Shakin’ All Over The World

There's something tempered and assured about Heath Fogg's voice that instantly conjures every southern American deep fried drawling cliché to mind. It's also saturated with sincerity and thanks for the blessings that he and his bandmates have experienced as part of Alabama Shakes, including a trip to Australia for the 2013 Big Days Out and sideshows. Just don't mention the flights.

“Everybody's kind of leery about the flight over there. I've heard different numbers thrown out, the latest I think was from LA to wherever we're going in Australia first is like a 12-hour flight, which seems crazy to me. But I'll definitely do it because you don't get many opportunities to go to Australia.”

It's a mere four years since Fogg was playing in a local covers band, looking for some other musos to help them out with shows. Now they're travelling from Australia to South America to Japan. A story often seen as typical by outsiders looking in on the music industry, but one that came quite expectantly for the Shakes. “I was playing with another band – we were like a bar band, we weren't really doing much. Some of the guys in the band had kids so we were just playing as much as we could, playing a bunch of David Bowie covers and T Rex, stuff like that, just having fun. We had local gig so we got Zac [Cockrell – bass] to bring in Steve [Johnson – drums] to play some shows with us and they just asked if I would help out on guitar and that's how I got to be involved with the Shakes.

“I mean big picture, we've been fortunate,” Fogg admits. “I think that's what a lot of bands try to do, get out there and make a living playing music. I don't know if we were trying to do that or not, I mean I've always wanted to, but as a band we were just trying to play shows and definitely didn't see this coming. It's easier now we can actually make a living as a band. [But] you would think that would give a lot of time to focus on music and songwriting and stuff, but actually it seems like we wrote more when we were working and stuff. I think that was because we would get together a few time a week and write music in the evenings after work, and now when we're touring we're always busy and travelling; there's a schedule, there's stuff pulling us in a thousand directions at once, so writing a song is sometimes hard to do.”

Not that Fogg is whinging. In fact he seems acutely aware of just how lucky the band have been, coming from such humble beginnings to massive festivals and unrelenting requests for endorsements and use of their music. It's all happened so quickly that it can sometimes seem a bit unreal, the guitarist informs. “We try to be as [democratic] as possible – things don't really work when we're not agreeing on stuff. Brittany [Howard – vocalist] may take the majority of the lyrics, but Steve and I will write a little bit as well. Usually, things go better when she just writes the lyrics though; she can convey what she's trying to say better than we could.

“When it comes to licensing music and stuff like that, that's the four of us in the band [deciding whether to accept]. Usually the answer's no, as much as we can afford. We get some funny offers that's for sure. We got asked to have a song in a commercial for Jessica Simpson's line of jewellery. That one we had to turn down. I mean, we're trying to make a living so I don't think you have to believe in every single thing you endorse, but we just had to turn that one down. She's doing alright without us, that's for sure.”

The Shakes are doing alright themselves, with Big Day Out as well as solo sideshows on their schedule while in Australia. “I'm thankful for the big festival gigs that's for sure,” he glows. “Sometimes I feel unnatural when I know there's big screens and stuff like that. It seems like everything's filmed too – there's always cameras. I think cameras make me nervous so sometimes the big shows just feel a little unnatural, but you look out and you see 20,000 people singing, it's one of the great thrills.

“We played a festival in Belgium where I don't know how big the crowd was, several thousand people, but they did some of the best group clapping to our songs. It was different than your average 'tap tap'. It was really rhythmic and made our sound better.”

A challenge for all BDO goers if ever there was one. For Alabama Shakes' sound is not easily improved on. Often drawing comparisons to The Black Keys and other '60s R&B revivalists, the distinct vocals from frontwoman Brittany Howard as well as the fuzz bomb riffs and catchy guitar hooks make the Shakes' sound stand out from the pack. It's a genre they've worked towards perfecting, and one they're happy to sit within.

“I like '60s R&B music, and I like other bands that are playing that style of music. I think what makes an R&B song is a lot of different genres of music grouped together and I think we play those other genres just as honestly, or try to play them just as honestly as we would play and R&B song. I can see why people say that, but it doesn't bother me. When we were starting out and starting to get a little attention, we didn't want to say we're a classic R&B revival band, because honestly we just didn't want Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings to hear that we were trying to steal their thunder or something like that. They've been really inspirational to us; we listened to their records a lot and went out of our way to not sound like them.”

While the divine Ms Jones and the Dap Kings hark back to the more polished Motown sounds, Alabama Shakes keep it grungy and gritty, sounding more like the Chicago-based Chess artists such as Howlin' Wolf and Etta James. At least their first record does. Their coming releases promise more of the same despite the relentless touring and business of being on the road with the band trying to spend more time together just jamming.

“We've started to make more of an effort though to do that. We're on break now and we get together two times back at my parents garage where my dad works on antiques, we moved all the junk away and have been working on new material. That feels really good.”