[ g a r b a g e : t h e . r i g h t . m i x ]
[ t e x t . o n l y . v e r s i o n ]
by stephen munchenberg
Duke Erikson
is at home in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, sounding very pleased with his
band's latest album, "Version 2.0". The band in question is Garbage and
its much-anticipated second album has silenced many of the critics who
were waiting to bucket it. After all, millions of people around the world
fell in love with Garbage's self-titled debut, placing on their shoulders
some weighty expectations, yet its follow-up more than matches it in quality.
Anyone who has been alive and listening to radio over the past few years will remember their hits "Stupid Girl", "Only When It Rains", "Vow", "Queer" and "Milk". Not bad for a first effort, but where could they go from there? When the new single "Push It" hit the airwaves earlier this year the supergroup showed they were back in business and Erikson says it was by no means a difficult second album.
'Actually I would say for the most part it was an easier record to make,' he says. 'I think the group dynamic was a lot more comfortable. For the last record, Shirley had entered the fold of three guys that had been together for longer than we'd care to think about. There was a bit of awkwardness there, but things got a lot better by the end of it and then we went on the road for a year and a half and played together almost every night. We got a lot closer and got to know each other as people and musically as well. I think the chemistry was much better this time, we all felt more at ease.'
That certainly comes across on the album, which, with equal measures of layered rhythms, loops, samples, industrial-pop riffs and gorgeous melodies, took a little longer to put together in the studio. The band initially formed out of a collaboration between super-producer Butch Vig (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins) and his long-time studio chums Duke Erikson and Steve Marker who all wanted to play their own music after so many years of recording other people's. They found the singer they wanted while watching MTV -- charismatic Scot Shirley Manson was playing in her band Angelfish when spotted and was quickly summoned. Recording "Version 2.0" was more of a collaborative effort with the four now being firm friends.
'Yeah, it was a little different this time,' Erikson says. 'We actually took three weeks off and escaped to this house in the north-west of the United States on an island some friend generously offered us for free. We set our gear up there and just played together. We all brought a few ideas we'd come up with, just working things out and a lot of songs took form there -- just writing and playing as a four-piece. The last record was a bit more of a piece-meal approach where we all contributed as we went, it was much more fractured. I think this record sounds like people playing together.' When "Garbage" was released back in 1995 nobody had any preconceived ideas yet it took the world by storm with a litany of hits.
'We didn't have any expectations either, but I guess we have a lot to live up to now," Erikson says. 'I'd be disappointed if the people who liked the first record don't like this one, but that could happen. We didn't work under any kind of serious pressure to match the sales of the last record, that didn't enter the equation. We really did what we did last time and started writing songs and trying to make them sound interesting working in the studio.'
'There's obviously songs on there that have a certain kind of commercial sound. We chose "Push It" as the first single because we just thought it was a logical step from the last record, kind of a good bridge.'
They also had a between-albums success with the song they contributed to the "Romeo And Juliet" soundtrack. That song, "#1 Crush", was actually a bonus track on the "Vow" single that had been remixed especially for the occasion.
'We'd been offered a lot of movies but "Romeo And Juliet" was the first we'd felt good about and the timing was kind of right,' he says. 'We were approaching the end of the tour and we just happened to have that song -- an outtake from the first record. We just did a good remix and it worked.'
Erikson's personal favourite on "Version 2.0" is "The Trick Is To Keep Breathing", saying it was effortless from the songwriting point of view and ended up being their best mix. He adds their collaboration on production is their strong point.
'Shirley's not as technically oriented as the rest of us, but she's loaded with ideas which is what 90 per cent of production is about', he says. 'There's no one person who does anything.'
Good news for their Australian fans is that the band has definite plans to return soon. Erikson also says that the band is feeling more confident about the transition from studio to stage this time round.
'We never think about how we're gonna do things live when we're making a record -- that's the last thing we worry about,' he says. 'So we have to step back now and rethink it all. We had a really good rehearsal today to tell you the truth -- it sounded pretty good.'
Visit the official Garbage site at www.garbage.com for more information about single releases and tour plans.