“It is the most human and personal album we have made”

The recent “Perfect” (Matador/Popstock!, 26) is nothing less than the ninth album by Queens Of The Sotone Ageand it arrives as the most open-hearted album in its long history. We chatted about it with Mike Shuman, bassist of the American group.

“Perfect” shows us a band of comrades enjoying their contrasting chemistry, with acoustic passages, less fuzz, a “own” version (“Sunday”, which Homme and company did for Iggy Pop a decade ago) and the rock machine as well-oiled as it is free of the pathological perfectionism that has sometimes weighed them down.

We connected with Mike Shuman, bassist and youngest member since he joined the group almost two decades ago. An accomplished instrumentalist and technician, Shuman has become Homme’s right-hand man, as evident in documentaries and various recordings. From somewhere between San Francisco and Los Angeles, the musician displays all the virtues we know as a bassist and producer with as much affability as passion. “Every album is special. We put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears, and the same applies to this one. But it’s true that there is a twist here that could mark the next chapter of the band”he states.

“There are people who want us to do the same thing over and over again”

How is that? “We feel like we did when we made ‘Like Clockwork,’ which we saw as the first album in a trilogy. It’s like we’ve started a new phase with new potential and unlimited room to grow. We always produce our albums, but it’s the first time Josh and I have worked together, so it’s a little different.”. It cannot be a coincidence that, for the first time, a photograph of the quintet appears on the cover. “I guess it’s the most human and personal record we’ve ever made. The five of us thought, ‘What do we do now?’. What other masks were we going to put on? What characters were we going to create? I think there are no characters on this record. Above all, with the lyrics, Josh and I worked a lot on taking off the veil and being comfortable with it. The mirror of that had to be us on the cover, so that’s the reason.”

In this process of stripping away artifices in search of the essential, his shocking live performance in the catacombs of Paris “Alive In The Catacombs” and the subsequent concerts were key. “We came from the flow of the catacombs, especially from the tour. We made the album in dispersed sessions during the tour. We were in a space that was completely different from a normal rock concert. I would say that it is one of our heaviest albums, but not through distortion or drums. In others we hid a little behind metaphors, masks and characters, in addition to the tones that we love. This time we wanted the songs to breathe and speak for themselves without distortion or heavy batteries.”

As he just told us, the band undertook the sessions in different studios. A way of working that has two sides. “The good part is that it gives you time to think about the work you’ve done, so that when you come back to record a week or a month later, you have a different perspective. On the other hand, you tend to analyze more than necessary. But in this case we feel very liberated and leave all the mistakes behind. The idea was to make the most coherent album we could, and at the same time a kind of mixtape or collage of songs.”

“It’s one of our heaviest albums, but not through distortion or drums”

One of the most greased bands on the planet on stage lets loose here more than ever. Mike has suffered the dark side of recording. “It’s the album we’ve had the best time on. It’s been the easiest and most harmonious of all the albums I’ve made since I’ve been in the group. ‘Like Clockwork’ was a fucking nightmare. When I finished it I didn’t want to make an album ever again. ‘Villains’ was extremely difficult. With ‘In Times New Roman’ we had maybe the most difficult time. I was like: ‘Can we please make an album that’s fun, and have a good time?’. We’ve always had our laughs, we’ve overcome the trauma, but the new one was relatively painless. And I think that shows in the final result.”

All this should not be underestimated for a group with almost three decades of activity, although Shuman has been in it for “only” two decades. “We don’t go on tour unless we think we’re going to have fun. We make a living from this, but it’s not about money. We have to have a great time to leave families and friends behind. And that applies to records. We have to believe in what we’re doing and evolve, so we’re not doing the same thing all the time.” This can have a toll that they gladly pay. “Some fans may not like this. There are people who want us to do the same thing over and over again. I understand that, but it’s not the world we live in. That’s not growing. What interests me is evolving, surprising myself, challenging myself. Plugging the same guitars into the same amplifiers with the same pedals in the same studio is boring. I want to explore new territories, new ways of recording and composing. That’s all we have left.”

Mike is very aware of the weight he has gained within the quintet, thanks to his precocious maturity. “When I came in I was twenty-one years old and they called me ‘the old man’… I can only speak for myself, but I guess I’ve always had the role of making sure things don’t implode or explode. Josh is the wild one and I’m the logical one. In these twenty years we’ve learned that that dynamic works. Everyone understands their role”. That they remain colleagues is essential, and he ends up insisting on this idea. “I can’t imagine being in a group where you hate each other. For certain people, making their ninth album is a promotional tool to go on tour and make money. We’re interested in making an album to create art. Whatever comes after is an extra.”

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