Why It Was Time To Add To Their Repertoire

Alabama Shake’s debut album Boys & Girls proved a surprise smash upon its release back in 2012. The Athens, Alabama band’s opening statement sold over a million copies and spawned sultry hit single Hold On, the record’s swampy southern soul catapulting them to global acclaim, scoring them an invitation to play to the President and First Lady at the White House and finding them touring the world extensively and winning over converts with their killer live show. Not bad for a hitherto bunch of unknowns from the Deep South.

Yet the young four-piece didn’t take the easy route when tackling the dreaded ‘difficult second album’ syndrome’ and make a replica of the album which they knew had resonated so easily with people, instead broadening their palette substantially to focus more on the R&B side of their muse. Although still packing plenty of soul and pop hooks, their second long-player Sound And Color is a far more ambitious and eclectic beast than their debut, an audacious (and exciting) gambit indeed.

"This is what we get to do for a living, and there’s just always another adventure on the calendar."

“It was kind of an interesting journey – we didn’t have any real concept or direction behind it, or anything other than the intent just to explore and be creative,” explains guitarist Heath Fogg in his slow Southern drawl. “We were all really interested to see how it would turn out, and I think that everybody’s really pleased with it.

“I wouldn’t say that it was conscious to purposely be different, but I think that we always knew it would be different. Over the past three years the things that we’ve been working on all just seemed really different from the song before it – even not [thinking about] the big picture in an album perspective, just from song to song it’s different. I think we were always really aware that what we put out next would be really different from Boys & Girls.”

Fogg explains that the band didn’t let the weight of expectation affect the creative process, instead just taking their time and seeing what ensued organically.

“I don’t think it pressure added to the writing, we just tried not to think about it and be creative and true to ourselves,” he reflects. “I don’t know, I think we all feel confident that as long as we’re music that we like then we’ll be okay in some form or another. And we had a lot of time. This April will be three years since Boys & Girls came out, and we were fortunate that we didn’t have any record labels or anything like that pressuring us, so we had all the time in the world really. It was up to us to pull the trigger and make it happen when we were ready.”

The creative process inside Alabama Shakes’ inner sanctum is fairly collaborative, although Fogg tells that frontwoman Brittany Howard’s contribution is fairly intrinsic.

“A lot of the material on this one was done by Brittany demoing songs and writing songs just at her home,” he tells. “Some of the songs on the record like Sound And Color, for instance, or Over My Head, those are songs that she built on her computer with MIDI keyboards and drum machines and things like that, and we would take those songs and try to translate them to our instrumentation and kind of put our stamp on ‘em in one form or another. On other songs Brittany might start playing a riff in the studio and we’d build up from that, songs like Gimme All Your Love and Don’t Wanna Fight were – other than the lyrics which were all Brittany’s – musically more of a group effort.” [INSERT YOUTUBE ‘GIMME ALL YOUR LOVE’ AUDIO] 

And apparently the band is in the middle of road-testing the Sound And Color material, which according to Fogg is so far acquitting itself quite nicely.

“Since we finished recording and everything we’ve played I think four shows – maybe five shows – and we’re playing pretty much the record in its entirety during those shows, and then just sprinkling in songs from Boys & Girls plus b-sides and other unreleased things,” he reveals. “We’ve been playing for a while, but we’ve been thankful that we haven’t been booed of the stage yet for playing things that people don’t know. We’re really excited to play all of these songs, and we hope that people are excited to hear them too. [Having a bigger repertoire] at our disposal is something that we were all looking forward to – it’s refreshing, kind of like a new beginning or something. It’s hard to explain, but it’s a really exciting feeling right now.”

Anyone who saw Alabama Shakes’ inaugural Australian sojourn in 2013 will attest that they’re a ferocious live proposition, especially Howard’s amazing stage presence and phenomenal lungs.

“We spend a lot of time on these records trying to make them sound the way that we want them to sound, and I think there’s a lot of things going on on these records that we’re really proud of. We hear a lot – especially with Boys & Girls – of people going, ‘Well, the record was okay, but live is really great’, but to me that was not an insult but always strange to digest because I’m really proud of that record. The live show’s different and it’s maybe a little bit more dynamic than the records. Brittany’s a really phenomenal performer – she’s unlike anyone I’ve ever seen let alone been in a band with, so I understand that there’s something going on in the live show.

"I wouldn’t say that it was conscious to purposely be different, but I think that we always knew it would be different."

“Brittany can definitely work the crowd, and she’s a great guitar player too – a lot of the stuff on Sound And Color is her. I enjoy splitting those duties with her, she makes it easy for someone like me who’s a little more introverted and would rather be in the shadows. I just play my part and she makes it easy for me”

Did the members of Alabama Shakes enjoy that first trip Down Under?

“Yeah we did, for a lot of reasons but it was fun all around. It felt a lot like home – I guess Australia’s like the Deep South of the world a little bit,” Fogg chuckles. “It was nice – the people treated us all so well in Australia, we had a good time. Plus the weather’s warm when it’s cold here, so I’m looking forward to coming back to that.”

They also have extensive US dates penciled around their Easter visit to our climes, during which they’re playing alongside a slew of great bands including Drive-By Truckers, Neko Case, Allah-Las and even our own Courtney Barnett. It’s put to Fogg that it must be great having a sound that enables them to play alongside such a wide array of artists.

“It’s really nice, whether we’re co-headlining or opening or having someone opening for us it’s always fun to play with different acts, and I like the diversity of the acts that we get to play with,” he concurs. “One of my favourite tours that we ever did we took out Michael Kiwanuka – who’s an R&B act – and we took out him and we took out this band from New Orleans called The Deslondes, who are a traditional kinda country act; it’s kinda like country and doo wop. I dunno, I feel like I shouldn’t try to describe [their sound] too much, but it was just a really eclectic show, one of my favourites. We’re really lucky to be able to play with so many different kinds of acts and make so many friends. Every time you tour with a band or play a show with a band it’s just a good opportunity to get to meet those guys and hang out – it’s like the family just keeps going. Like Drive-By Truckers are some of my heroes and some of those guys are originally from North Alabama – that band is kind of the whole reason why we were a popular band now, they really helped us out early on in a lot of different ways. They took us on tour with them really early on and were a great inspiration.”

The last few years must have been a fairly amazing time for the Alabama Shakes family, coping with all of these disparate adventures and experiences.

“It’s been really fun,” Fogg smiles. “It’s been surreal, and in a lot of ways it’s just a dream come true. This is what we get to do for a living, and there’s just always another adventure on the calendar – there’s always something to look forward to, and I’m just enjoying the ride.”