Grouplove Singer Christian Zucconi Explains the Influences and Creation of ‘Big Mess’

Matt Matasci

For their third full-length, Los Angeles indie rock band Grouplove took a slightly different approach to the creative process. With a little more time on their hands and some big changes, like the birth of co-vocalists Hannah Hooper and Christian Zucconi’s daughter, the results display an evolution for the band. Despite the changes, “Big Mess” is still very much a Grouplove record, filled with the kind of energy and catchiness the characterized the band’s first two LPs. Zucconi spoke with Entertainment Voice about the new record and the details of their upcoming tour.

How much did Hannah’s pregnancy affect the writing of “Big Mess”?

It wasn’t a conscious thing we did; it just came subconsciously through the music and the lyrics. It’s kind of how we always write. So whatever the underlying theme of our life, at the time for us it was coming off of a tour, feeling strange trying to get to know ourselves again, having a baby. All those themes seep into the music, so it definitely played a big role but to what extent I’m not really sure.

So creative process of this album wasn’t too different from your previous records?

Well we always have this chaotic way of writing; it’s always on the brink of falling apart. Not like we’re winging it, but we just trust our instincts. The songs are always great to us and we don’t want to over-think them. This one was a little different than the others because we had two years off to write it. That’s a lot more time, a lot more reflection and we wrote a lot more songs. We could really focus on the ones, out of 40-50 on the list; focus more on the ones we wanted to. Where before, we wrote a lot of songs but didn’t sit with them long enough to pick the ones we definitely wanted or definitely didn’t have to have on the album.

What played into the decision to bring on Phil Ek to help produce some of the album?

Being that this was our third album and had some time off to record it, we thought it’d be awesome to challenge ourselves and take a risk and go outside of our box and work with someone new. We had a short list of producers we’d want to work with and he was always on it. We just reached out to him and he was super down, he loved the songs, which is great to hear because sometimes when you reach out to these dudes, you don’t know what they are like or if they are going to hate your music. The fact that he was super game and it was in Seattle was like a no-brainer for us. It was nice to get out of LA for the first time and work on some songs. We all love it in the Pacific Northwest, it was cold, kind of moody weather, the perfect place to stay inside and record. It was just fucking awesome, Phil’s a really dope dude.

Can you hear the influence of Ek in the songs he produced versus those with Rabin?

I don’t know if people would be able to tell, but I could, being in the rooms with them. Though I think the whole thing sounds cohesive. That was the biggest thing; we didn’t want it to sound like two different people. Phil took on the songs that are more straight-up rock, in the room recording together. He’s great at creating this live, beautiful sound in the moment. Ryan’s more about the eclectic, electronic elements of songs. That is where he shines. So I think each group of songs played to their core strengths.

How has parenthood had an effect on your life as professional musicians?

It’s just been a beautiful experience, kind of a surreal, magical experience. Just like, it’s hard to understand how it happens. It’s miracle we can create life, Hannah produced a baby out of her body, it’s insane. It’s just super-surreal. I never knew… I had friends and my older brother had kids and I appreciated it, but until you actually have your own, you’re like “Holy shit, I totally, totally see where you’ve been.” It’s just a crazy thing that only people in the club can know. But it’s been awesome, she’s such a happy, friendly, cool baby so having her around the band is great, she instills a really awesome vibe and everyone’s just infatuated with her because she’s this new member of the group. But we haven’t been on the bus with her, we’ve been doing one-offs and flying around the country doing stuff but we’re going to be in the bus starting next week for our US tour. 14 of us crammed in there, so that will be interesting to see how she adapts to the bus lifestyle.

How do you prepare for bringing a baby on the intense experience of a tour?

Yeah, we’ll have a lot of gear with us. That’s for sure. So much more stuff than you think, there’s so many things. We have a really awesome nanny who takes care of Willa while we are doing shows, and she’s going to be on tour with us. That’s going to be a huge asset to have; they love each other so that’s really rad. So I think that’s the most important, you need someone who has a really strong connection with the baby and they’ve known each other now for 8 months. We are really lucky that we find her. But yeah, you can’t really prepare you just have to go for it man, and see what happens. We’re not not taking her, so we just have to adjust and she’s very mild-mannered. I think she’s going to handle it really well, she’s born to be on the road.

Grouplove‘s U.S. tour kicks off Oct. 5 and comes to LA’s Hollywood Palladium Oct. 7 and NY’s Hammerstein Ballroom Nov. 5