9 o'clock Nasty On the Making Of “Game Fit”
What was the creative process like for this particular single?
“Game Fit” began as a very sketchy demo at Ted’s studio which is on a boat on the River Soar. It was anchored by a beat loop cut together from three hip hop samples and a DX7 keyboard riff from a demo song on some music software Ted was playing with. The vocals were incomprehensible and incomplete but the vibe was there. Ted has neither patience nor impulse control so at that point he sent it to Brock as a WhatsApp message and went back to trying to keep the swans from climbing onto his deck with a broom and eating his bowl of breakfast gazpacho. Brock heard something there and gradually replaced each and every element that was needed for the song. He played in the drums, bass and keyboards and months later we all got together in the studio, completed the lyrics and finished the song in less than half an hour of focused work.
Were there any memorable or standout moments during the recording sessions for "Game Fit?"
We build songs at leisure but do the actual recording at pace, with no second takes and no warm-ups. Spontaneity and responding to each other in the moment are part of our method.
We’re as surprised when they turn out well as anyone. With “Game Fit,” Brock and Ted ripped through the first two verses with ferocious energy. They had argued about biscuits the previous day and not spoken more than a grunt for 24 hours. That’s why the interplay and exchanging of vocal lines is so random, they were literally arguing over who got each line as we recorded. Then the chorus hit with a wave of relief and everyone joined in. Even Maxine our tape op was banging on the glass and shouting. That elevated moment of euphoria and rage stands out. We need a song to have a big chorus. A shared moment. That first run through when we hit the peak for Game Fit all together was really special.
What did you enjoy most about making "Game Fit?"
Those answers make it sound like we’re really spontaneous but sometimes part of a song has to be crafted and details sweated. Brock really wanted to add the rap at the end and had most of it written down in sharpie on scraps of hard toilet paper and unpaid bills. But he had a couple of lines that didn’t quite flow into each other as they should. The best part of recording was drinking ice-cold beer watching him trying to work out that key phrase and then waking up Maxine so we could quickly record it before the rising summer sun licked the pavement. The first demo of a song and the final rough mix are always the highlights.
How would you describe your musical style or genre?
Many layered. We live, eat, sleep music from most genres. We talk about it. We obsess over it. So any song will draw from that multi-layered mess and have to find its own way. We don’t consciously write for a style, they compete and force their way through. At the moment we’re clear on the sonics, the expansive sound and the sense of space we want to achieve. If slotting us into a single genre is easy then we’ve failed.
Tightly crafted messy hip hop punk with cinematic touches probably does it. It’s Art.
What role do you feel emotions play in your music, and how do you channel them into your performances?
There’s the emotion in the song and then the emotion in the performance.
That first demo for a tune, whether it’s one of Brock’s or Ted’s will have a writer’s perspective on something. Anger, grief, love, humour. All of those are in different measures for the song. We talk about each song a lot before we do the vocals and we don’t always agree on the emotional line to take. We don’t always agree on much of anything. Art is all about fusing passionate disagreement into a message that is multi-layered and provoking.
That means we’re weaving three different people’s take on the theme into a whole.
On “Game Fit” each of us has our response. Patient rage from Brock. Swagger and narcissistic joy from Ted. A sense of loss and longing from Sydd. We’d each say the song means different things and we’re all correct. That means the listener is free to choose how to go with the tune. Ultimately it doesn’t matter what our emotions are, it’s the response the listener feels that counts.
