If you’re looking for three and a half minute bites of feel-good folk-pop, tracks ‘Believer’ and ‘Best Day Of My Life’ will have you hooked – because ain’t nobody serving it better right now than Brooklyn indie outfit, American Authors.
When speaking to lead vocalist Zac Barnett, the quartet were arriving in Denver amidst an intense promotional tour of North America. Without the slightest hint of exhaustion, Barnett instantly reeled off the never-ending list of locations that the band were to travel to in the coming days. “Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan and then we’ll be in Texas for the weekend.”
The relentless touring is to promote the band’s debut record Oh, What A Life.
The band of brothers met at the Berkley Music College, and up until 2012 were known as The Blue Pages. Under this moniker, the group released two extended players, Anthropology and Rich With Love, both of which were met with enough interest to keep the band relevant.
After changing their name to American Authors and releasing their first hit single ‘Believer’, the phone began to ring and the indie band’s name was to become a household.
Almost bursting out of his skin, it was more than evident that Barnett was amped to speak of Oh, What A Life. It is the band’s slow yet steady rise to stardom that the musician attributes to the record’s true American Author sound.
“It was cool because we had just been writing and recording with producers that we’d been working with for a couple of years before anything took off.”
“When ‘Believer’ and ‘Best Day Of My Life’ took off, it was just the natural progression to keep writing for a full-length album,” pausing, Barnett affirmed, “The whole idea from the beginning was to write good songs and keep recording.”
“We definitely put our own twist on it by adding a very eclectic mix of instruments and genres”Just as Arcade Fire recorded Neon Bible in the walls of an old church to encapsulate a stone-cold sentiment, American Authors also removed themselves from the hustle and bustle of New York City, shifting to the countryside with “just really good vibes” to record Oh, What A Life.
Barnett, verbally painting the most surreal picture, boasted of the band’s two recording locations. “We did the album up in the woods of West Chester, New York…It was really beautiful waking up every day with a very beautiful lake in the woods.”
With positive ethos oozing from the frontman, he further reflected on a “dudes farm a little farther north” that left an impact.
“The guy converted the upstairs of the house into a huge recording studio with 25-foot high ceilings, and so the whole thing is surrounded by windows that look out onto the farm. It was fun!”
The band have, at times, been accused of purposefully writing “feel-good” hits. Barnett, bored with such trivial nonsense, was keen to clear up their songwriting process.
“We just like writing good songs that tell stories of our lives and that hopefully other people can resonate with.”
Silencing the naysayers, he continued, “We’ve been working at this for a really long time. It’s the whole idea of keeping hope alive and keeping the dream alive and perusing your dream and doing what you love in life.” Taking a moment, he breathed into his affirmation, “That’s what our music is based around.”
What about the music itself on Oh, What A Night?
“We did a lot of experimenting with a lot of genres of music. We used a lot of mandolins, banjos, accordions, African and Latin percussion, as well as a lot of modern synth.” Keen to refrain from any pigeonhole attempt of “indie pop or whatever,” Barnett cemented, “We definitely put our own twist on it by adding a very eclectic mix of instruments and genres.”
If you’re unfamiliar with the worldwide phenomena that is ‘Best Day Of My Life’ from their debut studio record, your days are certainly limited. The track is the band’s big break, initially unbeknownst to the four-piece.
“We would always have a lot of good laughs and jokes together. I miss them…”“We were just sending it out to get people’s opinions, but people were really feeling it. It was a really organic process. A couple of people we showed it to, they liked it so much they were like ‘hey, do you mind if I show this to this person’, and then that person ended up wanting to use it for Hyundai commercial over in France and the UK.”
‘Best Day Of My Life’ didn’t only soundtrack the cool-runnings of a Japanese car advertisement – the band also performed their smash hit on none other than the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Starry-eyed, Barnett recounted the landmark event for the band.
“It was amazing! She’s great. She’s so sweet. We got to talk with her and hangout for a little bit and the performance was great. It was just so much fun.”
American Authors are about to embark on their most grandeur tour to date, stopping off for a second time in their career at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas. Providing a few tip-offs, Barnett noted his favourite must-dos during the extravaganza.
“The Hipstermatic party is sweet, the T-Mobile house is really cool…just walking the streets…I always like the outdoor parties where they just take over a house and there’s just fun activities indoors and out. I love that.”
The SXSW band that the Boston musician recommended was Great Big World. There was no mention (or knowledge) of any Aussie acts performing at the annual event, however Barnett’s exuberance peaked once again at the mention of the Ballarat-grown talent Gold Fields – who they had toured with in the past.
“HECK YES! Yeah, we hung out a lot. It was sweet. We really like those guys. We all got along and partied together.”
Barnett spoke of the consistent banter between the two bands. “I would always make fun of them ‘cause of their sound check. I would always try and emulate what they would say and they’re drummer would always go (insert a horrid Australian accent) ‘yeeeaahhh, I need more snare in my headphones, yeeaahh I need more snare’. We would always have a lot of good laughs and jokes together. I miss them though – they’re really sweet!” Barnett recounted through fits of laughter.
With the band taking to both the North American and British roads, Barnett let slip of the band’s “definite” plans to visit Australia in 2014.
“In the next few months we’re definitely going to be making our way down there. I’m not sure what the shows are looking like, but I know we’re at least going to be coming down there with some promo and all that good stuff. Definitely within the next few months.”
Do we smell a Splendour rumour in the works? Time will tell.
Oh, What A Life is out now via iTunes
Watch the video for ‘Best Day Of My Life’ here:
