Luger Boa Interview 18/08/11
Before Luger Boa took to the stage at The Royal on 19 August 2011, Terry sat down and had a chat with Jimmy.
Hi ya Jimmy. The latest album 'New Hot Nights' is a bit of a concept album could you please explain that for some of the people out there?
Well I guess the album musically and lyrically constitutes a long night out on K Road. Loosely or a re-imagined I guess, a semi observational piece about staying out all night and all the creatures that do that sort of thing. There’s one over there (Jimmy points over at a fellow band member).
What would you say were some of the differences between recording this album and 'Mutate Or Die'?
The big difference was that album was very much a band recording whereas this album was recorded by a really tight unit the guys have been together for a little while and we played lots of shows and so the music was recorded in track live as a unit and then the arrangements were fixed up and the lyrics and vocals and stuff were done after that, where as essentially the first album cause the first album was a project that was worked on in bits and pieces and assembled with the help of some good friends this was sort of a more breathing beast at the time and we spent ten days out where we worked it all out and then we went and we recorded it at a place in Waiuku and we stayed out there for ten days and we lived and breathed, played music and drank wine and yeah we had a good time. Had a really good time when it comes to it.
Musically what were some of the influences for the album because it’s quite diverse with a lot of genres coming through like there are different kinds of punk and even some funkier stuff with the likes of Downtown?
Yeah and even in Bank Robber there’s a funkier kind of bass I guess we just threw the net a little wider and were pulling in influences that we like. It’s still really got a strong glam base sort of stuff obviously were all really big punk rock fans. I think with like Fuck the Kids particularly the punky number we were getting to the point where we were making kind of we didn’t want to make a rock record we wanted it to be a rock n roll record and we wanted to sort of throw some surprises in there in there that you know if you’re listening to it for the first time I don’t think that you would expect fuck the kids out of the back of Asteroids and Satellites you know like it’s so we tried to be quite majestic in places and twisted and punky in others and rock n roll so it’s still got that whole Bowie T-rex thing going on obviously a lot glam it’s got a great rhythm glam and were all great fans of that particular time. Glam fans. Yeah and we tried to get a bit of the same things in Bank Robber particularly have some funkier bass lines which give things space to groove particularly hanging out with Sam lockley as I have been for years there’s been a big injection of funk and soul. He does a good line in funk and soul. He has an amazing record collection.
Are you going to release New Hot Nights on vinyl?
Yeah I would like to release it on vinyl. It's working out how to make it properly because one of the big parts of it is was the artwork all done in big gatefold glory with insert booklet type thing but the cost go through the fuckin roof with that sort of carry on so I’m just kind of weighing up how to do it you know there are vinyl fans here but I don’t know and that just keeps things fresh and everything exciting and just need some uncharted territory. How many people are gonna want to buy it on vinyl so I got to work out how to do it.
It’s been over a year now since you recorded New Hot Nights what’s in the near future for Luger Boa?
Well we would like to take it off shore. We will do this tour then we will be pushing it overseas. We have been talking about that for quite a while but it’s got to happen for us because I can’t control Joe any longer. This band hasn’t been overseas yet so were yet to experience it as a unit. The big thing about going overseas is that your capability of reaching your audience is larger and there’s lots more places to play here you just reach a point and we need to spread it wider.
Following the decision by New Zealands garage rock behemoth The D4 to go on extended hiatus, vocalist and guitarist Jimmy Christmas retreated into the wilds of Auckland's Central City and began work on a strange new project. At a secret location deep in Kingsland, he surrounded himself with the fragments and souvenirs of many years playing to and with the denizens of rock n roll's global underbelly, and began to write songs of confusion, resolution, exploration and evolution. In a studio that echoed the feverish workings of an exploding consciousness, he gathered together the SOUNDS he needed, and the words he believed made sense. He exited the lair only to cross the boiling morass of the Tasman Sea, to find like minds that leaked insanity, and returned to his HQ with their pulsating offsprings, which he then inserted into the heart of the experiment. From there, it was only a matter of time before he gave it life, and named it Luger Boa!
2009 saw the release of Luger Boa's debut long player 'Mutate or Die' which was critically acclaimed and featured massive radio hits 'What is Real?', 'I Wanna Girlfriend' and 'On My Mind' - the Rock Radio Song of the Year. Quickly known for incendiary live shows, In their short existance the band have played to countless thousands across the country alongside the like of Shihad, The Mint Chicks, The Living End, Airbourne, The Charlatans and Head Like A Hole, from packed clubs to arenas, as main support for the Kings Of Leon. Earlier this year Luger Boa headlined the sold out State Of Rock nationwide tour, where they debuted the new material from the forthcoming album 'New Hot Nights'.
The first single 'Lazy' is already a certified radio hit, and second salvo 'Paralyzed' is already racing up the charts. There is much more to come from the album, recorded in Auckland and Melbourne, and mixed by Mark Needham in LA, and Andy Baldwin in NYC.