Interview: Modern Shakes
Modern Shakes
Modern Shakes has been making waves since releasing their debut LP, A Bolt From The Blue earlier this year through a collaborative effort of several esteemed labels, including Double Helix Records (USA), Disconnect Disconnect (UK), Punk Rock Radar (USA), Keep It a Secret Records (DE), Fond of Life (DE), and Cat’s Claw Records (UK).
Representing four years of dedicated work, beginning in the depths of Covid lockdowns and evolving as the world slowly reopened, this album is not just a collection of songs but a testament to resilience, creativity, and growth. In this interview with the band, we delve into the inspiration behind the album, the creative process, working with producer Daly George, the personal stories and experiences that shaped A Bolt From The Blue.
What inspired the title A Bolt From The Blue, and how does it encapsulate the essence of the album?
Ian C: Holidaying in Morocco in early 2022 I was reading Killing Comendatore by Murakami. The artist in the book uses the term A Bolt From the Blue referring to palette colour choices. The original batch of demos were complete and I was fishing for an album title, and this one hit really nicely.
It turned out that 12 months later, I would quit my 10-year-old job to retrain as an electrician. It was meant to be.
Can you describe the creative process behind A Bolt From The Blue? How did the ideas for the tracks come together?
Ian B: A lot of these came from a set of 20 or so Lockdown songs that Ian wrote and sent to us back in 2020/21, once we could get back in a practice room we took those demos and produced them into what they ultimately became.
Dan C: The BFTB tracks sat in the bank for a while before we got round to finishing them off due to obvious life and global events getting in the way. We had a bunch of tracks that never made the cut. Given the time that had passed and the progression of the band, some songs didn’t even feel like “us” anymore. As lots of bands do, we had a list of tracks, cast votes and argued our cases on which ones we should carry forward, before committing to finish them for the record.
Ian C: I'm continuously on the hunt for the next melody. Generally I'm noodling and humming away…sometimes I'm lucky enough to have pre written lyrics that fit the occasion. I don't restrict myself to any particular process with the expecting of routine. The more hours spent in the riff station, the more ideas I come up with. Its fun right? Haha.
How was it working with producer Daly George on this album, and what unique elements did he bring to your sound?
Ian B: Working with Daly is great, I sometimes joke he’s like a 5th member. On a few occasions, we’d be laying down a part to a song and may not be 100% on what we’d come to the table with (certainly in my case anyway) and we’ll work on it together in the studio. Often, Daly puts a section on a loop, and I play a variation of the lead part over and over (and over) until his head pops up, ‘that’s the one’. As well as that, making suggestions to add some more texture and depth to parts of the song.
Dan C: Daly’s a legend, having been heavily involved in the scene we’re in for years, he really gets what we want to do sound wise and is super collaborative and easy to work with. He’s always honest with feedback and pushes you to get the best take with calm but persistent encouragement. He’s added his own touch to the tracks and with this record, really elevated it to a new level, it’s been great working alongside him, hearing the growth and change in both our sound and his production skills.
The album addresses themes like hope and living in the moment. Can you delve into the themes of a few tracks and what they mean to you personally?
Ian C: Music and writing is a constant for me. I can't really imagine days without it. I use it as a tool to process and relieve. I'm not the most outspoken person, but happily explore my introverted side in the form of melody. It gets me through the good times, and pulls me through the bad ones, ‘Canadasolite’ hits the nail on the head, ‘there a fire at the bottom on my belly / life without a little discomfort’. Overall I'm optimistic though, and I feel that shines in the music with our upbeat melodies layered with joyful harmonies, aka ‘Lucky Shoes’.
All or Nothing addresses themes of Love, bad habits, the love of bad habits, and how when intertwined in a relationship bad habits can be detrimental to love. There's a few good time break up songs in there too 😀
How do you approach songwriting as a band? Do you have a specific process or roles within the group?
Ian B: It tends to start where Ian will have a basic idea with lyrics and structure that he’ll send to us on a voice note or whatsapp video (we should release a compilation of them :)). We then all get into the practice room, pull it apart and put it back together again. Sometimes that means a melody may change, or the structure will change. One so much so that when we came to record, I think it was dominoes, the lyrics and vocal melody no longer fit what we came up with, so Ian had to completely rewrite it, the new version no longer had the ‘fall-like dominoes’ line but we kept the name of the song!!
Dan C: We often revisit bits of tunes, attempting new things as the tracks evolve. Within my role I get to help define the rhythm and dynamics of a song as well as altering structure and will suggest we try sections in different ways. I also really enjoy working on melodic arrangement and instrumentation with the guys. You can achieve an awful lot with subtle changes or underlying harmony to great effect. We record songs from our practise sessions on a regular basis, specially in the early phases while we’re working things out, plus it gives you something to reference when defining melodies and harmonies and helps spur different ideas when listening back.
