Q&A: Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles on "The Incredible Machine"
Story by Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
Sugarland lead singer Jennifer Nettles and bandmate Kristian Bush can't wait until fans can hear their forthcoming album, "The Incredible Machine."
"We were just having a conversation about it up in the front lounge of the bus over all of our coffees and teas and various morning caffeinated beverages -- just about the excitement around it and the artfulness of this record and how much we're excited about the music," Nettles told SoundSpike. "There are risks involved in it because we always like to push ourselves and push the envelope. But there's just really, really beautiful stuff that we hope people really get to hear."
Sugarland has sold more than eight million records since arriving on the music scene in 2004 with "Twice The Speed Of Life."
Since then, they have received trophies from the Grammys, American Music Awards, Academy of Country Music, CMT Music Awards and the Country Music Association.
Nettles spoke with SoundSpike about the power of the heart, the risks Sugarland took on "The Incredible Machine" and the importance of performing live.
SoundSpike: How did you come up with the title of the new album?
There's a track on the album called "The Incredible Machine." As we were considering it, really the common thread contextually, throughout this album, is about the human heart. The human heart itself and the word "heart" and the concept of the human heart appears throughout this whole record and song after song. It also appears in the song "The Incredible Machine" itself. Really, the contextual thread that moves throughout this record is the human heart and what an incredible vehicle it is -- what an incredible engine it is for love and human emotion and fear and all the different wonderful, mysterious and beautiful parts of being human.
It sounds like a great theme.
I believe our creative minds are ahead of our conscious minds. You may not know what the theme is until you sit down and you analyze what have you have written in this beautiful collection of songs. What is the common theme here? You get pleasantly surprised when you see, "Wow. This must really be on our heart, no pun intended, in our subconscious that it would express itself in this way, because that's the common theme on this record."
What were some of the risks you took on this record?
I think the risk is being authentic, which is really bold nowadays in a time when it seems that people are really so conscious and afraid of fitting within the boundaries of their last project. We really allowed ourselves to write what we wanted and to write from parts of ourselves that, while are still authentically us, are authentic in new ways that people might not have seen before. We really had a lot of fun as writers on this record and as musicians in being able to perform and just enjoy what that is and enjoy the diversity of everything we love and [are] able to do.
What was the songwriting process for "The Incredible Machine"?
Each song is different every time. Interestingly enough, we wrote most of these songs fairly near the studio process. There were a couple we wrote throughout the year. Three of them, as a matter of fact, we wrote while we were in the recording process itself. That was the first time [we wrote] so close to the actual recording process. We always write in different places. If we're out on the road we write on the bus or in the dressing room, or if we're home we write in our writing studio -- or sometimes in each of our respective homes and then [we] come together and write in one or the other's home. It's always different and changes [with] how we're feeling that day. I think the most interesting difference in how we wrote this record was the timing of it, and that we did write it so close to the recording that everything feels fresh and authentically where we are right now.
What did co-producer Byron Gallimore bring out in Sugarland?
He is a wonderful facilitator. He really brings the best out of everybody and allows us to rise to something bigger and better than we would be otherwise. He's a wonderful sounding board and he allows us a safe structure to get in that we can go crazy and come up with all kinds of ideas. He's hip to it and says, "Yes. Let's try it." But if he feels that it's not working, then he's the first to be able to say -- very kindly and respectfully -- "Hey, how about if we try this?" "What do you think about this?" He offers a wonderful sounding board for Kristian and myself as we've been doing our own records for years and years. To have someone like him in the room with us to be that sort of sounding board is really, really a gift.
Do you play any of the new material live?
We play five of them, one of which is our single we just released. Our single and four off the record. It's so good and it's so fun. A big part of the joy of getting to play part of the record before it has come out yet is to be able to see what the response is. You may feel a certain way about a song in the studio and it may translate a certain way within the speakers of your headphones or your car or your home. It also translates different when there are humans out there hearing it when it's performed live. We are big into the fact that music is a performing art -- it's meant to be done live as well. Just to be able to gauge the response and see that is a joy.
What can we expect from your live show?
Fun. Fun. I call it "funtry." We get out there, we have a good time. We have surprises. We don't take ourselves too seriously. We really enjoy an evening with the fans. It's not only for the fans, it's with the fans. We have as much fun as they do. It becomes a communal experience.
