- Title: UK: Rumble Strips get producer Mark Ronson for their new album
- Date: 30th July 2009
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHARLIE WALLER, LEAD SINGER OF THE RUMBLE STRIPS, SAYING: "The first album, all the albums were written to be played live. We just kind of wanted the album to sound like how we sounded and this time we approached them in a different way from thinking like 'We'll write songs and record them and worry about how we play them later. Not worry about who plays what." (SOUNDBITE) (English) HENRY CLARK, BAND MEMBER FOR RUMBLE STRIPS, SAYING: "Try to make a record." (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHARLIE WALLER, LEAD SINGER OF THE RUMBLE STRIPS, SAYING: "Yeah, we never really had come at it from that angle before and that's why it sounds different."
- Embargoed: 14th August 2009 13:00
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- Reuters ID: LVA2QQDB4Z2CNGS64OQHTM0RFHKX
- Story Text: The Rumble Strips return with a brand new producer, the Grammy-award winning Mark Ronson, new bassist Sam Mansbridge and new album "Welcome to the Walk Alone".
The band talked about their follow-up ahead of their album release party in east London's famed Wilton's Music Hall, the oldest music hall in the world. Having never been restored to its original state, it gives off an archaic sound, perfect for the retro music played by the band.
"The first album, all the albums were written to be played live. We just kind of wanted the album to sound like how we sounded and this time we approached them in a different way from thinking like 'We'll write songs and record them and worry about how we play them later. Not worry about who plays what," Charlie Waller, the lead singer of the Rumble Strips, told Reuters Television.
"Yeah, we never really had come at it from that angle before and that's why it sounds different," he added.
The first track off the album "You're Not The Only Person" refers to a bunch of hooligans who confronted Waller and his wife on an evening home one night. Instead of being scared of them, his wife took them on and scared them away.
The addition of Sam Mansbridge, the bassist to the band, helped them find their fuller sound, something they were looking for out of the studio.
"It's kind of like because when we recorded the last album, we ended up putting bass on everything and we wanted to try to re-create it live. And we decided we needed someone to do that," said Henry Clark, a bandmember.
"And we thought we'd have him try out for this tour and see him come along, see how it went. It went really badly and he still ended up being here," added Waller.
Waller met Ronson when the producer was performing a series of shows at London's Roundhouse theatre, where Waller did a rendition of Amy Winehouse's "Back To Black".
Waller so impressed Ronson that the producer agreed to help them with their new album. That's when the band decided to take him up the offer and put together the EP in New York.
"Maybe Mark was slightly more organic," said Waller.
"I think Mark's quite good at getting the most out of people, even quite disparate kind of characters, he's good at being able to get good stuff out of people and not get people's backs. It really helps," added Clark.
"There was this one time, where Matty Wheeler, our drummer, he couldn't get this rhythm so Mark took him aside and just said (pretending to play the drums) 'Look Matt, you just have to say - My name is Matt I want to fuck you. My name is Matt I want to fuck you.' And Matt was like 'Oh yeah okay I get it," said Waller.
After helping the likes of Winehouse, Lily Allen and Daniel Merriweather, the Rumble Strips hope the magic of Ronson will once again lead them to the top of the charts. But asked whether they were worried his celebrity status will overshadow their own dreams of success, Waller insisted: "It's always what people ask us about and in a sense, there have probably been bits that have been written where he has kind of overshadowed but I think the album's strong enough for that not to matter and in time it'll be it's own thing rather than this thing by this celebrity guy who's involved."
The Rumble Strips are set to perform a number of festivals throughout Europe and are hoping to return to the United States to tour later in the year.
They also told Reuters exclusively they will be working on an EP of waltzes, keeping in line with their retro sound. The release date still to be confirmed.
"Welcome To The Talk Alone" is out now. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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