FasterLouder Five with TheSodapops

Mon 22nd Aug, 2011 in Features

Guitarist Grant Rutups spends five with FasterLouder.

Who are The Sodapops?
The Sodapops are something else, we can be a heartwarming entertainment band which you would love to just sit down with a drink and enjoy, or we can be the band that you completely lose yourself to, not caring whether or not the people behind you are pointing and laughing at you. We are a four piece with the lovely Nichola Weatherly on vocals, the bass beast Ryan Drum, our current chaotic progressive jazz kid drummer Kyle Stanton and me, the guitarist which completely loses himself in the music and is bound to be pointed and laughed at by the crowd.

We (then known as G-Rant and The Sodapops) formed at the end of 2008 straight out of our college music class to compete in a Battle of the Bands comp, which we made the finals for, but lost in the end. However that was enough to inspire us to become a proper band. Our original drummer Ken Takagi (who recorded drums on our upcoming debut release) is currently in Japan for uni, hopefully he’ll be back soon!

Describe your style.
Our style is particularly difficult to define without being pretentious but I should be able to describe it… When we formed I was learning a lot about jazz (trying to get into the ANU course but failed) and I figured the chords were a lot cooler than power chords, but at the same time I was really into Mike Patton (Mr. Bungle, Fantomas, Faith No More, Tomahawk) and Prince so the combination of Jazz theory, experimental rock and pop funk is kind of the bedrock of the music of The Sodapops.

Within three years you’ve had one name change, played countless gigs and now your debut album launch is just around the corner. Tell us about the recording process.
The album making process as a whole was a real learning experience but proved to be a very long, frustrating and anxious production. Recording was probably the easiest part, we had a three day session at my uncle Mark Sutton’s home studio (jazz drummer and ANU teacher), where we laid down all of the drum/percussion tracks, most of the rhythm guitar/bass, a few solos and a bit of the vocals. Those three days were a lot of fun, definitely the highlight of making the album. But after that things got tricky, we had to record the rest of the album ourselves, which meant we had to buy Pro Tools (which took ages to get working) and find time to do the vocals before Nichola went overseas for two months. We had to improvise quite a bit so most of the vocals were actually recorded at Nichola’s house and the rest of the guitar/bass parts were recorded at Ryan’s.

So after three days of getting most of the album done we recorded the rest here and there over the next few months. We then had to wait a couple more months for Greg Stott to find time to mix our album, but it was well worth the wait as he ended up making the album sound like no other. We then waited another month for mastering and then waited for printing. We almost died a few times getting lost and driving through Sydney trying to find the printers to get the CD, but as soon as I had it in my hands I finally felt complete. Hopefully our next record goes a lot smoother!

Canberra’s music scene is…
A bit of a sad story. There’s just hardly any support for local bands like us. I think there’s a decent hardcore or indie scene but as for the alternative scene bands come and go and things don’t really go anywhere. There aren’t many places to play, unless you are a cover band or something, people generally don’t seem interested in you, you have to do a lot of hard work to get yourself out there, it’s a real DIY scene.

The Sodapops’ plans for 2011?
Our plan is to release this album already! Haha, but we’re doing it in the coolest way possible at ANU Bar with AstroChem and Pleased to Jive You. I really want to start writing new music with the band and maybe play some interstate shows, that’d be rad, but yeah our plans at the moment are just to spread this album around as much as possible, so please help us out!

Pleased to Jive You, AstroChem, The Sodapops, Only The King, The Crouching 80s Hidden Acronym (all ages show) @ Woden Youth Centre, Woden, Friday 26th August for more info click here

The Sodapops’ debut album launch with AstroChem, Pleased to Jive You @ ANU Bar, Canberra, Friday 2nd September for more info click here