Mais Reviews do Lightning Bolt e da Entrevista com o Brendan O'Brien

***Lembrando que hoje haverá um evento semelhante em Amsterdam!!!

Saíram mais dois reviews sobre o evento que ocorreu ontem em Berlin. O primeiro texto foca nas músicas do álbum e o segundo, muito interessante, descreve tudo que ocorreu durante a tarde e ainda fala sobre a entrevista que o Brendan O'Brien deu para a imprensa e os fãs que estavam presentes.

*Apenas para adiantar algumas coisas interessantes desses dois reviews:

- O álbum é mais ou menos calmo se compararmos com o Backspacer. A pessoa usa o termo "mid-tempo", o que significa que ele tem um ritmo mais ameno, embora não lento, das suas músicas em geral.

- Composições: "Infallible" é do Jeff, "Sirens" é composição do Mike, e "Let the Records Play" é do Stone. Pelo que entendi, o restante são composições do Eddie, sem contribuições do Matt (nas letras, é claro).

- Foi transmitido um vídeo de 10 minutos com a banda no estúdio, entrevistas, o Eddie dirigindo e falando sobre suas expectativas, etc...

Abaixo coloco os dois reviews e tento traduzi-los mais tarde!

1)

- I love the album but i tell you....it's so fucking hard to hear a new PJ record just for one fucking time and not a single rotation more...THAT'S BRUTAL! CRUELTY!! we all know that you NEED a lot of listens to get the real feeling for the album! oh oh, the next month will be so hard. to be honest...i don't know if it wouldn't be better to hear NOTHING until you have the vinyl in your hands and a record player i front of you. glass of vine, maybe a good friend...yesterday it was my first record release session of a new PJ album without my best friend Alfred (R.I.P.), so I was happy to be able to hear it at least with some other hardcore jammers like Cris, Franzi, becky, Benz and all.
But on the other hand...there were a lot of people in a small room, mostly german press guys. so these guys have to write a proper review about the album now. It will be hard for them as they had a lot to do with talking and drinking and eating. AND...everybody has to stand (beside me and a few jammers who took the stage), it was quite hot too. But okay...I'm too hard....that were just a few guys but as Becky knows...when Eddie sings EVERBODY HAS TO SHUT THE FUCK UP!!! as i wrote, it was nice to see friends like Cris and Franzi enjoying the songs as i did. they were able to note some stuff for the board, i had to close my eyes as i didn't want to see any bored face who isn't really interested in the album AND i wanted to focus on the music totally.

- about the songs...as they wrote: there are some real catchy tunes like "Sirens" or "Getaway" (love both) but a song like "Yellow Moon".....can i say It's GREAT? or BORING?? i need a second listen, and one more and more and more....but it's at least a GOOD song. the same with others...

- "Pendulum" is KILLER!! One of my favourites!!!! New sound, new darker mood for PJ in my opinion! Doesn't fit on BS but here....perfect!!
- "Infallible", "Getaway", "Lightning Bolt", "Future Days", "swalloed whole", "My Father's Son" (what a surprising song)
- "Sleeping by myself" good alternate version of the song but WHY NOT A B-SIDE??? I just want to hear new songs on a new album. this is no recycling station.
- totally the album is more mid-tempo (slower?) than backspacer. and it's not "tight" as BS.

- after the first listen: I was more into Backspacer. for me that was easier to get into after one single listen. I remember saying "Yeah, fucking one of their best albums! Love it! yeah yeah yeah!!" not the same this time but a really fucking very good feeling (Oh yeah!!). not a bad feeling. just need more time. We call albums like these a grower.. maybe after many listens i will say "Nah...it's just a "good" album!" but it's still possible that i'll say "That's fucking great!" what i want to say...makes no sense to write to many words about a PJ album we just heard one time or NO time...october is close folks and then we know the truth about OUR opinion. It's music.

Oh hell...that's no review, sorry mates! And sorry for my bad english. But i had the feeling to share some things because i know you want to read some stuff. I really would like to know more about the Q&A with brendan as i had to leave after the listening session for a really really bad job!!!!

