Bristol-based duo Getdown Services are known for their uniquely British tongue in cheek lyrics and high energy tracks. A joint project of high-school friends Ben Sadler and Josh Law, the band recently hit our shores for their sold out headline Australian tour and now with album number two (Massive Champion) on the way this weekend, I was keen to ask Josh a few questions about the new album and the band’s journey to this point.
So one of my favourite Getdown Services’ songs is James Bay’s Hat. And I’ve always been curious about how your song ideas evolve because they’re definitely not (on the face of it anyway) what most bands are writing about. In my head it’s sort of like you just yell random stuff at each other until something sticks and then you lean in hard. Is that how it actually works, and if not, can you tell me a little more about the process?
Thank you, I’ve never been convinced by that song so that is nice to hear. I always felt a bit bad that George Ezra caught a stray in it. It is a little bit like that yeah, it’s not necessarily random but I tend to throw things around based on an image or feeling i have in my head until something comes out that feels like a hook and then work around that. A big part of our writing process is based on us working around not being able to sing or being limited melodically whilst also having an interest in hooks and choruses. I think we’re trying to write catchy things that convey an honest feeling or view that we have more than we’re trying to have a go at celebrities. Pop culture stuff tends to come out a lot and sometimes like you say, for whatever reason it feels like it just sticks sometimes. Often because it makes us laugh
For the most part, it’s just the two of you writing your songs. How do you find that impacts your songwriting? And have there been any awkward moments where one of you thinks you’ve written the best thing ever and the other one has to be like “nah, it’s a bit shit that mate”? And how do you navigate those?
Yeah that does happen and it’s a useful thing really. Writing lyrics is a new thing for us and as listener we don’t tend to be drawn to lyrics as much as we are other things. That sort of means the only quality control we have is trying to make sure the stuff we’re writing feels like it’s coming from an honest place. Most often if there’s any criticism it’ll be “I think you could word that better or cut that bit out” but sometimes we also just do absolute stinkers and one of us has to go I think you should sack that off and start again. We write a lot of lyrics and make a lot of music and a lot of it is absolute shite but that’s all part of the joy of it!
And while we’re talking songwriting, what’s your favourite lyric you’ve ever written?
I like a lyric on a song on our new album called No One Likes Me where I say “Is it a fool I’m playing or is it just plain cruel”. My favourite lyric of Ben’s is “Stuck in the lounge, wanna be at the gate” from Evil On Tap.
So online you’re described musically as everything from rock, to pop, to indie dance, to disco (?!). It’s clear people don’t quite know what ‘box’ to put you in. Can you tell me a little bit about your musical influences, and do you feel they’ve changed between when you released Crisps a few years ago to now when you’re just about to release your second album?
My bread and butter with music is classic rock/ blues rock. I started playing guitar when I was 9 and in particular I got really into The White Stripes for years and years. I sort of learned how to make music through my obsession with The White Stripes so I think that probably runs through everything I do in some way, at least on guitar. Daft Punk are an equally huge influence on both of us. I love sample based stuff like The Avalanches and J Dilla and all that french touch stuff. To me, albums like Discovery or Donuts take ideas from a lot of different styles and contextualise them in a way that makes sense cohesively and I’ve always found that really inspiring for some reason. You can feel there is a real appreciation of and curiosity about lots of different kinds of music behind those albums and I think that idea is a big influence on us. I don’t think our influences have changed much, I’ve become a bit more practiced at some production skills and I think we’re more confident in general but musically we’re pretty much still inspired by the same stuff we always have been. I try and listen to a lot of different kinds of music but it’s always the same core stuff that tends to actually inspire me: AC/DC, Daft Punk, 00s Pop, Garage Rock, Classic Pop.
I’ve had a listen to the new album, Massive Champion, which I LOVE by the way, I’m not sure how much you can share, but from your perspective what can people expect from the album?
Thank you! It’s a shorter album than our 1st one in terms of run time but there are more songs, there’s less swearing on it, some more choruses than before, the 2nd half is the best half, there’s a bit more singing, the first love song we’ve ever done and also probably the angriest song we’ve ever done.
I had a couple of thoughts on it I wanted to ask a bit more about. Firstly, it felt more musically expansive than some of your past releases. For example, opener Poor Bannister is almost like a nursery rhyme at times (or sort of folk inspired, but I feel like you’ll prefer my nursery rhyme analogy), whereas something like The Definitive Map feels a lot harsher, and more EDM, electro punk. Is this something you were aware of with the album when you were making it and was it a deliberate choice to vary the style a little more with it being a longer record?
I really appreciate the nursery rhyme thing! Thank you. I have a real interest in children’s music especially folky stuff from the 60s and I think I wanted to combine that feeling with more storytelling kind of stuff like Jake Thackray or Ivor Cutler or even stuff like Roald Dahl. A lot of our stuff comes from quite a childish place and I thought it would be interesting to try and lean into that to try and write this sort of weird disgusting story that somehow feels child friendly. Across the album we wanted to try and make a load of different styles try and work together and something we try not to do when we’re making stuff is talk ourselves out of ideas. We try and just follow it and make stuff without worrying about whether it fits or makes sense in the context of our other music. It’s a bit cheesy but I think we just try and trust our gut that it will glue together somehow because it’s all coming from the same two brains. It’s just being filtered through different styles or instruments or whatever. It’s the same set of feelings just with different flavours. That’s the hope anyway.
Secondly, it felt a bit more serious at times. It still has that Getdown Services flavour, but it’s a bit less talking about beans on toast and a bit more using your irreverent style but shining a light more on society, or turning it a little more introspectively. Is that fair, or have I just not been listening properly? And if I’m on the mark, what prompted that shift?
I think it’s fair yeah! We’ve definitely become more introspective as people which naturally comes out in our writing. A big part of this is just that we’re older now, some of the first album was written when we were mid 20s and we’re now early 30s. Another part of it is that I don’t think we find the idea of repeating ourselves interesting creatively. We honestly never thought we’d even be in a band again let alone release an album let alone release a 2nd one. I think we wanted to make sure we made the most of having the insane opportunity to make a 2nd album and the best way we could think of to do that was to push ourselves creatively. We tried our best to shut out the fact that people know who we are now and just crack on with making stuff that felt new and different.
I never know if this is an easy question or not, but what’s your favourite song on Massive Champion?
I think its Check The Definition because it feels like the most different from anything else we’ve released and I’m really happy with the vocal harmonies on the chorus. I can’t sing so it took me ages.
I just had a few last questions. I hope that’s ok. You recently came over to Australia to tour, what’s your craziest/best story from the tour?
The gig in Brisbane was one of the most fun gigs we’ve ever done. The whole tour was just amazing. I was blown away how much better the food tasted in Australia. Normal stuff like fruit just tastes better there. Also its so basic but Kangaroos are fucking mental to look at. They look so dumb.
AND related to that can you tell me more about the track/interlude A Crazy Story on the new album?
That’s my partner Daisy! Her and Ben wrote it together. I played guitar. It’s loosely meant to be a bridge between the first and last songs on the album. The loose idea was the woman who is asleep on the bus in Poor Bannister has just got off the bus in Crazy Story and is on her way to the dance class being referenced in 600 Dance Lessons. We wanted to use a story to bridge the first and second half of the album.
And finally, can you tell me a few bands or artists you’re enjoying at the moment who you think deserve a bit more love and attention?
I really like a doom band called Boris at the moment and I’m listening to The Kills a lot and i dont think they get enough praise. We saw a guy called Drifting Clouds in Sydney and that was sick so also him.
Presave/Preorder the new album here.
Find out more about Getdown Services here.