Cheating Dreams And Harry Styles - Random Inspirations Behind 'Glitterbug'

Emoticons

A song about desire and whether or not to act upon it. Bowie and Prince were cited in the studio as influences, and it was chosen to open Glitterbug due to its rather defiant drum intro.

Give Me A Try

In terms of Glitterbug’s storyline this song should be last, but didn’t work well when figuring out a running order. The song came about when a certain person left London, and I was a touch distraught. This song was an easy one to write but tricky to record. 

Greek Tragedy

Began life as a musical idea Tord and Dan sent me, had an Awolnation vibe and its working title was ‘Groovy Pooey’. When doing a test recording in LA we worked even more on the track and then I was left to write over it. There was a lot going on during that part of my life and the song fell out. It has nothing to do with psycho fans, murder or walking dogs.

Be Your Shadow

The final song to come into existence for Glitterbug. Recorded in Battersea with Mark Crew. Was a haunting vocal and piano-based song before Dan and Tord thankfully breathed a bit of sunshine into it. 

Headspace

When recording Your Body Is A Weapon, Tord played me a Simple Minds/Michael Jackson-esque idea he had begun work on. We then toyed around with it in Eric Valentine’s studio. Similar to Greek Tragedy I was then left to ‘Jackson Pollock’ all over it. It took a while to complete due to how wordy it is. I wanted the listener to feel as though he or she was driving along a coastal road in California en route to a huge party in the ‘80s, ie. Billowing curtains, suit jackets with rolled-up sleeves, red sports cars and absolutely tons of Coca-Cola.

This Is Not A Party

Born out of a fairly heavy period I had in the summer of 2013. All people named are real and were surprisingly ok with me name-dropping them, apart from Charlie but then again I knew he would be a diva about it. The most house-orientated track on the album.

Isabel

Arguably my favourite on the album. The first song to come for Glitterbug, straight after our first experience of Las Vegas. This song had three different lives and a different title at one point. An executive decision was made to keep it as simple as possible, a really beautifully produced song. Thank you, Mr Crew.

Your Body Is A Weapon 

Inspiration came from seeing Harry Styles getting ‘papped’ at a Brit Awards after-show we were at. The photographer looked pretty creepy. I appreciate creepy people so wrote a song for him.

The English Summer

This riff was one we had been messing around with for a while, but it was tough to turn it into a song. I met a friend for dinner in Shoreditch on a rainy day in July and it all clicked together. Tons of fun for us to play live.

Pink Lemonade

Without a doubt the most travelled of all songs on ‘Bug: From Phoenix Arizona to Barcelona to LA to Liverpool. The title came from questioning the difference between lemonade and pink lemonade. There isn’t one. The title laid dormant for a while until I went on a break to Barcelona and had a dream my girlfriend was hooking up with other people.

Curveballs

A song about jealousy and how debilitating an emotion it can be. Dan and Tord sent me a track via email, but this song really came to life in the luxurious surroundings of our Battersea studio.

Sex And Question Marks (Deluxe Edition)

This one has a similar theme to 1996, from our second album (trying to reconnect with the joys of being young). Weezer spliced with Blur was the aim. Should be fun to play this odd song live but we don’t know how yet.

Flowerball (Deluxe Edition)

If you can guess what this song is about I will buy you sushi. Johnny Marr-inspired floaty guitars and half-time middle-eights make The Wombats very happy girls indeed.