Story by Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
Sugarland lead singer Jennifer Nettles and bandmate Kristian Bush can't wait until fans can hear their forthcoming album, "The Incredible Machine."
"We were just having a conversation about it up in the front lounge of the bus over all of our coffees and teas and various morning caffeinated beverages -- just about the excitement around it and the artfulness of this record and how much we're excited about the music," Nettles told SoundSpike. "There are risks involved in it because we always like to push ourselves and push the envelope. But there's just really, really beautiful stuff that we hope people really get to hear."
Sugarland has sold more than eight million records since arriving on the music scene in 2004 with "Twice The Speed Of Life."
Since then, they have received trophies from the Grammys, American Music Awards, Academy of Country Music, CMT Music Awards and the Country Music Association.
Nettles spoke with SoundSpike about the power of the heart, the risks Sugarland took on "The Incredible Machine" and the importance of performing live.
SoundSpike: How did you come up with the title of the new album?
There's a track on the album called "The Incredible Machine." As we were considering it, really the common thread contextually, throughout this album, is about the human heart. The human heart itself and the word "heart" and the concept of the human heart appears throughout this whole record and song after song. It also appears in the song "The Incredible Machine" itself. Really, the contextual thread that moves throughout this record is the human heart and what an incredible vehicle it is -- what an incredible engine it is for love and human emotion and fear and all the different wonderful, mysterious and beautiful parts of being human.
It sounds like a great theme.
I believe our creative minds are ahead of our conscious minds. You may not know what the theme is until you sit down and you analyze what have you have written in this beautiful collection of songs. What is the common theme here? You get pleasantly surprised when you see, "Wow. This must really be on our heart, no pun intended, in our subconscious that it would express itself in this way, because that's the common theme on this record."
What were some of the risks you took on this record?
I think the risk is being authentic, which is really bold nowadays in a time when it seems that people are really so conscious and afraid of fitting within the boundaries of their last project. We really allowed ourselves to write what we wanted and to write from parts of ourselves that, while are still authentically us, are authentic in new ways that people might not have seen before. We really had a lot of fun as writers on this record and as musicians in being able to perform and just enjoy what that is and enjoy the diversity of everything we love and [are] able to do.
What was the songwriting process for "The Incredible Machine"?
Each song is different every time. Interestingly enough, we wrote most of these songs fairly near the studio process. There were a couple we wrote throughout the year. Three of them, as a matter of fact, we wrote while we were in the recording process itself. That was the first time [we wrote] so close to the actual recording process. We always write in different places. If we're out on the road we write on the bus or in the dressing room, or if we're home we write in our writing studio -- or sometimes in each of our respective homes and then [we] come together and write in one or the other's home. It's always different and changes [with] how we're feeling that day. I think the most interesting difference in how we wrote this record was the timing of it, and that we did write it so close to the recording that everything feels fresh and authentically where we are right now.
What did co-producer Byron Gallimore bring out in Sugarland?
He is a wonderful facilitator. He really brings the best out of everybody and allows us to rise to something bigger and better than we would be otherwise. He's a wonderful sounding board and he allows us a safe structure to get in that we can go crazy and come up with all kinds of ideas. He's hip to it and says, "Yes. Let's try it." But if he feels that it's not working, then he's the first to be able to say -- very kindly and respectfully -- "Hey, how about if we try this?" "What do you think about this?" He offers a wonderful sounding board for Kristian and myself as we've been doing our own records for years and years. To have someone like him in the room with us to be that sort of sounding board is really, really a gift.
Do you play any of the new material live?
We play five of them, one of which is our single we just released. Our single and four off the record. It's so good and it's so fun. A big part of the joy of getting to play part of the record before it has come out yet is to be able to see what the response is. You may feel a certain way about a song in the studio and it may translate a certain way within the speakers of your headphones or your car or your home. It also translates different when there are humans out there hearing it when it's performed live. We are big into the fact that music is a performing art -- it's meant to be done live as well. Just to be able to gauge the response and see that is a joy.
What can we expect from your live show?
Fun. Fun. I call it "funtry." We get out there, we have a good time. We have surprises. We don't take ourselves too seriously. We really enjoy an evening with the fans. It's not only for the fans, it's with the fans. We have as much fun as they do. It becomes a communal experience.
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