song rationale might be. It’s just a matter of trying to get the best possible sounds we can and getting everything laid down in an efficient way. There certainly is creative struggle during the writing process but I don’t think it’s ever an excruciating or terribly destructive or anything.”
So how does that extend to the final track-list? “I think on this album it was clear that the tracks on the album made a very nice coherent whole,” Chris philosophises. “The remaining tracks will end up being used as b-sides. We liked them but felt that they would be slightly redundant as to what they would do on the album, or just didn’t really fit in to the album as a whole.”
After a lightening quick Australian tour a couple of years ago, there are plans to return at some stage this year. “The goal this time is to tour Australia for at least week,” Chris reveals (fingers crossed Adelaide). “The aim is to get a broader swat of the place, but it is so goddamn big!”
