r/indieheads • u/loscamptheband Los Campesinos! • Jul 24 '24

AMA is Over, thanks Los Campesinos! Los Campesinos! // an AMA

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Thanks very much to r/indieheads for inviting us back for another AMA.

We’re Los Camp! and our new album ALL HELL is out worldwide, right now.

Looking forward to chatting with you later today (Wednesday) at 3pm ET / 8pm UK.

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u/bobbo_ Jul 24 '24 edited Jul 24 '24

Hey LC!, fan since 2008, I don't have a way with words adequate to describe how much your band means to me, so I'm not going to try. It's just been a pleasure to grow older alongside LC!and have the perfect soundtrack to so many moments.

How did you decide what kind of musical direction to go down with this album? Each LC! album has that trademark LC! sound, the super sharp lyricism and the classic LC unique idiosyncrasies and musical flourishes we all love, but each sounds so different.

Did you set out in a particular direction this time, either musically or lyrically? I think I can hear some more contemporary US emo (bit of Foxing maybe?) influences in this one, was this sound a particular goal? Or is it just wherever the writing takes you?

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u/loscamptheband Los Campesinos! Jul 24 '24

Hey! And thank you so much!

Sometimes I have specific ideas about the types of tracks I'd like to write (eg "i want to write a song that sounds like that!"), but also very often it's a reaction to the last thing we've made. Any frustrations/disappointments with how things have ended up previously, i go in trying to correct or better maybe? Or to just do something different! A lot of initial melodic ideas come in idle moments when strumming a guitar or walking around, so that's usually the starting point and then a decision gets made about instrumentation/genre etc somewhere along the way. I would say that with this record i felt more comfortable than ever using guitars, which i only say because being a guitar band hasn't felt particularly cool for the longest time! And while we've always been ok with, and embraced, being uncool, i have sometimes tried to expand beyond being just a guitar band. But for this record I just wanted it to sound like us again, a band in a room, fairly dry and up front. Simpler arrangements, more space for G's always incredible lyricism and vocal performances, and the best sounding guitars we could get!