The World Outside My Door: Clash Meets The Magic Gang
"You’re getting little diary entries, these little moments that are very personal to each band member..."
Conceptual in idea but based on a real events is the inspired duality behind* The Magic Gang’s *second album.
A New Year’s Eve party in an old school formed the basis of two opposite descriptions of the same night. Jack Kaye, Kristian Smith, Angus Taylor and Paeris Giles are celebrating, two of them go home to write about it.
The complex point of initiation forms a renewed flow of collaboration. One where each voice in the band comes to life, it creates a place where free expression is paramount. In that flow Jack Kay writes ‘(The World) Outside My Door’. A response to Extinction Rebellion’s activities, it was written from his room and tackles the feeling of guilt for being there rather than in the action.
Melodic, free and experimental, eclectic but together, the new album ‘Death Of The Party’ looks set to achieve even more than their self-titled debut.
Clash spoke to Jack about the aspirations and how they achieved them.
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*The new record is ambitious. What was your objective?*
We didn’t want to repeat ourselves. We tried to strike a balance between moving things forward and making sure it wasn’t the same, try to retain what it was about the first album that made the band good.
We wanted it to sound like a step up, but show we’re aware of what Magic Gang sound like, use the opportunity to showcase the type of music we listen to. Dip into those different genres, show that we can make music that resembles the wide variety.
*Did that require a new approach?*
There were a few occasions when we would all start writing songs from scratch. We would all get into one rehearsal room together and those were the moments when we felt more liberated to start songs from the basis of having heard a groove from a disco song and wanting to create something similar. We felt more free to explore this time.
*Lyrically, there is depth. Was that part of the ambition?*
That was a conscious focus. We are accustomed to writing melodic pop songs with harmony. We are good at crafting three-minute pop songs, what lacked was lyrical depth and nuance.
We wanted to hone in, write something else rather than keep writing these three-minute pop songs with universal sentiments about romance. We wanted to write about our day-to-day lives.
*The Magic Gang have a pop song format. How did you expand on that?*
Much would start with individuals sitting at home with an acoustic guitar, trying to write a verse, a chorus and bringing that chorus into the band and having structure arranged by the entire band. Whereas now, we’ve tried to explore more.
The method of songwriting has changed for this album. If you want different results you have to try a different way. Although it’s good to sit with a guitar and bash out three-minute pop songs, it’s fun to experiment and being collaborative.
*So the writing was more collaborative than previously?*
It was collaborative in a couple of senses. Many songs were written from scratch with everyone together. There are more voices coming through the band, more songs have been conceived by different band members. There is Gus’ voice, my voice and Kris’ voice.
You’re getting little diary entries, these little moments that are very personal to each band member. It’s collaborative in the sense it’s like a platform for everyone to showcase their thoughts.
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*Was an interest in writing expressed or was it more natural?*
It came down to the songs that were being put forward. People were writing more. Rather than trying to consciously strike a balance, the best songs were written by different people in the band.
It created a natural balance, which I like. There aren’t many bands at the moment that don’t operate on that normal frontman and three anonymous members. We’re four personalities. More voices are coming through, and that feels unique to me.
*This album offers an intriguing starting point. Tell us about what actually happened...*
The two songs ‘Death of the Party’ and ‘Make A sound’ were written by Kris and I about a night at the same party. It happened in this run-down school that was turned into a house, quite characterful. It took place on two different floors. I was on the high floor and Kris was on the bottom one. We went home and wrote songs; our different accounts on the evening.
We used that two sides of the coin to kick-start where we wanted the album to go and expanded on that. It has these two themes running alongside each other. One is quite introspective in dealing with the complications, anxieties of modern life. The other side is about going out, having that release, dancing, it’s quite straightforward. The album has a night and day feel to it in that respect. A night out and then the hangover. I think it really works.
*You recorded in Atlanta with Ben H. Allen. In what way did his reputation appeal?*
We were drawn to Ben because of his repertoire, what he had worked on. It went from pop and rap to bands like Animal Collective.
We were interested in working with someone who had that in his canon, he was able to do pop, but also go more leftfield. He has a good system out there with a couple of engineers, it’s an all-hands-on-deck environment, we slotted into that. One engineer works with the band on one thing, and then he’ll go and do some editing in a room, it’s almost like a small factory. In a good way.
*What did Ben bring to the recording process?*
He brought the idea of pre-production in, which we hadn’t done before. He would call us up via Skype, we would talk about what we wanted the album to sound like. He recognised we were dipping into disco, Motown, northern soul. His idea was to create a vocabulary and make it sound cohesive.
We tried to limit ourselves to a small amount of instrumentation, we touched upon these genres but made it sound like one cohesive band. We talked about The Clash, they’re a punk band, who were into different types of music, but always sounded like them.
*What else did you learn from the work?*
We have a tendency to self-edit. If we’re together in a rehearsal we may throw away ideas quicker than we should; block things. We were constraining ourselves to formulaic pop songs. Ben taught us to see ideas through to the end. If someone has an idea we’ll see it through, we’ll make a call on whether it has worked. That was a revelation for us, we’ll take that with us going forward. It’s far more fruitful.
*The Magic Gang enjoy the live environment. What show or tour stands out?*
The headline tour we did for the first album. Looking back on that almost makes you feel dizzy, it’s unbelievable that we did that. Some of those shows were the biggest we played. Now it feels like a million years ago, but it was massive for us. If we can ever work our way back to doing these shows again, we will appreciate it even more.
My best show is Albert Hall. It was just special, a sold out Manchester crowd is always incredible, that felt like an apex.
*How do you see the band’s sound evolve over time?*
We’ve been writing a lot, there has been time to sit and write. We’ve been shaping the third album. The bands that we admire are the ones who can make pop sound cool.
We’ve all been into the new HAIM record because the production is very pop, but it sounds great. It still sounds like Fleetwood Mac, and that’s what we’re into. We admire bands who can do that.
*What else is on the horizon?*
It’s hard to say. We’re taking everything step by step. We’re missing the live element, even before coronavirus we had gaps, we were getting no response from a crowd. We started to lose the perception, lose contact with the fans. You’re not sure how the music is being received.
We’re desperate to get back to playing shows. We would love to go to America and play. And play places we’ve never been to, make a connection with people in other parts of the world.
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'Death Of The Party' will be released on August 28th.
Words: *Susan Hansen*
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