Riding That High with Confidence Man
office sat down with Janet Planet and Sugar Bones to discuss the album creation process and dissect the subsequent high they rode along the way; read it all below.
As a group, how do you collaborate effectively? Do you find that certain members’ strengths balance the group out?
Sugar Bones — Since there are four of us, there are normally only a couple of main songwriters, but we're all pretty involved. Everyone definitely has their own strengths — I think one thing that really works for us is that we're all super close, so it's a super honest process.
Janet Planet — No offense taken.
Sugar Bones — No offense taken, but a lot of offense given.
Janet Planet — We can always be brutally honest with each other and yell over top of each other. That allows us to say ideas that are probably a bit unconventional and it also allows us to get things into songs that you usually wouldn't — kind of silly things.
Sugar Bones — Yeah, there are lots of ideas, but there are also lots of filters. So if something makes the final cut and everyone's happy with it, then you know it's pretty solid.
Yeah, I feel like that means you get the most genuine product if you're all that close and work so well together. I read that as a group, you guys also all moved in together for the writing process of Tilt. Is that true?
Janet Planet — Yeah, and that was how we wrote the first record as well — we were all living together at the time and then a few years later, Reggie and Sugar were in one house and Clarence and I were in another, so over lockdown, we all moved in together to work on this record. So I think it is kind of cool that both records have been written in a similar kind of situation.
Sugar Bones — We'll probably end up doing that for all the records now.
Janet Planet — It might be weird now if we don't.
Now you've established this tradition. I think that's a really cool way to find new creative inspirations.
Sugar Bones — We milked every last bit of fun out of the pandemic.
Janet Planet — We did.
Sugar Bones — I think we were lucky that we had each other and we had the project to do during the lockdown. Because, you know, we would've all gone a little bit crazy otherwise.
Janet Planet — I think we still did go crazy, but it was like a productive crazy.
Sugar Bones — Definitely. But there was a light at the end of the tunnel; we had something to focus on. I'm stoked that we had each other for that — it could have been bad.
It was a time, especially for people who create things, that it was really difficult to source your inspiration — you had to find new ways to do it since we literally couldn't go outside. How did you guys deal with finding creative inspiration in a time where it was a bit harder to do so?
Janet Planet — I think a lot of the creative inspiration just came from our friendship with each other and being in this weird, insular world where it was just the four of us who existed, pretty much. We were sort of making this 'fake' fun from something that was so un-fun. I think that probably is where a lot of the inspiration comes from — that relationship and this desire to have a good time, even in the worst of times.
Sugar Bones — Yeah, I guess we had to go back to the basics — just the four of us focused on how much we actually love making music together. That can pretty much take you out of any situation and put you in the highest, happiest place ever. Once we had sort of gotten over the first initial shock of COVID, we found the groove and we did it every day for about a year straight.
If you had to think of something that changed from the first album creation process to this one or something new that you learned, what would you pinpoint?
Sugar Bones — With the first album, it all happened really quickly and we didn't really know what we were as a band or what we were making. It was all super naive and that was kind of a good thing. We ended up developing these characters — accidentally. So then with the second one, we really wanted to not restrict ourselves from that first process and that first sound. I think with the second one, we were a bit more free in where we wanted to take the music and where we wanted to take the characters. I also think we'd all all progressed quite a bit as musicians and songwriters.
Janet Planet — We've listened to so much music in the past six years — the stuff we were into and all the sounds that we wanted to achieve have evolved and grown and developed a bit. This time around, we knew a lot more. Also just the way we wrote this record as well, we tried to change it up because we didn't want to get restricted by the whole 'second album curse.' We learned a different way of writing from Greg Alexander of New Radicals. We did a writing session with him and he showed us how to let yourself go and see what comes to you naturally. I think that was how we were able to make this record more off the cuff, which stopped us from getting so bogged down.
Sugar Bones — Yeah. Because everyone always tells you, 'Oh the second album — it's going to be terrible.'
I understand how it's scarier the second time around though, because you're past the first time jitters and it's more so, 'Can I live up to what we made before?’ What is one of the craziest stories you have from writing and living together?
Janet Planet — There are so many illegal things we could say. I suppose one of my main memories was that we got into this weird routine of making these home videos where we'd make music and then we'd make film clips to go with them. We came up with creative ways to film these silly clips. Just wild stuff, like home production stuff, and no one should ever see those videos.
Sugar Bones — There were some skits.
Janet Planet — Oh yeah. We wrote some scripts that no one should ever see.
Sugar Bones — We spent a lot of time just making bad art.
Janet Planet — A lot of it. We also made a club in our backyard area. What was it called?
Sugar Bones — 'Shed.' So we had this crappy old shed in the backyard, full of junk — storage and whatnot. I think it was probably nine months into the lockdown and we're all a little bit stir crazy. Like we're just missing the club so much. So we decided, 'Let's just make a club in the shed.'
Janet Planet — We got to work. It was really cute.
Sugar Bones — We mounted three lasers and put the decks in there.
Janet Planet — Spray painted fake big speakers. And we spray painted a part of it called, 'The Fuck Bunk.' We even had a security guard and everything.
Sugar Bones — And then it's just the five of us in there. That's all you need.
So you guys are partiers for sure, and it definitely manifests through your music — this very carefree, fun vibe. You mentioned some illegal things that went on — we don't have to talk about those things. But I did read that something that factored into your writing process this time around was psychedelics. Do you think that helped open up a new creative space for you guys?
