Tuff Love released their three EPs as one 15-track compilation on January 29th via Lost Map Recordings, ‘Resort’ brings together sell-outs ‘Junk’ & ‘Dross‘ – both now unavailable – and the more recent EP ‘Dregs’. The band discuss some of the tracks and their origin.
Sweet Discontent
Suse – This was the last song we finished for ‘Junk’. We had the other 4 songs totally finished by the time we started this one. It came together nice and easy, when I listen back to it now I think, “oh… it’s just basically one big chorus” and then it makes sense it was chosen as the first single I guess. When Julie was playing the chords initially it was really swingy, but we ended up straightening it out more, and then put driving drums on top that were as straight as they could be really.
Julie – The chorus had been around for a year or so. It had been folkier, almost swingy. One day I wrote some verses and barred the chords. Suse said, there should be a solo here, something like “duh duh duh duh duh duh, duh duh duh duh duh duuu… da duh duh duh duh duh duuuh, duh da da duuuh” and I played that on the guitar. Someone came up to me after a gig once and said she liked the simplicity of the solo, that it wasn’t a big macho show-off solo. If I had the ability to do one of those, I probably would.
Flamingo
Suse – Julie had this riff for ages, it was one of the first songs we jammed out when we met up to start playing together, in 2012. Initially it was an acoustic folk song, with many different variations of the chorus. Then we scrapped the chorus and instead put in some sort of bass riffs.
Julie – It started out with the opening guitar bit, probably written after listening to lots of Townes Van Zandt. We recorded it with the lyrics that are there, some of them sort of place holders I thought I would get around to changing. but in the end they stuck. Although they are very flawed, I’m kind of at peace with them now, and they carry meaning for me.
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Copper
Suse – I think this was the first song we started and wrote together as Tuff Love. I really like that D, A, C, D chord progression, it’s kind of bubblegummy but then I guess that’s kind of offset by the drone-like guitar in the verses. This song sounds really ‘contained’ recording and structure wise I think, I was pleased when we finished it!
Julie – We wrote this together in Suse’s flat. It think it has a bit of a Pixies vibe to it. It’s composed of snapshots of a day. It’s kind of sad, I think maybe about dislocated relationships. Some parts are kind of nauseating, where values meet feelings – there are images in there that I associate with that clash.
Poncho
Suse – Julie had had this riff for ages too, and this song also went through many different chorus variations before we decided to make it a nice simple C to Bb with some oooooooo’s on the top heheh.
Julie – I think this is sort of about recklessness and the lightness and heaviness of falling for someone. It’s awkward to listen to at times. There’s a bit in it where the person speaking doesn’t recognise her reflection when she sees it. The whole thing is about moments where you don’t have to look at yourself at all and you get to embody action. The bit with the mirror is about being brought back to self-consciousness. It took us a long time to finish Poncho for some reason. I remember being really really nervous when we first put it up online.
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Penguin
Julie – TheJuliere was around a year between starting this song and finishing it. I don’t think we listened to it at all during that time. It was another one where we struggled with a chorus. At one point we had one that sounded like Earth Song . Fortunately, after some reflection time, it came together quite easily. I wrote the lyrics on the overnight bus to london. When I think of it I imagine a penguin waiting for a bus in the middle of the night on the motorway. I also associate it with the process of overcoming all sorts of fears – like performing and being exposed. It was after we finished Junk that I played my first gig.
Slammer
Julie – We wrote this quickly. It was fun. It’s about the frustration of being up against it. The feeling of not being heard and not being seen. I suppose it’s kind of about losing faith in society. As opposed to people individually. That’s what it’s about to me. It’s a bit much really.
Suse – Yeah when came round and played the riff for the song I was like OHHH yeah! We fleshed it out there and then, and then tried a vocal melody and harmony part over the chorus section. I think we knew it would be a single as soon as we finished it.
That’s Right
Julie – I wanted to write something different. Something not about feelings. Suse had the chorus as “That’s Right” and in my mind I could see those words written on a packet of pills, like pro plus or something. I took apart bits of directions from painkillers. Probably a combination of Lemsip and ibuprofen by the sounds of it.
Suse – I’d had this idea floating around since 2013 or so pretty much filled out with guitar bass drums and we had played it live a few times. I wanted it to sound bubblegum pop but really thick.
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Sebastian
Suse – We played a variation on this song live for a while, before ‘Dross’ came out. It was much heavier, then in the end we decided to strip it back and remove the intense fuzz and heavy drums.