No, i try to calm myself down with some PJ unplugged tunes...

2)

And now to the Brendan O'Brien Q&A and the press promo video that they
showed us before listening to the album.

The video was around 10 minutes long & featured parts of the songs Sirens,
Mind Your Manners, Lightning Bolt & Getaway.
Getaway was an early mix and sounded really different then what we heard on
the record later, Brendan apologized for ruining the song in that first
video.
You could see snippets of the MYM music video, interviews with the whole
band, and Ed alone in his car & in the studio archive or something like
that.
Ed talked mostly, but the projector was really dark and the sound quality
not that good so that we couldn't understand anything.
Mike talked about Sirens being the song he's most proud of, Ed talked about
waves (no surprise, haha) & that songwriting is like a wave, once you are
on there you can swim.
Ed also said that he is always relieved after a new album is finished and
that he likes to see what's next.
He also talked about the inspiration to the lyrics or album in general,
that it's about what's going on on the planet. (But, isn't it always? )
You can also see Ed rocking out in his car to the new record, haha.

So, now to the Q&A.

Brendan talked about how he and the band first got together. They toured
europe at that time (1992) and asked Brendan to fly over for their gig in
Nuremberg (Rock im Park) &
he really came all the way to europe for them.
Then he was asked about Of The Earth and I probably understood the first
part wrong because I think he said it was recorded for the last record, but
then someone asked again and B said it was never recorded because it just
didn't fit, but he liked the song live. I thought that was weird.
We then asked what he knew about the new leaks Cold Confession & let it
ride, but he said he never heard of them. I don't trust him on that one

Then the topic changed to Sleeping By Myself. B said something about it
being PJ written, which I didn't understand, maybe he meant that Ed
initially thought this would be a PJ song but later put it on his solo
record. Brendan loooved the song and wanted it on a PJ record badly so he
convinced the band to do a band version of it.

He then talks about the recording process, that in the past he was the one
with little kids who had to leave recording sessions to be with his family
and now the opposite is the case with them all having families. They don't
always record in Atlanta anymore, try to be more near Seattle. They
produced the songs in LA & mixed them in Seattle this time. B didn't seem
to like it that much, he said something about all (the band) being more
concentrated if they are somewhere farer away without much distraction.
They bring there own recordings or song drafts to the studio and then they
work on them/select them together. Ed wants to please everyone and tries to
sing on all the music they bring in, he also finishes the songs. He said
that to the band it's clear, that they wouldn't do a great album without
Ed. That sounded a bit strange to me
B can't remember them ever writing songs together. He said it's always that
someone brings something in and then they go over it later, but not really
like for example a Stone&Mike song or something like that. They are more on
their own while songwriting.

Pendulum was recorded for Backspacer but later didn't fit.
They also got a couple songs leftover from the LB session.

B has nothing to do with a Lost Dogs II kind of album, he is there for
focusing on the future and the new stuff.

Infallible is a Jeff song, Sirens is from Mike & Let The Records Play is a
Stone song. B said that he thinks there's no Matt song on LB.

He also told us (because of the years between the albums) that Ed has to be
ready. Like, they all wait for Ed to give his ok, because he is the main
force for writing. Otherwise the recording process is more democratic than
in other bands.
& B told he always takes his time for PJ records, especially because they
record so little, so it's only around 40 studio days in 3 years.

We then asked if he enjoyed his Birthday Wishes we all sent him from
Belfast in 2010 and he said he liked it very much & that his daughters
organized it and he was really surprised. They played it in the evening at
his house on a big screen

B was asked about the Mirrorball tour and said that he had a blast doing
that and that Neil made a great choice, asking PJ to play with him. He also
said that he wouldn't really want to tour again because he is more a studio
kind of guy and not made for touring
He then was asked about Wrigley and just told that Ed was really grumpy
because of the delay.

& he told that there will be a new Gaslight Anthem album in January, don't
know if that's stuff everybody already knows, but maybe it's good news for
some of you.

END OF THE Q&A

The fans had enough time to ask questions, even several, I think ONLY fans
asked questions, no one from the press did.