It’s been a long road since the release of the band’s debut album in 2009 to where Blackchords are right now –in the midst of the creative process in a huge country shed transformed into a recording studio in regional Victoria, withMercury Prize and Grammy nominated producer/mixer, David Odlum (former guitarist with Irish band The Frames, producer- The Frames, Gemma Hayes, Luka Bloom, Josh Ritter among others) at the helm, steering them to a thoroughly international sounding album.
After a busy 2010 which saw the Blackchords play The Great Escape, Liverpool Sound City in the UK and support Powderfinger at their last ever Melbourne show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, the band spent 2011 working, writing and rehearsing their brand new material.
Working, independent and with limited funds, Blackchords took to crowd & fan funding website Pozible to raise the money for their recording and thankfully, their fans were keen to help and thus raised half of the recording costs for the album. Along with international & local Sync deals the band were able to realise their dreams of recording with an internationally acknowledged producer they admire and respect. After a few chats to David Odlum in France via Skype and emails back & forth, David was thoroughly impressed with the demos and the band and agreed to come to Australia for ten days to produce the sophomore album for Blackchords and for a little respite from the French winter!
Now, half way through recording, the sound and feel of the album has lifted the band to the sound they aspire to, with dark, moody songs reminiscent of the first album but with a new bent and some surprisingly different more up tempo tracks – it’s definitely a progression the band have been waiting to make.
After recording, the tracks will head back to France to be mixed in Black Box Studios in Gravoyere by David and Grammy Award winning mixer Steven Fitzmaurice (Ian Brown, Depeche Mode, Kylie Minogue, U2, Seal, Cage The Elephant).
With the new album pending, a brand spanking new single only weeks away, the band have been itching to hit the stage again and will be doing so to showcase the new material at Fuse Festival in Adelaide on Thursday, February 23rd @ Nexus Centre (10.30pm)
Blackchords second album – still to be titled will be released in May 2012 with the first single released in late Feb. Stay tuned for more music and news and check out www.facebook.com/blackchords for updates on recording etc
