X-clusive: Secret Machines Begin New Album
Texan trio Secret Machines release new single ‘The Road Leads Where It’s Led’ this week, not that that’s stopped them touring as support for the Chemical Brothers and begin work on their sophomore effort. Xfm caught up with singer and guitarist Ben Curtis.
Yet another slice of psychedelic space rock culled from the sonic cathedral that is their debut album, ‘The Road Leads Where It’s Led’ once again melds Curtis’ swirling guitar lines to brother Brandon’s keyboards and drummer Josh Garza’s gargantuan hypnotic rhythms produces one of their best tracks to date. Which may explain their success on a recent jaunt with the Chems.
“From the very beginning we just tried to make them dance” Curtis explains when asked about his battle-plan for the recent Chemical Brothers support slots. “We didn’t try to do a full on emo-psychedelic rock show. The shows mostly sold out before even before the Secret Machines were advertised.
“So the audience showed up ready to dance and then a rock band comes on. Initially there’s that shock when we first started, but at the end I think people were into it in a weird way and contributed something to the night - a little bit of a different vibe, rather than just DJs as a warm-up.”
Xfm can also reveal that while mercilessly plugging their debut album ‘Now Here Is Nowhere’, the brothers and Garza have already begun work on it’s follow-up.
“We’ve been writing in breaks between playing and the majority of the next record has been written,” Ben explains. “We’re planning on starting to record it in May and then everything will fall into place when the last little block of our schedule this summer pans out. Tonight we’ll be playing four or five new songs in the set.
“That’s what’s been great about this tour,” he continues. “We’ve been able to take some new material and perform it and drive it around the block a little bit. We’ve been messing around with the ‘Reason’ program that does electronic music. We’re aiming to make the next record different to ‘Now Here Is Nowhere’. I don’t think we’ll make the same record again, because we just did that, y’know?.”
Secret Machines release ‘The Road Leads Where It’s Led’ today (April 11) on Warner Brothers records.
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