Shakes rock with Sound & Color
Recording was ‘going to be different’ and take as long as it needed
The Alabama Shakes can’t be rattled.
Facing the inevitable pressure that comes after a hit debut album, the southern roots rockers took their time in following up 2012’s Boys & Girls, a three-time Grammy-nominated revelation that landed them late-night TV gigs and introduced the world to Brittany Howard’s powerful and playful lead vocals.
As lead guitarist Heath Fogg puts it, they knew early on that Sound & Color “was going to be a different record and it would take as long as it needed.”
He would’ve waited many more years if need be, he said.
“It may sound silly to some people, but I think if anybody in the band were to say, ‘Hey, let’s try to recreate, creatively and in terms of commercial success, what happened with Boys & Girls, I think that person would be laughed at,” Fogg said in a slow, southern drawl in a phone interview from his Alabama home.
“I think we all knew pretty early on, even when Boys & Girls was picking up steam, that everything we do will be kind of different.
“This is an ever-evolving, creative group and we just want to explore, and that’s the only real concept we have other than just try to be true to ourselves creatively but always explore.”
Part of that exploration involves keeping things fresh, interesting and dynamic during their live performances.
As such, when the Alabama Shakes perform at Toronto’s Field Trip Music & Arts Festival on Saturday, chances are they’ll focus more on their new material. Fans needn’t worry, though. The new blues-rock-soul collection offers a heady, wide-ranging feel, from the breezy vibraphone in the title track to the dirty organ-filled Give Me All Your Love and the pounding garage jam The Greatest.
“It’s definitely nice to have that freedom from the last record,” said Fogg. “The majority of our sets now are new material, but not all.”
The group formed in 2009 in Athens, Ala.
Howard, bassist Zac Cockrell and drummer Steve Johnson first came together and recorded a demo. Fogg, who was in a band of his own, joined them later.