XAVIER RUDD
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XAVIER RUDD

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The album was mixed by reggae legend Errol Brown at Tuff Gong Studios in Jamaica. That’s gotta be cool!

It was super-cool, bro! We originally planned to have it mixed by someone else but they had shows booked and couldn’t do the time frame we needed to get it mastered and released by a certain time. I’d met up with Stephen Marley in America – we did some shows – and I showed some demos to him. He said “You should get Errol Brown to mix this record. He mixed all my fathers’ music and he’d be perfect for this record.” So we reached out to Errol, who is very selective about what he does. He’s very old and he doesn’t do a lot of records, he just works on what he likes. He was super-keen and it was amazing working with him. It was a massive honour. I talked to him on the phone and I could hardly understand a word he said! But he spoke in real depth about the album. His mother had passed during the whole process, and he was grieving her and was still quite in shock. And the record speaks a lot about the sacred feminine, with ‘Nanna’ being the title track out of respect for all our nannas and the old woman spirit, the great creation spirit, the great grandmother spirit of our earth as well. So it was coming from that place, and he was really connecting with that at the time.

 

Did he give you a lot of feedback?

He sunk right into the mixes. He did a lot of mixes. In a lot of cases someone like that might just give you a couple of versions but he kept sending stuff! I’d be happy with a song but then two or three weeks later he’d send me another four mixes of it! I’d be like “Oh f**k, I thought we were done here, but now we’re back!” But in the end I just let him roll! It was an amazing experience. And all those classic Bob Marley tunes, the production on those was timeless and that was Errol. I was really honoured. It’s just one of those moments on this journey where it’s like, “…wow!”

 

 

So the whole idea of this being a band record, not you surrounded by 90 didgeridoos and 80 guitars – how did the band come together?

It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, for a long, long time. I’ve been very patient with that concept. I wanted that to happen when it was really ready so it was years before I really pursued this, but I always had it in my heart. And last year it all opened up in every way, and it was time. Everyone that was meant to appear appeared. It was quite interesting how it happened. There were no auditions; everybody just presented, and everyone was from a different place so that’s why I called it United Nations. I had the idea of the sounds that I wanted, some of the lines and things.

 

What guitars did you use?

I played a Tele on the whole record. A couple of semi-hollowbody Teles, actually. And I played a little bit of slide. I overdubbed only one slide solo, which is rare for me. And I used a bunch of different delay pedals and reverbs. Old kooky kinds of reverbs. Spring reverbs. I had a couple of those I was mucking around with and it would depend on how you positioned it on the table because the springs were super loose and old, but then you get a really interesting reverb happening and it’s like “Oh! Don’t touch it! Let’s track one, quick!” Then halfway through the track you realise it’s gone! So I was mucking around with stuff like that. The band sounded so full, so I was mucking around in the mid to high register which is fun, and I don’t usually do that because I’m usually playing so many basslines. This was a whole different approach, getting into the real state of the music. I didn’t want my parts to be too full. I wanted everything to have the space to breathe. My approach is that I’m pretty much holding the carpet for everyone else to skate around.

 

TOUR DATES

March 19 – The Forum, Melbourne VIC
March 21 – Metro Theatre, Sydney NSW
March 22 – The Tivoli, Brisbane QLD
March 27 – HQ, Adelaide SA
March 29 – West Coast Blues & Roots Festival, WA
April 2 – Bluesfest, Byron Bay NSW