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IDLES, NICK LAUNAY & ADAM GREENSPAN

Album: Ultra Mono

In this episode John is joined by Idles guitarist Mark Bowen along with co-producers Nick Launay and Adam “Atom” Greenspan to talk about how they wrote, recorded and produced the band’s latest album ‘Ultra Mono’.

Unearthing backstage phone demos and rehearsal room recordings, Bowen, Nick and Adam look back on how the album was pulled together, from the band’s chats about concepts to the eight days recording the whole record.

Reminiscing on their time in La Frette Studios, we hear stories of both the raucousness and intense focus encapsulated within an Idles session. The trio dig into the explosive drum recording, their staircase microphone setup and the special sauce that forms the very essence of an Idles track.

Listen to find out what happened when Warren Ellis made a surprise studio visit, why everyone got sent out of the room during some of the vocal takes, and why civilised French lunches were so key to the album’s success.

Tracks discussed: War, The Lover, A Hymn