Sugar Bones — I think that always helps. Also during lockdown, we were so restricted physically and not going anywhere. So if you can free your mind in any way, it definitely helps. We'd have a few nights where we'd just sit in the kitchen with a hundred dollar USB mic plugged into the laptop and just kind of riff on that for 12 hours straight or all night. I think there was some pure magic that came out of that. It's a sneaky way out of the lockdown.
Janet Planet — Make our own club and do some mushrooms.
Is there a moment that you remember, like an 'aha' moment or an epiphany that came about through experimenting while on mushrooms, or maybe something else brought that about?
Sugar Bones — Oh, ecstasy definitely helps too.
Janet Planet — I do remember writing a few tracks on the record or pieces of tracks on the record and thinking, 'This is gonna be really good when I'm sober,' and I'd listen to it and it'd be rubbish.
I was going to say, that could be the downside of writing 'enhancers.'
Sugar Bones — Yeah, it could really go both ways.
Janet Planet — But then there were a whole bunch of those good 'aha' moments. The chorus of 'What I Like,' — I remember writing that at 5:00 AM, all of us sitting around the microphone. And listening back to that, we were like, 'Yeah, that's definitely going to be a chorus. That's going to be on the record.' So there were moments like that for sure, where you thank your wasted self for doing such a great job.
Sugar Bones — Definitely. But there were also a lot of moments like that while we were sober as well. We were kind of trying to treat it like a job. So we'd do Monday to Friday, nine till five — just to create some structure in our lives, because it was such a structureless time. So, you know, it could be a Wednesday at midday, and we'd have a breakthrough for a track and everyone would just be high from that kind of thing. The music was probably the biggest drug of all.
Janet Planet — And we'd change things up if we were struggling on a track. So we'd try it in the daytime and then we'd try it again in the afternoon. And then later on we might try it at like 5:00 AM when we're wasted. And at each one of those points, if you can't break the track, then you're probably not gonna break it because you need to be in a different head space. We tried all the different approaches, and then if we still couldn't get there, it probably wasn't going to happen.
What is your favorite song that came out of that time?
Sugar Bones — I think a big favorite of mine is 'Relieve The Pressure.' It's the last track on the album. I think that just felt real special; it was the first time we let ourselves go over the four minute standard pop length of a song; it's a bit more of a journey. It's got all the different flavors of the album in one song and it was really fun to write.
Janet Planet — I feel like mine is like changing all the time because we're working on the live set at the moment. I'm seeing things come to life and how it'll look on stage and it's been changing what my favorite is. It's probably 'Break It Bought It' at the moment; we're working on this incredible group dance and it's the first time I've ever been able to get all four of the boys in a dance with me and I've been really looking forward to it. So I think with that live performance coming together, that's my favorite right now.
Sugar Bones — It's weird that it changes over time, but it does. Because when we're just writing the songs, that takes so long and we're just so involved in that. And then the next phase, thinking about the live show and how to structure it and what dances we're going to do, what costumes, what sort of gags we're going to pull out. And then once we start actually rehearsing it — which we've just finished after weeks and weeks — that changes it all again as well.
What have you learned so far that will help you continue to evolve? Are you going to continue the same traditions with the next album or find an entirely new approach?
Janet Planet — Well, I think that ideally we would write it the same way, but I also feel like COVID probably forced that upon us. So I don't know if we would actually write it living in the same house again, like why would we? I mean — it was fun living together though.
Sugar Bones — Yeah, we're kinda sick of each other.
Janet Planet — Sick of eachother?? Never!
Sugar Bones — No — I don't know. It's hard to say because from the first album to the second album, there were four years in between. And that was pretty much constant touring for us and there's no way we ever could have predicted how the second one was going to be written. So the third one, that could be another four or five years from now.
Janet Planet — God, no. No way — we're gonna be better this time. We're actually gonna write.
Sugar Bones — I think one thing I definitely want to do again is actually put a big chunk of time aside because it was actually so good being able to have that time with Tilt.
Janet Planet — It creates more of a world that way rather than progressively writing over a three-year period.
Sugar Bones — We let the songs dictate where they wanted to go, rather than trying to put them in a box. I think that's probably something we'll stick to forever now.
Janet Planet — Yeah, and having multiple influences. I'm not afraid of having a multiple genre album. I think that's cool.
Sugar Bones — Just letting the song be the best kind of song — whatever type of song that may be. And if that's a country banger, then that's okay.
Janet Planet — Well, I mean, I'd love to get a country banger in the next album. That's gotta be a goal. We have a whole bucket list of things that we'd like to do for albums — we probably ticked off about three-quarters of that so far. So there are a whole bunch of things that we wanted to get in that didn't get in, but they will next time.
Sugar Bones — When they're ready. When they come. And with the live shows, the more money we get, the more we can actually afford to spend on the live show. So there are some crazy ideas we have for that.
Janet Planet — The more money we get, the more dangerous we become.
That's why you need to make your country banger and have that just completely take off, and then you can do whatever you want.
Janet Planet — Yeah, we'll walk out on two dancing horses.
Well, whatever comes next for you guys, country music, horses, whatever it is — I'm excited to see.
Along with exclusive behind the scenes songwriting mementos, Confidence Man also shared some photos exclusively to office, below.
