Drunk Mums blend pub rock, garage, punk and a unique Australiana into their new album Beer Baby. Recorded at St. Kilda’s Hothouse Audio that houses a 1970s Neve console, Drunk Mums’ new album Beer Baby blends the raucous energy of their live show and the subtle nuanced groove, and the push and pull of their songs and lyricism.

Drunk Mums

Guys, thanks for taking the time. It’s nice to have you back after a hiatus! How did emerging hiatus and writing the new album Beer Baby come about? 

Hello! Thanks for reaching out!  The hiatus wasn’t intentional, more of an after effect from the Covid lockdowns. Took a while to get going again but feels good to be back. Besides the struggle that bands and venues felt over that time, there was a hell of a lot of music written as most people were forced to stay home and bank songs.

I’ve never had a paid holiday as I’ve always worked full time casual jobs so it was nice to get the super dole that was going around making it possible to just stay home and focus on songwriting.

What does a regular writing session for Drunk Mums look like?

Personally I write songs inside the DAW. 

First step: Start with programming a drum loop.

Second step: Jam along with guitar or bass ’till I get something I like.

Third step:  Ramble some gibberish over the top ’till I get a melody.

Fourth step: Workout what the song is going to be about and finalise the arrangement and lyrics.

This way you come to practice with a fully written song and there’s no f’n around. It can be disheartening if your song is not fully prepared and brought to the table too soon. Band mates can lose interest in an idea if not presented properly.

At what stage in the process do you enter the studio?

In this case songs were fully completed before entering the studio except for the last track, that needed lyrics. Home demos were overcooked due to the amount of time we had. Had most aspects fully prepped like lyrics printed and that. Wanted to be as prepared as possible because we only had 3 days to record 11 songs. 

Hothouse Audio St Kilda

Why Jez Giddings for Beer Baby?

He got recommended to us from a few people and [our] bass player Adam’s other band SMOOCH had recently recorded with him. Also, Adam usually records us but wanted to hand the wheel over to focus more on his playing. Props to Jez, he was super fast on the mouse and a dream to work with. He’s currently studying computer science so he’s a bit of a smarty pants.

How do Drunk Mums record? Is it isolated and instrument by instrument or do you record the whole band live?

We usually record all together and just overdub vocals but this time we did instrument by instrument. We started with the drums. Jonny Badlove, the drummer, was isolated in the recording room and we were all set up in the mixing room with Jez. I had guide vox going and we all played along with Jonny through the whole album till we got the drum takes we wanted. 

Not 100% but I think we may have recorded and used the bass takes during that too.

Is there a piece of gear you feel defines the sound of Beer Baby? 

Not sure about a single piece of gear but these are the biggest sounding recordings we’ve done due to the massive drum sounds Jez got at Hothouse and the pro level mastering by Jack “The Bear” Mantz (Deluxe Mastering) who also got recommended to us from a few people. 

How much input did Jez have as a producer?

Mostly stayed in the engineering role but threw down some egg shaker on a few tracks and blew mad vape clouds.  

Thanks again for the time! As a closer, can you share a story about the making of “Livin’ at Night” or Beer Baby?

We used a mouth harp on the intro to bring a spooky old time Aussie vibe to it. That was Adam’s idea and hard AF to play. It was a pleasure working at Hothouse with Jez, [we] also had mad fun having a big time studio experience at Hothouse in St Kilda. Excited for everyone to hear the rest of the record!

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