Exclusive Interview: Against The Current On Second Album “Past Lives”, Dream Collaboration With NF & The Future!
New York pop-rock band Against the Current will be releasing their second studio album titled “Past Lives” tomorrow (Sept. 28) via Fueled by Ramen. This is the follow-up to the band’s 2016 debut LP “In Our Bones”, which spawned one of my absolute favorite songs of that year: “Wasteland”.
Now in 2018 Against the Current are back with a new project and that gets released on digital platforms at midnight tonight in your local time wherever you are. In an exclusive interview Direct Lyrics had with the band’s lead singer Chrissy Costanza a few days ago, we asked her all about the new album – the theme, the process of writing and recording it, the producers involved, their thoughts on getting signed to a major label so early in their careers, who their dream collaboration would, how do they see themselves in 10 years, among other things.
Check out the full interview below, get to know Against the Current a little better if you hadn’t heard much about them, and definitely go get a copy of “Past Lives” tomorrow. I got an early listened and I was impressed! So many great songs like “Almost Forgot” or “Personal”.
PAST LIVES is officially out in New Zealand, it will be hitting all of you at 12AM local! if you want to grab one of these preorder bundles last minute you’ve still got some time -> https://t.co/rUNrySgvWi
— AGAINST THE CURRENT (@ATC_BAND) 27 de septiembre de 2018
INTERVIEW
Direct Lyrics: Hey! Where are you answering this Q&A from and how has your day been like thus far?
Against The Current: Hi! We’re currently in Glasgow, Scotland in our dressing room at the venue. So far it’s been a pretty short day as we didn’t wake up until recently.
Direct Lyrics: You’re releasing your new album “Past Lives” on September 28th. What inspired the title and what’s the connecting theme in this album?
Against The Current: The songs on the album are all about these different times in our lives that consumed everything at the time, looking back on those times feels like looking back on a Past Life, like it couldn’t possibly have been me as I am today in those moments. It’s a very introspective look on those times.
Direct Lyrics: Was recording/writing this new album any different to 2016’s “In Our Bones”? Did you maybe learn or experienced something after that era that made you look at creating music differently for your next project?
Against The Current: It was a really different experience in terms of how we approached the composition of each song. We wanted to play more with dynamic this time around and use different sounds that we may have closed ourselves off to on the last album.
Direct Lyrics: What’s the weirdest place you have written a song for the new album at and where do you usually get your inspiration from?
Against The Current: We tend to write in studios, so not so weird (laughs) because we usually record as we write. Some things, like vocals, might be retracked later but a lot of what’s recorded during our writing process usually ends up on the final mix. We like getting the authentic, initial feelings down.
Direct Lyrics: Your latest single is “Almost Forgot”. How would you describe this song in a few words and did you have fun shooting the music video in NYC?
Against The Current: Almost Forgot is the angel and devil on your shoulder bickering. The angel is telling you not to go back to him but you still like to entertain the little devil walking you through the memories you liked. Shooting in NYC was amazing because we’re from NY but rarely ever get to work there. I’ve fallen in and out of love a thousand times in that city so it felt right.
Direct Lyrics: I heard you recorded this new album with producers Andrew Goldstein and Tommy English. They have worked with artists such as Demi Lovato, 5 Seconds of Summer, Broods or Kacey Musgraves. Did you feel at all intimated working with them? How was the chemistry in the studio like?
Against The Current: Definitely not intimidated at all, but always very grateful. We did all of our last record and our EP with Tommy so he’s an old friend that we already had a good workflow with. Andrew did Wasteland on the last record with us and we knew after that we wanted to work with him a bunch on this album. He always has an awesome energy and is up for trying something new.
Direct Lyrics: “Past Lives” is made of 11 tracks only. Did you record many more songs? If so, was it difficult choosing which songs made the cut? Do you think you will be sharing the unreleased songs in some way to your fans in the future?
Against The Current: We probably recorded almost four times as many songs. Ultimately, save for the last couple of decisions, it was pretty obvious to us which songs should be on the final track listing, they made themselves known. I’m not sure if we’ll share the unreleased songs, maybe a couple, but we just want to keep walking forward instead of looking back. There was a reason they weren’t on the album.
Direct Lyrics: You are signed to Fueled by Ramen (part of the Atlantic Records, Warner family). How was your signing process like? It must have been one of the most exciting moments in your career!
Against The Current: We signed with FBR right before leaving to tour off our Gravity EP. Working with them for our first full length was awesome because they helped open so many doors that we couldn’t have done on our own. They have such an awesome family energy within the team so we love being part of the FBR family.
Direct Lyrics: If you could record a collaboration with anybody right now, who would it be, why him/her/them, and how do you imagine your original song to be like?
Against The Current: I’d love to collab with NF. I love his lyrics, especially his song “Why” and I relate pretty heavily to them. I think we’d come up with a super raw, edgy track.
Direct Lyrics: What’s an Against the Current live concert like?
Against The Current: We like to make our shows dynamic, lots of ebbs and flows. We used to think ok here’s the fast part and here’s the slow part and now there are so many more intricacies than that. As long as everyone is singing loud we’re having a good time!
Against The Current: How do you see yourselves in 10 years?
Direct Lyrics: Hopefully a few records down the line that we’re super proud of, some massive tours and maybe an award or two. Ultimately we just want to keep growing organically and have everything just scale up from here.