Although Shoot the Image is a band of the new millennia, their story began the old-fashioned way–on a drunken night out with friends.
After being floored by their future lead singer’s voice at an after party, the friends put together some initial demos in Pro Tools. Through MySpace, they connected to their future producer Boz Boorer (Boorer is most known for his work founding the new wave rockabilly group The Polecats, and later for his work as a co-writer and guitarist with Morrissey).
The MySpace connection eventually led to the recording of their debut album with Boz, deep in the mountains of Portugal.
Below, the band discusses recording off the grid, finding inspiration in lost places, and their unexpected dream collaborator!
1. Wow, how cool that Morrissey guitarist Boz Boorer produced your debut. How did you initially link up? What was it like working with him?
Believe it or not, we initially got in touch with Boz Boorer through MySpace by sending him band and film recommendations. This began a dialogue that carried on over the course of a year. We booked a show at the 12 Bar Club in London England and invited him to come. To our surprise he actually showed up. We ended up hitting it off and he invited us to record at Serra Vista Studios in Portugal.
Working with Boz was amazing. He really understood how to bring out the best in our band and the songs. Serra Vista Studios is located deep in the mountains of Portugal, no cell phone or internet service meant no outside distractions and full attention paid to recording.
The work days were long but laid back and fun. We had a ton of laughs, ate great food, drank great wine and made an album. Boz and his wife Lyn were fantastic hosts. What more could you ask for?
2. What inspired the songs on “Cranes in the City”?
We originally envisioned our debut album to be mostly electronic with a lot of focus on drum loops and keyboard presence. During pre-production more and more guitars started to sneak-in.
Once we had the initial mixes we spent the winter of 2010 driving around the City finding melodies for the songs in the car. We started to notice that a ton of our favourite places and buildings were being torn down and or replaced. A lot of the songs are tributes to lost places.
3. How did the band come together?
After a drunken night out in 2009 our now lead singer launched into a version of Nina Simone’s ‘My baby just cares for me ‘ at an after party. This was the start of everything. The rest of the band was totally blown away by her voice! She’s an Urban Planner by trade and had never played in a band before.
We purchased an MBOX and learned how to use Pro-Tools and started recording drum loops to single keyboard tracks. Shoot the Image was born from these demos.
4. Who, if any, are your dream collaborators?
It was always our dream to work with the man who wrote ‘Jack the Ripper’ and we look forward to working with him many times in the future.
We would also love to work with Fran Healy from Travis, Nick 13 from Tiger Army, Alan Wilder from Recoil, producer Alan Moulder and Janelle Monae. She rocks!
The debut album “Cranes in the City” is set for release in the New Year.