Interview No Age: We Want To Make The Best Record We Can

Following their hugely successful second album ‘Nouns’ last year, LA duo No Age will be releasing their new EP ‘Losing Feeling’, featuring four brand new tracks, next week (5th October) through Sub Pop (stream it here).

Jamie Milton managed to grab guitarist Randy Randall for a quick Q&A about touring, artwork, and veganism.

If you could arrange another three-way tour for next year, in a similar vein to Shred Yr Face, who would you most like to go on the road with you?
White Zombie and Kate Bush.

Are you considering taking a touring break? Things have been pretty hectic for you since ‘Nouns’.
No, we are having so much fun playing shows and writing new songs for the next record. I guess we will have to break eventually to record in the studio. Then we’ll be back out there, hittin’ road.

What’s the best city you’ve visited when touring?
We love Auckland, NZ. It is so beautiful and really fun to get lost in.

Does it feel gratifying to have won awards for the ‘Nouns’ sleeve artwork, and being nominated for the Best Recording Package Grammy? It’s a pretty cool award!
We were super psyched with the artwork when we finished it. All the attention or award stuff is just gravy after that.

Will you be putting a lot of effort towards out-doing yourselves on the sleeve of any future albums?
I don’t know. We are not really into the competion aspect of releasing records. We just want to make the best record we can at the time we make it.

Were you aware of the huge amount of critical acclaim ‘Nouns’ received? Does it put any pressure on you for future releases?
I have heard that people liked the record. I don’t really feel a ton of pressure. I just feel like we can’t be lazy or half assed. We have to make sure we really like the songs we are writing because someone other than our friends are gonna hear em’.

With the ‘Losing Feeling’ EP, had you always intended to release a small release just after ‘Nouns’ or did it come about quickly?
It was something that sorta came together pretty quickly. We were writing songs for the next record and we noticed that some of the songs were fitting together in a different way. So we put those songs out as the EP.

As vegans, what’s the perfect meal one can conjure up?
Dean and I have different tastes but I love spicy Kale salads and BBQ seitan.

Alternatively, Are there any food disasters that should be best avoided?
Eating meat, drinking old vegetable juice

As a big supporter of Barack Obama, what did you make of his first 100 days and his overall first term so far?
So far the Obama administration has fallen short of some of the campaign promises. The financial bailout or TARP funds were less than successful so far. I have hope that there will be progress made towards a more affordable health care plan for people who can’t currently afford decent health care.