While chowing down on some mean burgers at the world-renowned Cafe Royale on Long Street, Cape Town we discussed the method behind the madness of the production phase, the lyrical compilation of the album, and killing endangered trees as a marketing ploy.*
"The recording process was quite relaxed," said Jay. "We did it with a friend at a new studio called Get Phat, so it wasn't too stressed or strict, but we knew we wanted to get the new album out as quickly as possible, because the longer you take, the longer it takes."
Recorded during November/December 2010, "Ramblin' Bones and His Bloody Agents" was produced in record time - even with Eric out of commission for six weeks after he severed his finger (*ouch!*) while making a sandwich. Nine stitches later he rejoined the band in the studio. Some bands take more than a year to produce an album; how did Rambling Bones manage to produce a quality album in such a short time-frame?
"The other thing was to keep it as simple as possible," said Jay. "Some of the songs have a bit more production than others, but, in general, it's not too heavy in production - no Timberlake productions here."
Engineered by Steve Grenfell, who works in both live and studio environments, the aim was to capture the core sound of the band.
"I think that's what makes the difference," said Eric. "He understands what the energy is like live so it's better than going into the studio with a slick producer who's going to polish you out. You can do so much now with recording, you can add so many layers, so it's nice to just strip it down. I think people are enjoying that a lot more generally - not just in music, but in everything; people are looking for more or less the truth of it, so there's no lies in this one."
With "Ramblin' Bones and His Bloody Agents", the band tried to recreate their live sound as much as possible, so that listeners would get a feel for what their live shows are like.
"Two of the albums we've done are kind of backyard demos, which led up to the album, which is really cool when you listen to those and then listen to the new album - it kind of gives you the real feeling of what a show's like. I think it's important to make a good show and have an album that supports it," said Eric.
The album is a lot more than a fixed compilation of tracks according to Baron: "I found my natural progression, we all added bits and pieces while we were busy with the album. It's fresh; it's not like it's tired songs that we're recording, so it's exciting and motivating."
The album takes the listener on a journey, explains the band with all the songs created as little stories and myths - hence the album cover featuring picture frames in order to invoke feelings of nostalgia.
"I think we're living in a nostalgic time," said Eric. "If you design something, you have to design it retro and that's cutting-edge."
While the album isn't specifically about break-ups, which is what I interpreted from the songs, Jay believes that there is some darkness in it.
"It's not to say that the songs are specifically about something," said Eric. "I think the mystery is in it; there's a bit of ambiguity because some of it's a bit of stream-of-consciousness - it allows you to interpret it, so for you it's a break-up, for someone else they lost a loved one, or maybe they're celebrating a happy time. You kind of keep it open, but you dictate a mood."
Jay Bones has been involved in a number of projects that have taken a backseat for now, including his much louder punk-ska band, Fuzigish, as well as Citizen Bones, a collaborative initiative with online culture mag Mahala, which resulted in the production of "protest music" that highlighted socio-political issues in South Africa. Rambling Bones was also briefly involved in the Umthombo project, which aims to rehabilitate street children through surfing, in Durban. Here's the video they produced:
The band, touring SA late last year with the likes of UK songstress Gemma Ray and her manager, described Gemma as very quiet with a lovely sense of humour: "Gemma and her manager are the funniest pair of people I've ever encountered, because they don't seem to actually like each other, but they get on so well and they do like each other," said Jay. "She was really cool, an all-round really good musician and performer."
On returning to the acoustic guitar, Jay described it as "kind of like tracing your roots".
"I like the idea of playing the guitar really hard, so you're physically generating the power. With an electric guitar, you can play really loudly, but you don't have to do it physically," said the lead man.
At the stroke of the hour the conversation suddenly turned to killing trees and duck hunting - a time when we believe Jay lost the country farmer in him and let loose his city slicker persona. Thank goodness the farmer won out in the end and no harmless pandas were hurt.**
We then played a game to soothe the situation - appointing each other animal characters. Jay was named the Silverback Gorilla of the group (apparently he has big hands), Baron the Wolf/Nag Aapie and Eric, fondly enough, was named Winnie the Pooh.
They've just wrapped up their Cape Town leg, but will be touring at a SA venue near you soon. I haven't had a chance to see them live, but the word on the street is that they're a tip-top act.
After a sneak peek of a possible online video for Sailing Away, we bid farewell to the trio. Rambling Bones are a friendly, down-to-earth band with a love for music. Show them some love on Facebook; follow them on Twitter or check out www.ramblingbones.com.
Listen to Ramblin' Bones and His Bloody Agents on SoundCloud and download "When I'm with you" for free.
*No animals or trees were hurt during this interview.
**True story
