JURASSIC

Leicestershire’s favourite sons are back with fourth LP ‘Velociraptor’. The follow-up to 2009’s wildly popular ‘West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum’ has already topped the British album charts and looks set to do the same here. Guitarist and chief songwriter Sergio Pizzorno takes us through it, track-by-track.

‘Let’s Roll Just Like We Used To’: We've always started every album with a banger, with a punch in the face. We were going to do the same this time, but then we thought, 'no, let's do it like the opening credits of a film, let's capture people's imagination’. It sets up the record because it puts you in a headspace where you're thinking, 'wow, I was not expecting that'... this track's full of ideas, the melody's strong, and your mind goes, 'let's settle back, let's get comfy, because this is going to be interesting’.

‘Days Are Forgotten’: I was thinking about music that just makes you fucking scream... (vocalist) Tom (Meighan) sounds like an MC on this track. It's future rock & roll in some ways, innit? We both really got off on hip hop when we were younger, Tom especially. There're definitely elements of his delivery that have been influenced by that. For me, it's all very similar anyway. I hear breaks in Black Sabbath, you know what I mean?

‘Goodbye Kiss’: It’s a real traditional, almost 1950s Burt Bacharach or Phil Spector song. If you're going to do a tune like that, it's gotta be great, innit? When we finished it we were like, 'wow, that's pretty beautiful’. It's just a beautiful song that stands up against… anything, really.

‘La Fée Verte’: That's 'The Green Fairy' in French. It's about going out for some milk and not returning for three days. It's about turning the lights off to the world because the world's so fucking messed up that you just can't deal with it anymore. You get the absinthe out and you go on a little trip of your own. I'm speaking from vast experience...

‘Velociraptor’: It's just us going wild for three minutes. It almost sounds like early Prodigy. There’s almost a little rave thing going on which I don’t really understand. It's such good fucking fun to play live. We've been playing it at festivals and people are going off, and they don't even know what it is yet.
(After being told there’s a Brisbane band named Velociraptor): That’s unbelievable! Oh, that’s funny. I’m going to go check them out now online, man. I've got to hear this band!

‘Acid Turkish Bath (Shelter From The Storm)’: I've got these weird Turkish CDs and this kind of sounds like them. It captures that Can feeling, but with choruses.

‘I Hear Voices’: I was at a club night in Paris and it was just fucking mad. There were tunes that were just real proper good electro tunes, but there was one thing missing... it was like, 'yeah, these tunes are mega, but imagine if they had verses and choruses and were done like real songs’. I just fucking love music. It’s everything to me, I'm obsessed with it, so if we do go down the electro route, it's not like a band going, 'oh, ok, let's try electro'. I'm well versed in it. It's not some idiot buying a synth for the first time in his life, you know what I mean? It's been part of my life for a fucking long while, so you're not getting an amateurish version of it. I know what I'm doin'.

‘Re-Wired’: I was playing a lot of Daft Punk's 'Homework' when I wrote this. The pace of that album's really interesting, because it's sort of slow when you compare it to a lot of other dance music. I wanted to use that sort of tempo. You get this sleazy disco feel... I think it works really well.

‘Man Of Simple Pleasures’: It's about a guy who just wants to go fishing. Don't give him any of this other shit. Give him a bottle of whiskey and a fishing rod and that's it, he’s good. I'm not really a fisherman, but I totally get it. It's a primal thing, just you and nature. Technology's amazing, and I use it and I'm right there with it, but I just hate the thought of it taking over. Without getting too hippie about this shit, if kids grow up without being able to fuck it all off and run around on the street kicking a football, it'll be weird. Nerds are great, but they can't take over, man, d’you know what I mean? The computer heads can't take over. Not yet.

‘Switchblade Smiles’: (Filmmaker Alejandro) Jodorowsky was gettin' loads of shit because his films are quite violent, and he was like, 'look, don't blame me, there's violence everywhere’. That stuck with me. I just wanted to capture the sound of violence, to see what that'd sound like on tape. It's not meant to be fuckin' dark, it's just that energy… it's the adrenaline when you're in the middle of a fight.

‘Neon Noon’: Because this album takes you everywhere, you need a landing bay. This track's got a feeling like you're in a space pod, and you're just floatin' 'round space, and then it slowly brings you back down to earth and lands. Then you can open the capsule, take a deep breath and get on with your day. It's such a wonderful ending.

‘Velociraptor’ is out now.