Brand zu heavies

Nobody could ever accuse The Zutons of laziness. Exactly two years and a day after the release of their debut album, Who Killed The Zutons?, the Liverpuddlian quintet are unleashing their second LP, the ironically titled Tired Of Hangin’ Around, a '70s-influenced stomper of good time rock ‘n’ roll, perfectly showcased by lead single, the glammed-up ‘Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love?’

Almost as soon as the band came off the road from an 18-month tour supporting the first album, they decamped to their rehearsal room in Liverpool to work on its successor. Obviously, no difficult second album, then?
“When we stopped touring, we only had a few songs and ideas, ‘cos we’re better at writing when we’re at home in a room,” explains bassist Russell ‘Russ’ Pritchard. “But once we got into that room and started working, the songs started coming together really fast. We ended up with 18 to choose from, so we felt good about it.”
I wondered if they felt added pressure to write hit singles this time around, due to the fact that their debut album proved so successful, selling 600,000 copies and spawning five Top 40 singles.
“We saw that a bit,” admits Russ, “but we weren’t thinking about it like that. We knew the record company wanted singles. But when you look at albums like Nevermind or The Bends – they’re mad albums and the bands are doing their own thing but it’s really easy to pick singles off them. We always wanted to go for it like that and thankfully, when we played it for the record company and management, it turns out we had more potential singles than we needed.”
The added expectation this time around is understandable, considering the band’s achievements in the last two years. Who Killed The Zutons? arrived without the usual hype but still managed to notch up massive sales, thanks in no small part to the fact that frontman Dave McCabe, Russ, guitarist Boyan Chadbury, drummer Sean Payne and sax player Abi Harding are one of the hardest working bands around, clocking up more road miles than the AA, and are a cracking live act to boot. Even so, they must have been a bit taken aback when the first album was so successful?
“We’d been playing these songs for so long that they became part of us,” muses Chadbury, “so then to give the songs away [on an album] and for that amount of people in the UK alone to buy it, it really makes you take a step back.”
“I suppose when any band makes it, there’s always an element of luck or something with the timing,” Russ admits. “But we always felt comfortable with it because it really did grow gradually. We ended up doing these huge gigs like supporting Oasis at Milton Keynes or our own gig at Glastonbury, where we got huge crowds. It was ridiculous, but we had worked up to it so we do feel like we’ve earned it. We feel that people are on our side for the right reasons, that people who come to see Zutons gigs aren’t hype followers, they’re real music fans.”
“I think the first album’s success was more down to word-of-mouth than anything else,” Boyan concludes. “When it first came out, it did OK but it just kept growing from there. That’s a reflection of what happened during our live gigs: they gradually got bigger.”
The new album, too, is bigger. Tired Of Hangin’ Around sounds huge, with a classic 1970s glam vibe, reminiscent of T.Rex in their heyday.
“The only glam element I see on it is ‘Why Don’t You Give Me Your Love?’,” argues Russ. “I see and like that about the track, but I’m not comfortable with the rest of the album being called glam.”
Moving swiftly along, then. Listening to the lyrics, it’s clear that partying and girls are a big part of The Zutons’ life.
“A lot of girls and a lot of drink,” laughs Russ. “They go hand-in-hand, I suppose. Dave writes from the heart all the time. So certain songs are quite confessional and a lot of them are about him taking inspiration from something that’s happened or someone he’s met and developing it into a fictitious thing, but with true origins.”
“It’s really just loads of intimate snapshots of Dave’s nights out,” smiles Boyan.
So now that they’re going back on the road, will it be a case of more after-show parties and more girls?
“You have to have a little bevvie after the show,” Russ deadpans. “You have to come down sometimes, I think. It helps you to relax. It’s a good laugh as well.”
Massive gigs, hit singles, Mercury Music Prize nominations, and playing with some of the biggest bands in the world, in the shape of U2, REM and Oasis: it’s perhaps a little surprising that Russ’ personal highlight from the last two years has nothing to do with music. A lifelong Liverpool fan, the bassist’s fondest memory came at a charity football tournament in Goodison Park (Everton’s home ground) when he scored past legendary Blues’ goalie Neville Southall, who was guesting with Goldie Lookin’ Chain.
”It was a great goal as well,” he recalls with a grin. “I was one-on-one with Neville and I scored, which was the cue for me to go nuts! I went over and said that I didn’t mean any weirdness by over-celebrating and he was laughing about it, saying that he could see how much it meant to me.”