Little Red are one of Australia’s best up and comers for 2008, having already played a swag of shows around the country. They return to Adelaide to celebrate the release of their new album, Listen To Little Red, which is a great follow-up to their impressive debut EP Get Ready, which featured their classic track Coca Cola. Tom Hartney (vocals and savoir faire) talks about releasing Listen To Little Red and the Little Red experience thus far.
“We’ve been waiting such a long time and it has taken a long while to come out,” Tom states. “Now that it has it is really exciting. Not having played live for a while, the August tour will be really exciting. We’re itching to go!”
Was the album hard work to get together?
“I don’t know. It took a while to record because we did it in two sessions. The first we did last year and the second was earlier this year. Most of the album comes from the second recording session but I think it was recorded really quickly. Everything else just comes together in the end. It really wasn’t that much work actually.”
Were there many headaches along the way?
“One thing we tried to do with the recording is to represent how the band is live. We thought that would be a good idea to do for the first album and the majority of the album is done live, even the vocal. That was a little bit tricky because sometimes it doesn’t sit right when you listen to it the first time. We are all really happy with how it sounded in the end and I think it was a good way of doing it because it came together so quickly.”
Was there much debate about what songs made the final cut?
“We have a lot of material that hasn’t made it. Plus we’ve got a lot of new stuff since then as well but I think it’s a pretty good representation of our live set for the past year. It’s all the staple songs we’ve been playing and there are some really good ones that haven’t made it. I’m sure we’ll have another opportunity to record them one day.”
Do you a vinyl release for this one?
“That would be nice. We haven’t talked about anything like that and there are no plans for that. I’d love to hear what the album would sound like on vinyl. I’m sure that would give people a different listening experience.”
Compared to the Get Ready EP, how do you think Listen To Little Red has changed sound-wise?
“I’m not one of the songwriters in the band but we all listen to loads and loads of diverse stuff. It’s like taking different bits and pieces from here and there, so I would say that our music is continually changing. Even on the album there’s lots of varied stuff but the one common thing is the voices and harmonies. There’s lots of different directions we can go, making us quite versatile in sound.”
Where do you see the next release going?
“It’s something that we’ve just started to think about. I really do have no idea when this is going to happen and all that. We’re always trying out new songs in rehearsals and stuff but there’s plenty that are ready to go that could easily fill an album. I’m not sure, but I’d hope we’d have a bit more time in the studio to try out some different things. I think our recording technique is good but it is something that we can definitely get better at. But that’s a long way away still.”
After celebrating the release of this album, do you find you get bored playing these songs night in, night out after living with them for so long?
“Personally, I don’t. I like playing them all and that’s the importance of trying out new songs in the set. It means that it’s interesting for us and for the audience who may have seen us a few times. It is a good way to keep busy and keep the whole thing moving rather than being stationary and doing the same thing over and over.”
Are you looking forward to this tour?
“It’s our first headline tour after supporting The Panics on their massive tour. That tour was amazing considering nearly every show was sold out and we got to play in front of some really big crowds. We enjoyed playing in Adelaide and the few times we’ve been there we’ve gone down really well. The last two years we’ve just about played everywhere we can in Melbourne, so it is good to be able to play in places such as Adelaide and Perth. It feels so new that it’s like starting over in those places and having to win fans over.”
What can punters expect at Jive on the night?
“Most of the album will be played and we’ll be trying out a few new things as well. There will be some older songs we haven’t played for a while but we don’t want to play for too long, as we like to keep our sets relatively short.”
Any covers?
“I don’t think so. We used to play covers, but maybe that’s something we should start doing. I think we’d rather play our own stuff even though it is interesting learning covers and changing the arrangements.”
What’s next after this tour?
“There’s talk of doing some recording, even though a release is still a long way away. We might do a film clip or another tour - and keep an eye out for us at some upcoming festivals.”
Little Red play Jive on Fri Aug 29 with The Holidays and Andy Bull. Listen To Little Red is out now through Shock.