A Hell Of A Drug

The War On Drugs

Adam Granduciel, the main man behind perennial shoegazy psych-rockers The War On Drugs, first hit on the aesthetic that would eventually become synonymous with the band when he met Kurt Vile at a party in Philadelphia. It's one of those myth-baiting rock'n'roll stories, where two big brains in rock music meet up and jam out some truly inspiring songs. The press love bringing up that story and Vile's subsequent exit from the band – “It's lazy journalism,” Granduciel suggests at one point, “when they assume there was some kind of falling out” – but there's no question the experience left a lasting impression on both musicians, especially where a mutual love for Bob Dylan comes in. Jump to now and Granduciel is about to release The War On Drug's second full-length, the follow-up to 2011's much-loved Slave Ambient.

The affable Granduciel is chilled, sitting at his parent's house in Massachusetts the day before Thanksgiving. “It's going to be nice, it's real peaceful where they live. Other than that, everything's cool, man. I've got the new record done and it's getting pressed now. And we're rehearsing for Australia. It's all sweet. Life is good.”

We're fortunate to catch him on the cusp of hitting the road again, a new record in hand and a whole lot of tour experiences forthcoming. Granduciel is pretty excited about the new record. It's tentatively titled Lost In The Dream, and the energy is obviously there. “I think with this record, I definitely wanted to take advantage of the fact that we had a touring band,” Granduciel explains. “The one thing with Slave Ambient is that I made that record... I mean, other people played on it, but that was a thing where I pretty much did most of it myself. There wasn't really a live band per se. But then that record came out and did really well, so it forced us to stay on the road and it forced myself, Dave [Hartley, bass/guitar] and Robbie [Bennett, keys/guitar]  – kinda the three core members of the band now – to become a unit. Even though we don't have the same drummer anymore, it really felt like it became a band instead of a recording project. So I really wanted to do more of that on this record, but I also didn't just want to go into the studio, record some songs as a band and leave it at that.

“So the record sounds more like a full band record; I still play about 85 per cent of the instruments on it, but it sounds like a band playing live in a room. It's sorta cool; whenever I had the shell of an idea, someone else would bring something to the table. Whenever I was like, 'This song is an epic piano song' or something, Robbie would totally nail it down, and we would have something that just worked.”

The 'forced' evolution of The War On Drugs from Granduciel's self-made project to a true band effort is a marked difference from Slave Ambient, as the man says, and his previous work, where stages would see the touring musicians revolving around his enigmatic energy. The upcoming tour will see Granduciel and co extend the band aesthetic to, well, as far as it can go, it seems. “When the record comes out here, I think we're going to do like a six-piece band. I just really want to bring it up, like, 15 notches by fleshing out the band.

“I don't even really know, I just want more people on stage, to tell you the truth,” Granduciel laughs when asked just what he wants to expand on with an extended line-up. “I want some more guitar and keyboard stuff, I guess. I dunno, I just want to take a Rolling Thunder Revue approach, but a little more modern. Just kinda like a bunch of people playing a bunch of songs that they really like, y'know? It could be a total disaster, too, but I don't think it will be a disaster. I won't know until the first seven-member band show or something.”

At least you can probably tell that he's confident. It's a different approach, especially for those who became enamoured of Granduciel's previously studio-driven work. “There's a lot more space in the songs, now. I don't know, I guess it is pretty different. The songs themselves are a lot more developed, and a lot more sincere and personal from a writing perspective. We're still finding our feet with how we're going to approach the new material. We'll find out when we got over there and just play some music, y'know?”