Continuing our Mood Board feature we spoke to James from Fine Creatures about some of the influences and memories in the making of Electric La La Land
1. John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band
During the writing and recording of Electric La La Land, I couldn’t stop listening to this record. I played it on repear during our time in Stockport where we were recording.
There is so much raw emotion in every single song The lyrics show this honest vulnerability that I related to at the time, and I wanted to lyrically do the same, or at least try to. That record is very much John Lennon’s recorded therapy, and it’s hard to listen to but it’s that much more powerful because of the emotion. The instrumentation and arrangements on the record are very simple and well put together, which made me want to keep things simple and to the point in the recording process. This relates to most of The Beatles songs as well, which have always been a very important influence for us as a band. It seemed to us as a coincidence that during one of the breaks in the studio, we found out on tv that George Martin passed away.
2. MEGABUS!
At the time of the EP recordings we were broke students, so the only option was to travel by Megabus from Brighton to Stockport. We still remember vividly it was a rainy Thursday morning, we all felt so miserable but so excited at the same time!
3. FOOD: BEANS ON TOAST AND YORKSHIRE TEA
As you would expect from three broke students, all we could afford was beans, toast and tea. Which was fine for us. Our Producer Dan Austin, would be so into the recording process that he’d live off quick sarnies and frozen pizza. We soon found out how hard it is for a band to find the time to eat proper food in the studio… unless you have a personal chef. As a matter of fa(c)t, we believe that most of the greatest records in history were made without healthy food!
4. BRIGHTON ELECTRIC
The best rehearsal and recording studio in Brighton. We’ve spent a countless amount of hours in those rooms, writing, arranging and working on the songs that ended up making Electric La La Land.
All the bands in Brighton, big and small, have rehearsed there and continue to rehearse there. It’s got this positive, friendly atmosphere and we always remember it as one of those familiar places that brought us together.
http://www.brightonelectric.co.uk/
5. APATHY (FINE CREATURES)
It took us a while to get a band name together. We wanted something that sounded good and also meant something. Firstly we liked how “Fine Creatures” sounded and the creepy edge to it, so we decided to stick to it. It was only after a couple of weeks that we started to feel more and more like the name was very fitting in relation to what was going on around us. We sensed this massive lack of interest and strong emotions – happiness, sadness, anger, love – in people our age and younger, but in ourselves as well.
As we found each other, we agreed that this was and still is a massive issue, that is common in our time. It’s easy to get lost in the lifestyle of drugs and being carefree and not having any strong interest or beliefs. We felt like we wanted to tackle this current mood, so we decided that being a “Fine Creature” is being apathetic, and by calling ourselves this, we are trying to combat this way of thinking.