2011 has been a huge year for Philadelphia rockers the War on Drugs. In March, former bandmate and longtime associate Kurt Vile released Smoke Ring For My Halo to a chorus of praise; three months later, the band followed his lead with a breakout album of their own, Slave Ambient, a brilliant fusion of classic rock songwriting and effects-laden sonic atmospheres. The band’s tour will take them to Raleigh next Tuesday, Oct. 11 for a concert at King’s Barcade; Recess caught up with frontman and songwriter Adam Granduciel for a conversation about the making of Slave Ambient, listening to the Field, and the popular misconceptions of his relationship with Vile.
Recess: Talk a little about the title for this record.
Adam Granduciel: Slave Ambient was a working title for one of the songs, “The Animator.” There was a consistent tone running through all of the recordings, and there was a run of four tracks that I was referring to as the original slaves. And this one was supposed to tie all four together, and I knew it wasn’t going to have lyrics. I called it “Slave Ambient,” and just thought, “that’s the name for the album.”
R: You guys recorded parts of the album in Asheville, NC—did you get a chance to spend much time there?
AG: We were on tour and booked a few hours in a studio there in the middle of it, and then we went back for five or six days after the tour ended. We loved Asheville. Actually, just North Carolina in general—we’ve always had a lot of fans there and it’s a special place for us to do a show.
R: You’re operating within a certain tradition of American songwriters—Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen—that everyone grew up with but that isn’t exactly fashionable in 2011. Do you worry at all for the future of that kind of classic American rock songwriting?
AG: Not really. I’m just doing what makes me comfortable as a songwriter: fairly simple, not a lot of tricks. To be fair, though, a lot of those guys write huge choruses, and it can turn into a kind of mathematical formula for songwriting. Mine’s a little different… I like to see songs through, to manipulate them and change them a million times in the process of recording them.
R: You’re also a little more focused on creating sonic atmospheres along with the more traditional songwriting. What turned you on to that?
AG: A lot of different stuff. A couple years ago, I got into the Brian Eno solo records; I also got turned onto a local band from Philadelphia called Blues Control. Once you get into it, you learn to enjoy recording that kind of music.
R: This album is quite a bit more internally focused than the last War on Drugs album, Wagonwheel Blues.
AG: The way that everything was falling into place in my musical life at the time we were making Slave Ambient made it a very personal record, almost like a solo record. And I’m really proud of how it came out. I was a lot younger when we made Wagonwheel Blues. Plus, at that point, we didn’t have a record deal, and we didn’t even really know we were gonna make it into an album.
R: Your former bandmate Kurt Vile has hit it really big this year too, with Smoke Ring for My Halo, so it seems like the big question is whether we’ll see him on a future War on Drugs release.
AG: Yeah, it’s—everyone asks it, and it’s like they don’t really know what they’re asking. We’ve been recording together; I played on a bunch of tracks for Smoke Ring for My Halo and he played on almost all of Slave Ambient. What do they really expect? For us to write a song together, like f****n’ Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty? There’s no real difference between what Kurt did on Wagonwheel Blues and on Slave Ambient.
R: Really? Because a lot of the press on War on Drugs presents it more like, “Kurt left the band in 2008…”
AG: I mean, he may have a little bit less input in the recording process this time, and may have been a little more involved on Wagonwheel Blues. But we’ve been recording together.
R: Can you characterize the differences between your songwriting and Kurt’s songwriting?
AG: Kurt’s songs come out a little more “written.” He’s able to write a whole song in his head, or just sitting on a couch. My songs are written more through experimentation, building stuff up and finding the song through the sound. Some songs were written with guitar and pen and paper; some others went through a million transformations before they became what they were.
R: What do you guys listen to while on tour? Any recent albums that you’ve particularly enjoyed?
AG: The Yoko Ono record, Seasons of Glass. I went record shopping in Sweden recently, and we got the new Wooden Shjips record, which is awesome. Our drummer Steven is a little younger and a little more in tune with modern trends. He’s been listening to this stuff by the Field—which, I listen to it and I’m like, “Am I in a f****g Nissan Sentra, headed to the club?” And, you know, I’m sure it’s good, but I just can’t really get into it. But there’s some stuff that, it’s important to me that he likes it—`70s art rock, weird Lindsey Buckingham solo records, that kind of thing.
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