Julie – This is about taking the moral low-ground and finding redemption. Or something. It was written after I was accused of great villainy. I was spending a lot of time thinking about goodness and badness. I suppose coming to the conclusion that when people start getting intoxicated on a strong sense of superiority, that’s when things really start to go to shit, no matter what the original intention is. I think our preoccupation with blame can be dangerous. It makes everything look simple. It goes in hand with an awareness that the more I personally try to do “right” and tiptoe about thinking I’m being careful, the more I seem to find myself doing harm.
Doberman
Julie – We wrote this together. It happened quickly. It uses the theme of dog breeding to talk about control and the illusion of freedom. It’s about wanting the best for others as long as our desires are fulfilled. It’s about how we’re all horribly manipulative.
Suse – Yeah I like this cos we wrote this together in the same room, starting from a bass riff/chord progression. I like that it’s angular and more spacious than our other stuff. It’s really hard to play live cos the singing is hard. It’s my favourite one off the album I think.
Cum
Julie – This is a love song. It’s about regret – compassion and understanding coming too late.
Duke
Suse – I think this was the first song that came together off the 3rd EP, ‘Dregs’. Julie sent me a demo of it and we worked on it from there. I had imagined it might be a washy dreamy song, but when we were trying drums in rehearsal it was getting heavier and heavier. I like the way it turned out, but would like to try making another version that’s a bit softer and spacier.
Julie – When the idea first came about, I thought it would sound hypnotic. But it ended up being quite rocky. I was thinking about family or what we see as family. People with whom we share a past and knowledge of our own insanities and the madnesses of our elders. Finding ways to carry on despite patterns that seem ingrained.
Crocodile
Suse – I was playing around with a chord progression and came up with this. I used a synth flute as a place holder for vocal melody when writing and demo-ing it, and it ended up staying in, which i am glad about. I like that sound, mmmm flute.
Julie – I sat with Suse while she played this on guitar for the first time. It’s one of my favourites. I don’t remember what I was thinking when I wrote the words. Looking at them, I think of what Genesis P Orridge says Lady Jaye would say about the body being like a cheap suitcase. I think about the Pre-Raphaelites and Elizabeth Siddal in the bath and my friend Bridget telling me that story. Also of As I Lay Dying and William Faulkner. But the images come now like remembering a dream, and I don’t know what the original thought was.
Threads
Suse – We had this song for a while, before it came out on ‘Dregs‘. We re-recorded it for the 3rd EP though, changing the chorus and stuff. My brother told me he thinks it has an REM vibe which is a nice compliment. It’s really fun to play live because it’s got a few different bits/different dynamics. Although the chorus low harmony is way lower than my range I don’t know how I managed to do it on the recording!
Julie – This was originally called sea foam, which was a better title. It’s about getting older. Giving ourselves and then being left to rot. I really love this song, it’s poppy and catchy at the same time as being slightly unnerving and aggressive. I can find it quite a struggle to play live though because there are some difficult singing bits.
Amphibian
Julie – I liked this when it first came about, then I stopped liking it, but now I like it again. I was thinking about shedding skin, metamorphosis and the idea of return to some kind of original state. Getting older sometimes feels like regression but not in a negative way. I always feel like I’m trying to reach something, some state that is hidden far back in the past.
Suse – It was the last song to come together for ‘Dregs’. I was panicking about this song because it’s quite different from other stuff and I didn’t want it to be different, but I don’t know why. We kind of rushed to get it finished and recorded. I played drums on it because we were rushing. I suppose because it was a little different, the basic song I mean, I felt like it was harder to record and stuff. What sounds should we use for the guitar etc? It turned out to be more psychadelic than our other stuff – more delay and reverb, which is cool actually. Variation is nice.
Carbon
Suse – Julie sent me a demo of this a few months before ‘Dregs’ was released and we fleshed it out and came up with the sounds together. I played drums on it while Julie played guitar along which we hadn’t ever done before. This one was also a bit rushed to get finished, which isn’t the nicest feeling. But sometimes time restraints are good because you can’t think about it too much, you just have to use your instinct about the song for how you think it should sound etc. Anyways I’m pleased with the outcome, although keep hearing another harmony/melody line in the final chorus that I wish was there…
Julie – I like to play this. It has gentle bits and bigger bits. It brings back ideas about family and our identities within and without that structure. Thinking about the person you are in relation to others and that you have to be something independent of the role you play in a community. Because there’s so much scope to get completely lost.
‘Resort’ is out now on CD/LP via Lost Map Records.
The Fat Angel Sings 