The Creative Process Overblown

Talking to me today is Jonny Allen, who plays guitar, bass, and sings with the alternative rock group Happyness. That’s with a ‘y’. In April, they released their second album ‘Write In’ via Moshi Moshi and Bar/None Records. It sees them progress on the foundations set by their debut album and they cite the likes of Roxy Music, The Beach Boys, Randy Newman, Sonic Youth, Big Star and Pierre Cavalli as influences. Quite an eclectic mix. Remarkably the record cost only £500 to make and was recorded on an 8 track. That’s cheaper than an iPhone. We chatted about all kinds of things ranging from Larry David to H.G. Wells to theremins and beyond. We also touched on how one can sometimes create rather unique music when presented with the task of writing on instruments one is not familiar with, the benefits of collaboration, ostriches, and the band opened up on their latest album.

Joining us is Niall Kennedy, guitarist from the Belfast based instrumental rock band And So I Watch You From Afar. On October 20th they will be releasing their fifth studio album via the always excellent Sargent House. Titled ‘The Endless Shimmering’, it sees the band strip things back and follow their instincts. My chat with Niall centred mostly around writing and recording their new album and how that differed from their processes in the past. We also touched on their album artwork and a meme competition idea before talking about being snowed in while recording the album at Machines with Magnets in Pawtucket, Rhode Island in March of this year. Finally, we got around to talking about what And So I Watch You From Afar means to Niall.

Dylan from Cloud Nothings is with me today. We talked writing music, lyrics and working with John Congleton, Steve Albini, and John Goodmanson. We also touched on working with Nathan Williams from Wavves and where Dylan plans to take the Cloud Nothings sound next. Will it be pop or post punk? Things took a bit of a turn though and somehow we ended up talking about childhood, social media, and the benefits of personal music to teenagers. Thanks to Dylan for agreeing to be interviewed, and thanks to you for listening. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast, and leave us a cheeky review. Cheers!

Today I’m talking to Chris Spencer from seminal noise rock outfit Unsane. I’m not gonna lie, we had a great chat. He’s sound. We touched on how record labels influenced Unsane’s sound, what he thinks of MTV, why they love gore so much, the multifaceted symbolism of blood, the inspiration the title of the new album ‘Sterilize’, the influence behind the lyrics for ‘Aberattion’ and ‘The Grind’, the unusual writing process for their new album, overcoming writer’s block, and what keeps him creating music after 30 years.

Today’s guests on the Creative Process podcast are Italian doom metal power trio Ufomammut. We had a pretty in depth chat about the symbolism of the number 8 which is the title of their new album, their thoughts on fate, why they love synth so much, if they ever considered releasing albums that just consisted of their synth work, how their work as graphic artists influences their music, their DIY attitude, working with Steve Von Till and Neurot Recordings. Before we get started I’d like to thank the patrons of Overblown and the podcast, without whom this would not be possible.

On the surface, Pennsylvania’s Rosetta are a post metal band. However, over the course of six albums they have incorporated elements of post-hardcore, shoegaze, drone, post-rock, avant-garde and ambient music in their expansive sound. The group have just released their most recent record Utopioid. Delving into areas that are more atmospheric and melodic than the group’s previous work, it also displays the band’s intrinsic need to develop. I spoke to Matt Weed, guitarist and vocalist with Rosetta, about what exactly the band does during their 10 hour writing sessions, arranging music before composing it, and the influence of LucasArts point and click games on his musical development.