In a sea of indie-esque rock bands, Alberta Cross soars to the top with their roaring guitars, piercing vocals, and powerful ensemble sound. The band incorporates a classic rock sound into their contemporary rock grooves, which makes for an overwhelmingly catchy sound. Their first album, Broken Side of Time, has brought them high stakes performances at festivals including Coachella, Bonnaroo, and the Dave Matthews Band Caravan. After touring internationally since the album’s release,Alberta Cross took time off to create their sophomore effort. The album, which is yet untitled, is set for release later on this summer. Frontman, Petter Stakee, spoke with Glide about this new album and their music.
I heard that you are in the studio recording a new album. Can you talk about that process and how it compares to your debut, Broken Side of Time?
This one is very different from the first one. On the first album, me and Terry went from London to New York, trying to find new members, and we played a bunch of shows, trying to record these new songs. It was quite rushed. We’ve been out touring the last record for a year and a half around the world and I’ve definitely had more time to craft the songs. We’ve been working in a lot of different places. Over the last tour, we went to Woodstock and had a writing process for a month, and I went to LA and wrote for a bit. This has been really different, and I’ve definitely will have to listen, but we got stuff together much better.
When is the album going to be released?
Our first single is going to come out in a week or two and the album is going to come out late summer.
Is this new album different stylistically from Broken Side of Time?
I think you always change. It’s definitely a progression. The songs on the last album, some of them were straighter songs, but a lot of them were a bit spacey. On this album, its more song based. I was going back to really crafted songs- classical songwriting. The songs are maybe a little bit straighter, in a good way. But it’s always gonna be us, if you’re listening to live songs, its always going to have the same vibe, but it’s going to progress and take you somewhere a bit different or you’ll get bored.
How has living both in London and New York affected your songwriting?
For Broken Side of Time, I wrote four of the songs probably in London and the other six in New York. I think it changed. I feel like when I’m in London, I listen to lots of American music and when I move to New York, and I listen to a lot of English music. This record is a mix of all of that, that longing. I think last year and for the whole record, I was never there because we were touring around the world. I was in Europe five times, and America a lot. I think this record is inspired by every place in the world because we were out touring in Japan and Australia. I think its been inspired by everywhere I’ve seen. This one I pulled inspiration from everywhere. Its not really an “American” sound or an “English” sound.
Where did you get the inspiration for your southern rock sound?
I don’t agree that we sound like a Southern rock band at all. I think we are so far away from that. I don’t even know what Southern rock is. We kind of have a joke between me and a lot of friends in other rock bands that have been described as Southern rock bands. If you say Southern rock to me, thats like Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Sweet Home Alabama”, and thats the farthest away from what we sound. If you said we sounded like Frank Sinatra that would be the same thing to me.
How would you describe your sound? Do you fit into any genre?
It’s always hard to describe yourself because you pull in inspiration from everywhere. You always get that question; I can’t put a finger on it. It’s rock music, it’s got a lot of soul in it. Its almost fun to have people describe your sound. I listen to the Fugees, and they say they’re kind of a psychedelic rock band, and I was like, “What? What planet are you on?” We’re kind of soulful, rock music. Alternative rock is probably the best way to put it.
How are you approaching this second album with the great success of your first?
After the last album, cause it was so rushed, I really felt like it was a clutter of songs. Every one album’s got a purpose. I think the last album was great because its a really kind of heavy, rock album. It’s a spacey and dark rock record and the excitement of us being together in a band, us finding new members joining the band, being in Austin, Texas recording the last album. It was a hungry rock record. This album feels like I wanted to go back to song craft and keep that kind of vibe, but have the songs crafted better. We’ve been writing a lot of songs; just to get it down to ten songs for the album is so hard because they’re so many songs. When do you do a record, you tour the record for so long. You have to decide quickly what songs you like and what songs you don’t like and how they’re crafted. Thats one thing I was missing- the crafted, beautiful songs. I never felt any pressure to make the record. After touring, if you play a song four thousand times, you can’t wait to get into the studio and record another one. It was a long process. It was really awesome to work on a song in lots of different places. We went up to this house in Woodstock, this old hotel, and it was a really old, haunted house. We’re there working on songs for a month in the winter, but then we took it to LA and worked it in in LA and then worked in New York for a bit. It’s got a touch of the east and winter, and then LA where its always sunny, so its got a good mix. It’s like a cocktail.
Who are you working with on this album?
Joe Chiccarelli. He’s done everything from the last Strokes album to My Morning Jacket. He’s done White Stripes, he’s done a lot of stuff, he’s done everything. And then a guy called Mike Bailey, another producer, he’s in a band called Whisky Town. There are two producers doing two different things. Mike was more into crafting songs and Joe was more into the arrangement and the sound.
Are you playing your new songs on tour now?
Loads. In LA, we’re playing every Tuesday at the Satellite and we’ve been playing loads of new songs. Its nice to come out and just play a lot and see what works and what doesn’t.