How does A Bolt From The Blue represent the musical growth and evolution of Modern Shakes since your earlier releases?
Ian B: These are definitely an evolution from the earlier stuff and, for me, represent a more mature sound, something a little different from the ‘melodic punk’ of yor branching into some more adjacent genres.
Dan C: We’ve been on a real journey from the early days when me and Ian C started jamming. With Ian B and Matt on board the sound has definitely gotten more nuanced and complex while still retaining the energy present in the first couple of releases. We’ve gone from relatively simple punk in our first EP to something not just musically challenging but technically challenging. We’re stronger and clearer in our vision with this record than I think we’ve ever been and there’s still loads more for us to do.
Do you have any personal favorite tracks on the album? If so, which ones and why?Person: Answer
Ian B: My favourites are Ask The Dust, Canadasolite and the closer Dominioes i think for me these are songs we experimented on musically and really set this album apart from some of the earlier stuff. With interesting arrangements and melody I’ll leave lyrical content to the others 🙂
Dan C: Canasolite is a banger with some great hooks. Watch It Flicker is us channeling a little bit of Dischord, the aggression combined with the euphoric ending is really satisfying. Lucky Shoes is just amazingly fun to play and Dominoes being our post-rock anthem which I love to extend the ending way past the running time on the record in practise.
Ian C: Watch it Flicker for me also. Its different to anything we've done so far, and an avenue I'd like to address again in the future.
Can you share any memorable moments or challenges you faced during the recording of the album?
Dan C: For me consistency on the drums or getting in the studio, hearing the tracks in a different way and wanting to change my parts can be difficult. Often Daly will work his magic and we’ll both come away with something we like. I love doing the backing vocals and having the opportunity to play around with all the various options is really fun. Ultimately though you have to go with what’s going to serve the song best.
Ian B: With all of us working full time in different industries just getting the time to do it was a challenge in itself. This meant there were times when there were just a few times when we weren't all in the room so had to gather feedback remotely (i guess 2020/21 prepared us for remote working!! 🙂) when producing new parts or changing parts. As a result, the whole process took over a year from laying down the first tracks to getting the final product. We experienced the four seasons at Dalys studio!! Overnight stays at the ranch and travelodges, long day trips there and back. Angry partners spending so many weekends away when i’m supposed to be planning a wedding 🙂 (we’re nearly there now! hah)
Memorable moment for me was probably getting that first finished track back and releasing the first single ‘Ask the Dust’ to bring us back into being visibly active this as the first track released in over 3 years!
What was the inspiration behind the album cover and the overall visual and artistic direction for A Bolt From The Blue?
Ian C: Boring answer alert. We let Rob Halhead (Graphic Designer) take the lead on this one. We gave him the album, the name, and a brief, then let him work his magic.
Ian B: I think once the name A Bolt from the Blue was established we all started to spin some ideas evoking the obvious lighting ‘Bolt’ the ‘Blue’ of the sky and the sea. We actually started with some rough sketches, image searches and AI-generated concepts (some hilariously bad) to visualise the ideas.
Lyrically there are some nautical references to ‘tidal waves’, ‘let the wind fill your sails’, ‘stand tall let the headwinds howl’ and with the general mood being darker both in lyrical content and musical style from our earlier stuff pointed towards stormy seas.
Then for Rob, I dont think we sent anything image-wise just our descriptions and the songs and let him do his thing!
What are your plans for the summer? Any upcoming tours or new music in the pipeline?
Ian B: Following the sold-out album launch show we had another couple of summer shows booked. We travelled to Liverpool for the first time to play Crocfest, then next month we head to, Chatham 3rd August. Bradford Punk Festival was supposed to be after that but was cancelled..
We’re hoping to slip on a nice could of shows between then and October, but i saunter off for a month in October to get married and go on honeymoon :) We’re working on a bit of a run in November/December.
Now that the album is out we’re attempting to position ourselves for some nice festival slots next year and take this show international!!
New Music wise we started working on some new stuff last month and hope to record a couple of tracks later this year or early next year.
Anything we haven’t asked that we should have asked? Anything else you want to share?
A Bolt From the Blue was released digitally and physically this year. Digitally, it can be found across all major streaming and digital download platforms (Spotify, Apple, Deezer, Amazon, iTunes, etc.). Napster—I think that’s still a thing. Limewire—probably not, or if it is, it’s riddled with viruses and is probably not the right song!
Physically the record is available on limited edition Vinyl in ‘Shocking Pink’ and ‘Electric Blue’ 125 in each colour, through a team of international labels, Disconnect Disconnect (UK), Keep It a Secret (DE), Fond of Life (DE), Double Helix Records (US) and Punk Rock Radar (US)
On SUPER limited edition Tape (again a pink and blue variation) through Cats Claw Records (UK) 25 in each colour.
