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We Were Promised Jetpacks Talk Recording and Touring + Share Free Song

Via Alyssa Coluccio Nov 07

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We Were Promised Jetpacks have been busy. The Edingburgh boys took to a recording studio in Iceland to produce their second and latest album, In The Pit of The Stomach, which dropped in the US on Oct. 4. With its dramatic, layered instrumentation and a sound that blends indie, alt, punk and rock, In The Pit of The Stomach is a perfect follow up to 2009's equally impressive These Four Walls. Here, the band talks about recording and touring, why they love Frightened Rabbit, and how American concerts take rank as their rowdiest. (And don't forget to grab your free download of "Act on Impulse," above.)

PureVolume: You've come a long way from your start as a high school band. When you first started out, you toured with Frightened Rabbit. What was it like being so new and touring with your own musical influences?

We Were Promised Jetpacks: It was amazing. They're really good folk with an amazing attitude, so they taught us well.

PV: Being from Edinburgh, what do you find most different about the American music scene in comparison to yours from home? Is there a distinct difference in scenes from country to country?

WWPJ: Nah, not really. People are the same everywhere. More of them come to see us in America, and when more people come to a show, it tends to be a bit more rowdy.

PV: How was your time recording In The Pit of the Stomach in Iceland, and in the same studio where Sigur Ros recorded?

WWPJ: It was very good. The studio is amazing and was perfect for what we wanted to do with the album.

PV: You often hear of musicians pulling these Thoreauvian moves and escaping into isolation to create. How do you think this kind of work environment affects the finished project?

WWPJ: It didn't seem to make too much of a difference. Recording takes all of your time anyway, whether you're "isolated" or not. We didn't choose to be cut off, it was just that the studio seemed amazing and [Iceland] was where it was.

PV: What's next for your music as we go into 2012?

WWPJ: Touring! It's funny, people ask us this all the time. The answer is always touring or writing -- that's what bands do!

PV: Mike, has your battle with Hodgkin's Lymphoma taught you anything that you've now started to apply to your work as a musician or to other areas of your life?

WWPJ: No, not really. If you don't make a big deal about it then it's not a big deal. If it's not a big deal then why worry about it?

Pick up In the Pit of the Stomach on iTunes »

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