A reading of the Riot act

Clap Clap Riot has just released their self-funded debut album, four years after the release of...
Clap Clap Riot has just released their self-funded debut album, four years after the release of their acclaimed EP <i>TV Knows Better.</i> Photo supplied.
Four years after their acclaimed EP, former Cantabrians Clap Clap Riot have finally finished their debut album, writes Lydia Jenkin, of The New Zealand Herald.

Two thousand and eight was a big year for Clap Clap Riot.

The four-piece, who were originally from Canterbury (and amusingly called Band Theft Auto in their early days), won the inaugural MTV Kickstart competition, moved to Auckland, and recorded their EP, TV Knows Better with former D4 member Jimmy Christmas.

They managed airplay and found popularity with their ferocious singles influenced by Brit rock, singles such as Don't Want Your Baby and Thief; and toured New Zealand and Australia several times, playing small clubs and big festivals.

Four years on, the boys have expanded their sound, found a new drummer and raised the cash to finally release their scorching debut album, Counting Spins.

"It's been two years, or maybe even longer if we count writing time," lead singer Stephen Heard mused about how long the new album had been in production.

Lead guitarist Dave Rowlands laughed: "I almost feel like I have to defend myself when I hear that, because we have been working hard the whole time.

It's funded independently, by us, so it took longer to raise the money."

This time they chose to work with Auckland producer and engineer Andrew Buckton because of his work with more mainstream pop-rock acts, but also because he had worked with bands such as The D4 and Supergroove, who had "a dirtier, more garage sound", Rowlands explained.

"For the first EP, we wanted the sound to have that crazy live energy, but for this one we sort of made a bit of a wish list and said things like, we want it to sound dirty, we like the drum sound on this Kills track, or here are some different guitar-sound ideas. We didn't want to imitate things, but just take an aspect of it and combine it with our own ideas," Heard said.

Given that they straddle the grey area between indie and mainstream rock here in New Zealand, there was a fair bit of balancing to be done when it came to working out the album's overall sound.

"It was a bit of a bartering point with us [and Buckton], because indie music is what we tend to listen to, we don't really listen to so much commercial rock music; but at the same time, that's what we wanted the produced outcome to work towards," Rowlands said.

"So we'd want something really dirty and homemade-sounding, but we'd realise that maybe we needed something bigger.

"In the end, the direction we chose was that we wanted to sound big in a room, but not big in a stadium."

That didn't stop them from referencing some big international hits though.

"The only thing we specifically referenced, I think, was the drum sound from Englishman In New York by Sting," admitted Rowlands, amid much laughter.

"There's a drum break that's totally ridiculous," Heard said.

"And then the rest of the song is all jazz. And it's totally out of nowhere, but it's good." A discussion ensued about who could possibly have been listening to Sting in the first place, and Heard had to accept it could have been him.

Rowlands: "There's obviously at least a 'Best of Sting'-type album in Stephen's collection somewhere."

While their EP was a set of five blisteringly fast tracks, the album spreads their pace a little wider.

"Slower songs were always part of our live set," Rowlands said. "You can't play an hour-long set of songs that fast.

But when we were making the EP we thought, if we put any slower songs in then it'll feel weird, because we've got four really fast songs. Now we can showcase more material."

Counting Spins is a more mature offering than TV Knows Better, and although they've lost none of their youthful, wild energy, there's more pointed barbs and light social commentary than previously.

"A lot of our writing, lyric-wise at least, comes out quite bitter, quite sour," Rowlands said.

"There are songs that have a happy feel to them, but the lyrics are not. A song like Yoko Ono, for example, really has an upbeat, major feeling, but the actual lyrics have a really dark underbelly. If you read them written down they're quite spiteful."

Which seems a little odd, given that they all contribute to the songwriting, and yet as a band they've got a reputation as easy-going, well-balanced, jovial guys, who have happy relationships and love to perform.

"It's the hidden anger, that's how we let it out," Heard grinned. "We're like a new-age emo band."


Hear it
Who: Auckland-based four-piece Clap Clap Riot.
What: Debut album Counting Spins.


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