A Quick Chat With The Little Lord Street Band
Celebrating an entire decade, Perth’s alt-country favourites, The Little Lord Street Band are set to release their sophomore album ‘Time And Place’ on April 22. The album promises to be everything we love about the band while signalling in the future, and fingers crossed we get another 10 more years out of them! Ahead of the release they have released the album title track which fittingly serves as a reflection of life’s journey - longing for purpose amidst the backdrop of suburban life. We caught up with Tash and Jim, to find out more about the track, the album and more.
Can you tell us what this track means to you and what you want people to take away from it?
Gratitude of where you have been and to where you might be going with a special somebody in your life.
What can fans expect to hear on your upcoming album?
This album is a bit a look back at days gone by. Past adventures, past relationships and the ‘Would have, could have, should haves’ that can come to mind.
Who are some of the band's influences, and why?
It’s a long list! When Tash(Natasha Shanks) and myself (James Rogers) got together there was a lot a Fleetwood Mac being played along with The National, The Shins, Gillian Welch and Frank Ocean as it was big at the time or we had found it in each others record collection. When we started getting on the road and playing shows in the country we’d put on a lot of Dolly Parton, Hank Williams, Slim Dusty and Johnny Cash and Creedence Clearwater Revival as it’s good driving music and we’d often find their CDs in service stations.
What's the creative process for the band, from writing through to recording?
The songs can come at any time, so we’ve always got our phones to record a voice memo. A bit later if the idea seems to stick we’ll record it onto our Zoom R24 multitrack recorder or straight on to GarageBand on my Mac where we work on the structure and try adding some things here and there. After we’ve added the basics and we’re happy with it, we’ll take to to the studio to either re-record or go straight to the mixing process which we leave to an external party as we can get a fresh set of ears on it.
What do you think makes a great song?
If you’ve got a great lyrical hook and a great couple of verses, great music seems to follow suit naturally. Artists like Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Dolly Parten and Bob Dylan are great examples. But with every rule or theory in music, there always seems to be an exception.
If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?
That’s tricky! I’ll go out on a limb and say that Tash would love to do a duet with Jackson Brown or Matt Berninger from the National. As for myself, I’m way to self conscious about embarrassing myself that I can’t even pretend to want to do a duet with an idol of mine. However, when I was a teenager I did often daydream of either Silverchair or The Superjesus plucking me from obscurity to play rhythm guitar with and tour the world with. Didn’t happen.
When not working on music, what other creative outlet/s do you have?
Well we’ve got day jobs and a two year old son. Sleep is a great hobby! I’ve been showing my son the original Thomas The Tank Engine on YouTube, which he loves and has a banger of an opening tune!
I guess like a lot of people with a smartphone and an instagram account, Tash and I probably fancy ourselves as photographers though Tash does have talent for it. We have shot quite a bit of footage for our upcoming video for our single ‘Time and Place’, let us know what you think.
Other than that, there’s an old road bike in my shed which I should get onto fixing up so i can begin my descent into becoming a middle aged man in lycra as I do like riding a push bike.
Who are some local bands we should check out?
We are often placed in the Alt-Country/Americana and Folk genres and currently there are some young artists including Siobhan Cotchin, Finn Pearson, Whiskey Jack and Dave Kent just to name a few that are just killing it with great songwriting and live shows. There are also some more ‘matured’ acts like The Adjustment, Tom Fisher and the Layabouts, Ralway Bell, Polly Medlen and The Kill Devil Hills who have written and continue to write great songs. Every Perth artist probably says this, but we are blessed to be a part of such and talented music community who are most often also great people!
Winter or summer and why?
Autumn. Without giving away my age, I’m at that stage in my life. But I choose this season as there’s enough heat lingering from summer yet the air is cooling, you can go to the beach still and put on a fancy jumper at night. Perfect!
What else do you have planned for 2024?
We have our album launch on the 24th of April at Lyrics Underground in Maylands which should be cool. Get out and play some regional and metro shows in W.A. And if we’re lucky maybe head out east. We are currently in the midst of putting down some songs for our next album. Fun times!
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