Liars' Angus Andrew Discusses New Record

Liars haven't been seen in public much in 2005, with just a few live performances and a provocatively-packaged single to show for the year. Meanwhile, rumors have swirled about the trio of Angus Andrew, Julian Gross, and Aaron Hemphill: they all moved to Germany; they recorded, then canned an album; their label, Mute, rejected the album; the band broke up.
Some of these things are true. Some aren't. Pitchfork recently caught up with Andrew, on the phone from a tour stop in Belgium. He's been living in Berlin, Germany, for two years, he says, and the rest of the band moved there recently to work on their forthcoming album, Drum's Not Dead. Gross and Hemphill will probably return to the U.S., but Andrew doesn't plan on it.
"It's really cheap and I enjoy it," he said of Berlin. "I only need a bike and I don't need anything else. I lived in America for ten years after I left Australia, and I haven't experienced anything else. Moving to Berlin was a real shock to the system in terms of having another historical context to draw from. It's really good for me actually."
As for Drum's Not Dead, originally supposed to come out this fall, but now scheduled for release on March 21, 2006, the delay was due to a combination of artist tinkering and Mute scheduling problems. "We've been through a few different variations of [Drum's Not Dead]," Andrew said. "The first was stuff we were still working on after [2004's They Were Wrong so We] Drowned that we thought we were going to release but decided not to. I think we recorded another time and kept some of that but thought about it a bit more, and then finally finished it."
He continued, "We finished it quite a while ago. Recently it's been more of a label issue about when it exactly comes out." Did the delay have anything to do with the DVD being packaged with Drum's, containing three different videos for every track?
"No, it's more like they had to put out Depeche Mode and were not willing to put ours out at the end of this year. So they delayed it to next year. It was real disappointing for us. In the end you come to realize it's not all about you. There are other things going on that you have to fit into, I suppose. It's a real learning experience, you know?"
But Andrew was quick to add, "I'm definitely happy with Mute and the way things are going."
The Drum's DVD, with films by Andrew, Gross, and German filmmaker Markus Wambsganss, also lengthened the creation process. While on tour in Eastern Europe, the band shot footage to go with an earlier version of the record, but by the end of the tour, they had written all new songs to better compliment the images. "We went and recorded those, and we were really happy with that, but the film wasn't finished at all," explained Andrew. "So we still had time to make more music. It's this ongoing process with the DVD idea and how to really get them together."
Andrew described the DVD as "three visual versions of the album." He continued, "Neither Julian nor I really had any experience with video or making this kind of thing. The chance to learn and make stuff at the same time and be able to put it out is really fun. It became this sort of monumental challenge for us. In the end I'm really happy, I think."
Don't expect to be overwhelmed by the thrilling, action-packed plotlines of the films, though. "Mine is quite simplistic," Andrew said. "It features a snail that drifts through the whole record. Whether or not that's going to be captivating, I like it." Ooh...exciting.
As the album title suggests, the audio portion of Drum's is all about rhythm. "A lot of what we've been doing recently is dual drumming," Andrew said. "The interest is in the immediacy of the drum and how you don't need to be an expert to hear a different tone. It's very instinctual and that's very much us."
"We tried to experiment, but in a more traditional sense. We made a song with piano, or an acoustic guitar. For me, there was a point where I felt I needed the challenge of how to play a song for someone on a guitar. I've never done that before. I'm not a musician. Usually the songs come to me as drum-based. And then I put them together and I make something with that. I'm not going to sit around a campfire and sing a song to someone. For me, a lot of this record was that sort of challenge to make songs in that very simplistic way."
He added, "We concentrated on drums for the record, and in the process of that, the way we've learned to work with one another, (which is always an ongoing experience), we were able to relax a bit more."
Evidence of that relaxation can be found in the cover artwork for Drum's first single, "It Fit When I Was a Kid", released yesterday in the UK and due out on December 13 in America. It features Photoshopped images of Andrew's, Gross', and Hemphill's faces attached to the naked bodies of what appear to be gay porn stars, captured in compromising positions.
According to Andrew, it isn't a joke: "I'm sure tons of bands tell you they feel like they're married. You live and sleep together. It just seems like the next step, more intimate contact with each other. The relationship is kinda like that. We tend to fuck each other in the ass a bit, but also give each other fellatio at other times.
" Although the Mute version of the single will feature censored artwork, Liars plan to release a limited-edition full-frontal version themselves. Oh, and the sleeve will be printed on edible paper.
"We have a problem because any sort of confectionary place you go to with that image seems not too happy about it," Andrew explained. "What's happening right now is the band will have to print it ourselves around the Christmas season."
And what will the paper taste like? Andrew doesn't know. "Maybe it will taste like Julian's underarms."
As previously reported, here's the "It Fit When I Was a Kid" tracklist:

7":
A: It Fit When I Was a Kid
B: It Fit When I Was a Kid (Don't Techno for an Answer remix)

CD:
01 It Fit When I Was a Kid
02 Frozen Glacier of Mastadon Blood
03 Bingo! Count Draculuck
04 It Fit When I Was a Kid (Don't Techno for an Answer remix)
Videos:
It Fit When I Was a Kid (Video by Julian Gross)
Frozen Glacier of Mastadon Blood (Video by Aaron Hemphill)
Bingo! Count Draculuck (Video by Angus Andrew)

Andrew said the band is looking forward to finally touring America in support of the album. "It's like the pot at the end of the rainbow, hopefully," he said. "I've been dying to play there for so long. When the record comes out we're going to do a six-week or eight-week tour. Back to the roots. Tallahassee, Florida or something. Try to get back to those places we played before."
And as a treat for those of you who stuck it out all the way to the end of this massive story, we've finally got the full tracklist for Drum's Not Dead. Once again, Liars seem to be trying to tell some sort of story with their song titles:

CD:
Be Quiet Mt. Heart Attack!
Let's Not Wrestle Mt. Heart Attack
A Visit From Drum
Drum Gets A Glimpse
It Fit When I Was A Kid
The Wrong Coat For You Mt. Heart Attack
Hold You, Drum
Its All Blooming Now Mt. Heart Attack
Drum And The Uncomfortable Can
You, Drum
To Hold You, Drum
The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack

DVD:
Julian Gross - Drum's Not Bread
Angus Andrew - The Helix Aspersa
Markus Wambsganss - By Your Side

Right now, Liars are finishing up a European tour with shows in Ireland and England. Snails and gay porn stars welcome here.
with Betamax Format, Celebration

Liars: www.liarsliarsliars.com
Mute: www.mute.com