Here's Five: Clap Clap Riot

Alt rock outfit Clap Clap Riot are hitting the road  for a six-stop tour with their buddies Racing that kicks off this weekend with an all ages show in Auckland. For their part, the nationwide jaunt comes on the coattails of their new single 'Help Me', and on top of that they have an album almost ready to drop. In anticipation we asked guitarist Dave Rowlands to share some songs that influenced the new record, and here's what he came up with...

We were listening to a lot of 60s and 70s music around the time we began working on writing the new album. I got really invested in particular guitar tones that I heard pop up as signatures within some of those classic tracks as well as really obsessing over songwriting far more heavily than I ever had. Here's a bunch of the songs that influenced me when we were writing and recording...

1. The Kinks - 'Wicked Annabella'
The Village Green Preservation Society album is one of the classics as far as LP's go - it's been a favourite for years. 'Wicked Annabella' is one of the tracks that really stands on it's own on the album. It was a bigger dabble into a psych sound for The Kinks and the drum fills in there kick ass. Curiously, the guitar is a solid state amp as opposed top Dave's usual green slashed classic fuzz tone.

2. Francois Hardy - 'Tous Les Garcons Et Les Filles'
I first heard Francois Hardy in a Wes Anderson film. This lead me down a bit of a rabbit hole of listening to a whole bunch of music that features within Wes Anderson movies, I then followed it with Quentin Tarantino soundtracks. This is track one off her debut, how it makes me wish I knew French.

3. Voom - 'Jimmy's Boner'
We had a great time working with Buzz and are starting to get prepped to do a little more with him soon which we're looking forward to. He's such a fantastic songwriter, Hello Are You There? Is a real gem of a record. This song doesn't feature on any of his albums but shows his genius. The fact he can make a song with 'boner' in it's title sound so great is mind-boggling. We played this one together with him at a few of the shows on the last tour.

4. The Byrds - 'Eight Miles High'
This is one of the greatest 12 string guitar shreds of all time. Again another particularly psych approach to a classic 60s band - it comes from a really great record. This was referenced a couple of times when the 12 string was pulled out for recording.

5. John Lennon - 'I Found Out'
John Lennon's songwriting style has been massively influential on us from day one. From the poppy short and sweet Beatles to his later solo work where his heart is worn on his sleeve. This track comes from the album Plastic Ono Band, this has to be one of my favourite records of all time. And that guitar sound... So great.

Clap Clap Riot and Racing New Zealand Tour

Saturday 10th September, Old Folks Assn, Auckland (AA)
Thursday 15th September, Sherwood, Queenstown
Friday 16th September, Refuel, Dunedin
Saturday 17th September, Darkroom, Christchurch
Friday 23rd September, Whammy, Auckland
Saturday 24th September, Caroline, Wellington

 

Tickets to all shows available HERE at UTR