Dublin’s favourite son, Damien Rice has come a long way since he started out crooning tunes with his rock band Juniper. Now best known as the king of folk rock, Rice achieved mainstream acclaim when two of his tracks featured on the Hollywood flick, Closer.
With sophomore album, 9 already garnering critical acclaim, Rice delivers the behind the scenes story of making his second album.
On recording the track Grey Room
“I know we started recording with a notion that this album was going to be a heavy album and we went to put down a load of the heavier tracks and we recorded a couple of them and then we put down. But, then we put down something like Grey Room that night and we just listened back and went ‘wooh’...
On the album’s influences
Some of the sounds from this record are from quite a few years back, and it was the same with Oh and Nada- it wasn’t like a record of the moment it was just, it was a record of a certain mood, and this is like a record of the same mood (laughs) Hope songs plucked from different years, you know? It’s not the same moods, it’s slightly different, but it’s very similar. I had this notion that it was going to be a massively different record, but it just turned out to be whatever it is.
On the creative process
When we start an album, I get to point where I’ll start it with this idea that this is what it’s going to be, but then when I get to the point where it’s coming close to finishing, whatever songs are recorded, ready and turn out well, and happen to start bundling together just end up making up the album. And I might have these notions of what I think a title for the album would be at the beginning, but then that changes, and right at the point of the finishing of the album there is a title which is the strongest and that’s just sitting there, and just feels like it’s right.
On collaborating
There was another time where we went down to this big house in the country, all five of us, and, it was good- it was a lovely place, but…it was tough. It was just tough. Because, we’d put something down and I’d listen back, and it just didn’t sound right. And we’d put something else down, and I don’t know if we were just out of shape, or what it was but, we had this notion…I think we went down there with this sort of plan and it just didn’t quite go to plan. And a lot of stuff, for me, I don’t know if I resist plans, I don’t know what it is, but I find that when I crash, or we crash as a band- ‘Cos we’ve got these ideas of what we should do, shouldn’t do, and we push with that and then we crash, we get disappointed and fall- that, in that moment, when you fall and crash and burn, you find, you stop thinking and start over processing everything. They’re the times when something really good usually happens.
On the meaning of his lyrics
That’s one of the things, I’ve kind of decided recently, I don’t ant to reveal or talk about what the songs are about because….why? Because that to me feels like your putting it into a box: ‘This is what the song is about, so when you listen to this song, please think this way about it.’ And so you’re guiding people down certain paths, and I think it’s more interesting to just let people take it in.
On his band
I think we’re just more connected; well we were more connected in the recording of this record, as musicians, from just having played with each other. And they were more involved as well, they helped out with the extra recording a lot more this time in terms of pressing buttons and setting up stuff, and micing up things, and…And they’re input as well, just from the point of view of giving opinions on certain things or creatively getting more involved this time. It was more that kind of thing, you know. And with this record, people just got stuff faster, I think that’s what I’m feeling- is that, they just got it faster because they were more…Although, saying that, Jesus, we had some tough recording sessions. I mean we didn’t actually really do that much recording, but it was spread out over a period of time, and there was one time where we did a few days at Robbie’s mother’s house. That’s where we recorded ‘Grey Room.’
9 is out now through Warner
