Since recording their breakthrough debut album, Echoes, in 2003, New York four piece The Rapture have been on quite a rollercoaster ride. The band spent the best part of a year writing their sophomore effort Pieces of the People We Love – entering the studio with a whopping thirty songs.
The reasoning behind this madness, according to Luke Jenner, (vocalist and guitarist for the band) was that “the last time we made a record not everyone was happy with all the songs” You can almost hear the shrug from the former San Diego native. “The whole idea was that this time we’d all have to like all the songs – so we kept writing ‘til everyone was satisfied.”
Then with the help of mighty producing duo, Epworth (Bloc Party, Futureheads) and Pearson (Gwen Stefani , Chemical Brothers) at Searsound studios in Manhattan, The Rapture set about distilling that selection into an album. “We wanted to make a cohesive album that wasn’t too long,” explains Jenner. “We wanted an album that you could listen to from start to finish. We were conscious of creating a journey, not a series of singles.”
Nonetheless the album has already produced a couple of killer tracks, including the radio friendly Woo Hoo Alright Yeah Uh -Huh and new single, Get Myself Into It. When I speak with Jenner he’s fresh off the set from recording a performance for Carson Daly, something he describes as “a little weird, though necessary”. He doesn’t seem that psyched to be appearing on a show that could potentially expand The Rapture’s fanbase to millions of American teens – and minutes later when I ask whether his parents are proud of him now – he’d confessed to a troubled relationship with them in his teens—”I think my parents had given up on me. My dad was a college professor and I think our relationship was always dependent on my grades at school – and I bucked that pretty early on”—he delivers the following bombshell:
“Actually my mom died a couple of days ago – she was really sick in the hospital and they thought she was gonna get better but she then got a blood clot and just died.”
As I offer my condolences – and say I can understand – my own mother having died not that long ago – Jenner seems relieved. “It’s been a big event for me – it’s pretty major,” he sighs. “It’s hard to describe the impact to people that it hasn’t happened to…”
Despite his distress, Jenner says he’s found the whole notion of touring with his band oddly comforting at this time (the band have just come off a European tour and are midway through a series of US dates). “To be honest it’s been nice to be on tour in a weird way ‘cause I’ve had the release of a show every night. It’s just great to get up and jump around for a while and be somewhat emotional.”
When we finish our chat Jenner plans to hop in his car with drummer Vito Roccoforte in tow and make the trip back to San Diego. He’s looking forward to the drive – and the turkey that awaits him for Thanksgiving dinner.
“I get excited about big roast meals,” he smiles “I think it’s because my mom was English – she was always making roasts.” Jenner believes he has a lot to be thankful for this year despite his recent bad news: “I just had a little boy,” he says. “So I’m really thankful for that. He’s awesome and I’m thankful for my wife as well and thankful to be surrounded by people I like everyday and not have a crappy job and to be able to do what I love every day.”
Funnily enough, music is Jenner’s second love – his first dream was to be a pitcher in the big leagues. “I wanted to be a college baseball player but I failed – I wanted to be a pitcher, but I wasn’t good enough… So at the same time as my baseball failure at age 17, a really good friend of mine was playing guitar and I though ‘that looks like fun…’ “
And the rest as they say is history…
Catch Jenner when The Rapture land in Australia for the V Festival – Sydney March 31 2007, Gold Coast April 1, 2007.
Which by the way Jenner says he’s looking forward to (“we can finally say ‘Eat This’ to all our Australian fans – they’re always complaining that we’re never going to tour” he laughs).
For full details of the V Festival click here
The Rapture will also be playing at the Best of V festival in Adelaide and Melbourne – for full deets – click here
