 For
their third album, Beyond The Neighbourhood, indie rockers Athlete have done
something that few bands probably have the confidence to do: they’ve produced
it themselves. It’s the follow up to the
platinum selling Tourist and was produced by the south London foursome in their own studio.
“We didn’t ever sit down and have a big
conversation about it. It’s just the way it kind of happened. We’ve always had
a little studio of our own and we’ve always recorded our own demos and making
songs,” explains drummer Steve Roberts. “In fact our first ever single Westside we recorded that ourselves and
that ended up being on the album, so we’ve always been comfortable with that
kind of thing. When we came back from touring we were looking to a new studio
space because we had to move out of our other one before we went away. We got
this new studio all sorted and we were really excited about it so we just
started recording. It sounded pretty good and that was album”.
While
Tourist was personal album and was affected by the band's constant touring and being away
from home, Beyond The Neighbourhood is influenced by wider global issues.
“We just recorded it at home, surrounded by
our families and our mates and that kind of that. So to be writing it from an
outward looking perspective is where we ended up coming from,” says Steve.
“I suppose the situation we were in, our
studio is just round from where we all live, and it very easy and natural to
not be dreaming of home and worry about that because we were surrounded by
that. To be looking outside of that seemed a natural thing to do”.
And
for fans there will also be a dub version of the album. “It’s finished actually. It’s really, really good. This guy called Dan
Carey who’s a British guy but he’s heavily into his dub and he made that
Massive Attack, he did an album of dub versions for them and he was up for idea
as well. We just sent him a load of songs that were finished and kept sending
them to him as a file and he just came back with all these dub versions. It
sounds cool so we hope to get that out at some point as well,” says Steve.
“It will definitely come out even if it’s
something that we put on the internet ourselves. It’ll be available to whoever
wants to it. We’re just waiting to see if our record company want to do it, if
they don’t want to do it we’ll do it ourselves. It’s really good so we’ll make
sure it gets out”.
They
were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, won an Ivor Novello award and are a
multi platinum selling band, but Athlete are known as the ‘invisible band’, not
seen in the tabloids everyday falling out of trendy clubs.
“It’s not something that we’ve ever thought
about. We’ve always been into making music and there’s a difference between
bands that want to be rock stars and bands that want to be musicians,”
reckons Steve. “All these people who walk around with their shoulders back, shouting
‘bring it on’ .. Liam’s the only one that can do that and get away with it the
rest of them just look stupid don’t they? We’ve not got a problem with those
bands, if they want to do that that’s fine. If they’re having a good time doing
it that’s cool, but for us, we’ve never really fitted into the NME world, indie
celebrity, and we’ve never wanted to. So that’s fine by us.”
It
does seem like you can’t open the papers without seeing pictures of troubled
rock stars drunk or in rehab.
“At the end of the day, some of that does
sell records doesn’t it? So fair enough, if they’re selling records out of
doing it, it’s probably quite clever, but I don’t know where they’ll be in ten
years time,” he says. “At the end of
the end day, we’ve always thought that making good records is the thing that
makes sure you’ll stick around. Good bands like Radiohead, Blur and so many
American bands, release consistently good records”.
He
adds: “I think people get bored very
quickly and if you rely too heavily on being drunk outside some trendy pub and
going in and out of rehab to do well it just because tedious. I like Amy
Winehouse, I think she’s good, but I’m bored of seeing her in the papers
definitely”.
So,
how do Athlete stay grounded?
“I don’t know. We have lots barbecues," says Steve. "We have
our mates round and let the kids play outside”.
The Athlete boys have been friends since they were teenagers and Steve insists the four of them get on better than ever despite the pressures of life in the music business.
“I think we’re probably better
friends now than we’ve ever have been.
The more we know each other the better friends we become. That doesn’t
mean we don’t annoy each other. When you’re in a band you become like brothers
and we’ve definitely got that kind of connection and have done for a long time,”
he says. “I suppose it’s something that
maybe we take for granted because it’s just the way it is. I’ve friends who are
in bands that haven’t got the same kind of thing. They’re in a band with people
because they want to be in a band rather than if they’re just mates with them.
It’s something we’ve got going for us I guess”.
Beyond
The Neighbourhood is out now.
For more
info: www.athlete.mu or www.myspace.com/athlete
Words: Helen Duong
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