It’s been some time between pale ales for Love of Diagrams. Six years since the release of their last album to be exact. But a new record and label has the well-loved Melbourne trio back on stages and airwaves with their sophisticated song writing and ripping fuzz.Blast is Antonia Sellbach, Luke Horton and Monika Fikerle’s long awaited fourth LP and tracks like “Deep Sky” and “Racing - in true Diagrams fashion- place an emphasis on melody and buzz.Having previously released records on Matador and their own label Free Field, Blast is available now on Bedroom Suck, home also to Blank Realm and Lower Plenty.Stream the album below and read a short chat we had with Antonia.Noisey: What have been the biggest changes in the band since the last album?
Antonia Sellbach: The length of time between our last record and Blast speaks of the fact that we now have to work in productive bursts wherever we can find the time, rather than the more intensive approach we would have taken a decade ago. We've all got other things on our plates. Finance also played a role. We'd have to stall the project when the money ran out then resume when we'd enough to continue. On a personal level nothing much has changed. Regardless of upcoming releases we all still jam weekly or fortnightly.The group dynamic is much the same as it has always been. But in terms of outside stuff changing- I guess a lot has. We now find ourselves on Bedroom Suck Records, which is a great place to be. When we were writing our last record we found ourselves unexpectedly without a record label. The GFC had hit and Matador was going through a major restructure which meant cutting the 'money drainers'. And being new to their roster and not bringing in much money yet, I guess that's what we were. It costs a hell of a lot to constantly tour Australian bands internationally and our tours were more of an expense for them than something that was breaking even yet. After Nowhere Forever which we released on our own label, Free Field Records, we started writing again pretty much straight away. Two of those songs made it onto a 7”, which we recorded with Jack Farley.In a way, those songs were like the seed for the next group of songs that make up Blast. Pretty early on I think we knew these songs would suit the recording environment at Electrical Audio. We had worked there before with Bob Weston, but this was the first time we worked with Steve Albini.Have you noticed much change in the music climate in that time?
There’s definitely been big changes going right back to when we formed in 2001 to now. Our first European tour was booked partly by landline, using phone numbers jotted down in a notebook from previous tours Monika had done with Sea Scouts . Also, obviously there isn't the money in record sales that people talk about there once being and the way music is shared (beyond simply selling records) has really expanded. Steve Albini gave a great keynote at Face the Music last year about the way the music industry is constantly changing. It's an dense hour of back to back music realities- highly recommended listening.You have many loyal fans both in Australia and overseas but does a six-year gap affect the momentum of the band?
Yeah probably. I don't feel like I have much control over it though. We are always pushing for the next thing we want to do, but the actual output of that next thing can take a long time to get out into the world because of boring reasons like finance, competing schedules etc.When you've been around for a while you're not allowed to be the 'next big thing'. A tagline that gets thrust on bands before they've been given the chance to really even do anything therefore have had very minor chances to disappoint anyone! If the dynamic didn't feel so right between us I guess we probably would've moved on, but it's kind of unspoken between us that whilst the songs keep coming, why stop?I’m really enjoying “Racing”. The feedback and drumming adds a good amount of tension.
Thank you. “Racing” was an interesting song to work on and important for the identity of Blast. There are these sort of 'gear shifts' where the song slows right down and then speeds back up, like an engine. We wanted that kind of stretched feeling where the temporality gets all self- conscious. There was a bit of rehearsal involved in getting those stretched out tempo changes tight enough. We are often a frantically paced band but messing with the speed was something that we really enjoyed. Plus it's a song about racing fast cars and how time flies when you're having fun.For a band that has been around you would think that you would be mellowing but the album title seems to suggest the opposite!
It's kind of a double meaning, in the sense that we had a blast working on the record. It's a reminder to keep doing things if they are fun. Also the ethos was very much to go into the studio and just 'blast out' the songs live. I liked the idea of making a record where you could hear everything that everyone was doing, where everything was overdriven and blasting and full volume all kind of meeting together. So with that in mind Blast seemed pretty appropriate.
'Blast' is available now through Bedroom Suck records.
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Antonia Sellbach: The length of time between our last record and Blast speaks of the fact that we now have to work in productive bursts wherever we can find the time, rather than the more intensive approach we would have taken a decade ago. We've all got other things on our plates. Finance also played a role. We'd have to stall the project when the money ran out then resume when we'd enough to continue. On a personal level nothing much has changed. Regardless of upcoming releases we all still jam weekly or fortnightly.The group dynamic is much the same as it has always been. But in terms of outside stuff changing- I guess a lot has. We now find ourselves on Bedroom Suck Records, which is a great place to be. When we were writing our last record we found ourselves unexpectedly without a record label. The GFC had hit and Matador was going through a major restructure which meant cutting the 'money drainers'. And being new to their roster and not bringing in much money yet, I guess that's what we were. It costs a hell of a lot to constantly tour Australian bands internationally and our tours were more of an expense for them than something that was breaking even yet. After Nowhere Forever which we released on our own label, Free Field Records, we started writing again pretty much straight away. Two of those songs made it onto a 7”, which we recorded with Jack Farley.
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There’s definitely been big changes going right back to when we formed in 2001 to now. Our first European tour was booked partly by landline, using phone numbers jotted down in a notebook from previous tours Monika had done with Sea Scouts . Also, obviously there isn't the money in record sales that people talk about there once being and the way music is shared (beyond simply selling records) has really expanded. Steve Albini gave a great keynote at Face the Music last year about the way the music industry is constantly changing. It's an dense hour of back to back music realities- highly recommended listening.You have many loyal fans both in Australia and overseas but does a six-year gap affect the momentum of the band?
Yeah probably. I don't feel like I have much control over it though. We are always pushing for the next thing we want to do, but the actual output of that next thing can take a long time to get out into the world because of boring reasons like finance, competing schedules etc.When you've been around for a while you're not allowed to be the 'next big thing'. A tagline that gets thrust on bands before they've been given the chance to really even do anything therefore have had very minor chances to disappoint anyone! If the dynamic didn't feel so right between us I guess we probably would've moved on, but it's kind of unspoken between us that whilst the songs keep coming, why stop?I’m really enjoying “Racing”. The feedback and drumming adds a good amount of tension.
Thank you. “Racing” was an interesting song to work on and important for the identity of Blast. There are these sort of 'gear shifts' where the song slows right down and then speeds back up, like an engine. We wanted that kind of stretched feeling where the temporality gets all self- conscious. There was a bit of rehearsal involved in getting those stretched out tempo changes tight enough. We are often a frantically paced band but messing with the speed was something that we really enjoyed. Plus it's a song about racing fast cars and how time flies when you're having fun.For a band that has been around you would think that you would be mellowing but the album title seems to suggest the opposite!
It's kind of a double meaning, in the sense that we had a blast working on the record. It's a reminder to keep doing things if they are fun. Also the ethos was very much to go into the studio and just 'blast out' the songs live. I liked the idea of making a record where you could hear everything that everyone was doing, where everything was overdriven and blasting and full volume all kind of meeting together. So with that in mind Blast seemed pretty appropriate.
Catch Love of Diagrams performing in store at Polyester Records in Melbourne on March 5.
'Blast' is available now through Bedroom Suck records.