We sat down with New Politics after their show in Akron to ask about their new album and their new single Harlem. Here's David Boyd (lead vocals),Søren Hansen (guitar/vocals) and Louis Vecchio (drummer) answering some questions, break dancing, and shouting "Glitter!" in Danish, for your education.
So, about Harlem. It's a really really good song. And you can listen to it here before you buy it. We asked about their inspiration for the song and if it had to do with their move to NYC after being in Denmark.
Louis: “He [David] can tell the story about Harlem but it’s about to go for about twenty five minutes.”
Søren takes over in an attempt to shorten the epic story of Harlem.
Søren: “When we came back from tour and we started writing this album, the first month of that we tried to write the first album again and every time we wrote a song it was kinda like “it’s not there, it’s not there, it’s not there” and then so many things happened. The main thing was that there was this huge culture shock coming over here [from Denmark] where we didn’t know anyone - because we’d been on tour all the time. The important fact of how Harlem became Harlem is [that] the whole process of this album has been our culture shock, and every song that’s going on this album shows that period in our life. This album is very personal because it marks a certain time in the whole process of us settling in over here.”
Louis: “It’s genuine. That’s what Søren, in 3600 words, was trying to say.”
And it sounds like the rest of their album is genuine, too. From hearing them speak about it, you can tell they put a lot of their personal experiences into the new album.
Søren: “When we write songs we just write something, and then there’s a vibe in it and some of the words that become a part of the song are already being sung.”
David: “When we tried to do something like the first album, it wasn’t there because it was lacking that 10%, that thing there where we weren’t where we were three years ago when we wrote the first album in Denmark, in a basement, rebelling, being mad at everything, questioning things of society. Now we’re signed, living in America, living out a dream. We’re touring, we’ve experienced all these things. All those things were factors that we didn’t put in until later when it hit us that this is what we were, right now, and we’ve changed to this, and this is part of the challenge as an artist when you’re writing an album.”
After writing their new album, they toured with Twenty One Pilots - after being on tours with 30 Seconds to Mars, Neon Trees, and the Dirty Heads. We asked what was different about this tour and what made it fit with their own music.
David: “The good thing about Twenty One Pilots, that we’re out with, is that they have a similar thing. They’re just open to music. They put everything in their music, whatever they feel in their heart, that’s what it is. We have that thing as well with our music.”
You can tell, especially live, that they put everything into their music. And other people can tell, which is why they've become pretty successful after their first self-titled album was released, being featured on MTV and performing at SXSW. They got pretty deep while talking about success/fame/fortune, but their sense of humor was displayed in the fun-loving way they interact with each other.
David: “If you have a million dollars then it’s good for you, but if you don’t it’s also good for you."
Søren: “The moon’s blue on a summer night.”
#NewPoliticswordsofwisdom
Louis was feeling left out after not sharing his own words of wisdom, so we asked about how tour was going. However, David and Soren didn't think his answer was lively enough.
Louis: “This tour has been a lot of fun, it’s been great so far –“
*snores* from Søren, *yawns* from David.
Louis: “I give up.”
Søren: “You teased me when I was answering about Harlem!”
David: “They asked about Harlem and you spoke about the River of Babylon.”
David, mimicking Søren: “Well, when I was in kindergarten my teacher told me –“
They're like their own little family, and you can tell that when they're on stage, too, because they work so well musically together- something that you only see in bands that still like each other. With the musical chemistry they have, their new album will be worthy of all four of The Glitter Pox thumbs up. We asked when their album would be released, which you now know to be tomorrow.
David: “We even have a title for it.”
David: “It’s called The Title.”
They played four songs off of "The Title," now "A Bad Girl in Harlem," at the show: Tonight You're Perfect, Die Together, Just Like Me, and Harlem. After hearing them live, we can tell you that you'll definitely want to catch them on their future tours and buy the album. And you can find that our for yourself when it hits iTunes tomorrow (or other non-digital forms on their website), or check a stream of it out at MTV's Buzzyworthy Blog now.
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