Mark Ronson a Hard Task Master, Say the Like

Posted on Sep 10th 2010 8:30AM by Jody Thompson
Comments

The Like say Mark Ronson posed the biggest challenge of their career when he produced their second album.

Ronson, who's previously worked his magic producing records for Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen as well as his own material, made the four-piece Los Angeles-based band record the whole of their second LP 'Release Me' as live.

Talking to Spinner, drummer Tennessee Thomas says, "We recorded the whole of the record live to tape in two weeks without any tweaking."

Singer Elizabeth 'Z' Berg adds, "It was really inspiring and really creative, but also completely terrifying, you know, like we have one hour to get this track perfect, with all of us playing live, it was like,'Oh my God!'"

She continues, "Beforehand, as a live band, we had a specific sound and we really knew where we were, but trying to get people who knew how to record that way and get live energy was really hard."

"Producers always want to get in the studio and say, 'Let's double it everything five million times!' With Mark in the studio, it was like, 'If you're not going to play the guitar in the bridge live, don't play it.' You had to make your decisions there and then."

Thomas explains that Ronson had long-been on their wish list to helm their second long-player, but they never dreamed it would actually happen.

She says, "We didn't really think that we stood a chance of that happening, then we just happened to bump into him, and he said 'I really like your first album, but you're a great live band and your record should just sound like that' and he made it happen very quickly."

Berg continues, "It was a really intense recording experience as we had so little time. It was just really awesome though as he has a real understanding of how to arrange things and get the best out of the songs."

Thomas adds, "The guys that he works with have perfected recording in that way to get that sound, and they've got a tiny little studio in Brooklyn with only tape machines, no computers, no tricks, it's like walking into a Motown studio."

She continues, "But it meant we had to step up as musicians. As a result now, we feel much more confident as a live band."

Together with bandmates Laena Geronimo and Annie Monroe, the Like recently played a great set at the Festival Republic stage at Reading Festival

Drummer Thomas is the daughter of Elvis Costello and the Attractions drummer Pete, and she's certainly inherited her dad's talent on the kit, too.

She explains that their sound is now a more retro proposition, saying they've taken inspiration from the '60s. "It's more the Motown sound, the British Invasion stuff and '60s girl groups. It's a fusion of those."

Berg adds, "We wanted to take where we were coming from with being a modern band with modern songwriting and liking lots of different other kinds of music, like punk and post punk, with that rawness and honesty of that kind of '60s sound."

And they love playing British festivals too.

Berg says, "American festivals generally, people are not as willing to go so balls-out as they are here, people try to keep their cool at America festivals, but here, we've seen a lot of people passed out on the grass. It's admirable, we think," she laughs.

The Like's current album 'Release Me' is out now.