Bootleg Rascal – Artist To Artist Interview – Summer Thieves
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BR: Hey lads! We’ve been living under a rock lately, isn’t New Zealand just another part of Australia?
ST: Oh really? How’s Patrick?
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Can we drive to New Zealand via bridge yet?
Not yet, but if you try, you will be on either a stairway to heaven or a highway to hell.
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The live music industry has copped it hard lately. Do you often find yourself in need of bringing emotional support sheep on tour?
We have a full government relief program that is letting us put on shows only to audiences of sheep until people can gather again.
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Have you ever sold out a show in Middle Earth?
We do not speak about that…
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Along with shoes and sunscreen, what are some things we shouldn’t bother bringing with us to NZ?
Don’t bring anything but an overnight bag, otherwise you’ll likely be deported within 24hrs.
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We heard through the grapevine that it’s cheaper to fly to Australia than spend a weekend in Queenstown. What’s the novelty we’re missing out on?
It’s definitely worth the extra money to not be stuck in Oz.
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BOOTLEG RASCAL – ‘SLOPPY SECONDS’ ALBUM WALKTHROUGH
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Albo
The man, the myth, the future leader of Australia. What an honour to have such a legend introduce our album. Please don’t vote ScoMo at the next election.
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With You (Bad Boys Remix)
We watch a lot of cops on the road, and we’ve seen Bad Boys 1 & 2 at least 100 times!! We always wanted to give one of our songs the cheap reggae sound that you hear in the theme. So, we found the worst sound guitar tones and keys we could find and got to work. What we ended with was this beautiful piece of art that sounds like its straight out of Bad Boys 2.5.
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Holding On 2.0
This was a song that we originally released on the ‘Asleep In The Machine’ album, and we always thought that it slipped under the radar a bit. We felt that there was room to do a new version of the song with a bit more of a stronger hip-hop feel to it. We started by laying down a straightforward boom bap kind of beat and then built the song up around that. We found some cool synth sounds that you can hear in the background that move around the song and add some different flavours to it too.
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Therapy (ft. Citizen Kay and MAXINE)
This is an idea that we have had for a while now. We went on a writing trip in the Hunter Valley, and this is one of the songs that came from that but didn’t get put on any releases straight away. We were kind of stuck with it for a while, and during lockdown we had another crack at it adding some cool features from MAXINE. The song takes some inspiration from being locked up in lockdown and how that can affect your mental health.
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Sharks (Remix En Español)
Sharks is one of the first songs that we wrote as band even before Carlos was the singer. We were toying with the idea of recording some songs with more of a Spanish influence, especially because Carlos speaks Spanish fluently. Sharks seemed to lend itself to this semi mariachi version of the song. We were listening to heaps of Bamboleo during the recording process, so we hope that some of that rubbed off on this new version of ‘Sharks’.
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All About You (ft. Saint Lane)
I guess you could say this song is our ode to noughties corny love songs! It’s got that R&B feel that we all know and love. It’s a song that we had floating around for a while and kept working on we eventually got our mate saint lane to do a feature on it and really thought that it took it up a level. It’s cheesy, corny and we love it.
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Asleep In The Machine (Unplugged)
With some of these songs it was just really nice to strip it all back and let the song speak for itself. I think with this one we wanted to do the most stripped back version we thought we could get away with. Especially because the original version of the song has so many elements and layers to it, it was nice to bring it all back down to just guitar and vocals. We really love the way that the true essence of the song still shines through even in this barebones rendition.
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Overflow (ft. Saint Lane)
‘Overflow’ was literally the first track that Bootleg ever recorded and is one that has really stood the test of time. For a long time, we have wanted to record a version of it with Carlos’ voice on it, do a version that’s a bit more beefed up in the productions side and make it sound more in line with how our sound has changed over the years and we really think that comes through.
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Bones n Bricks (Unplugged)
We took a very simple approach to this song; we actually did a very similar version to this that we filmed and put up on YouTube. We always wanted to record it, and when we got the opportunity, it was awesome to go back to that alternate version and get it
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PRESS RELEASE
One of Australia’s most eclectic artists Bootleg Rascal have today revealed their new conceptual album SLOPPY SECONDS – produced entirely by the band themselves.
Featuring 2021 singles ‘All About You’ ft. Saint Lane’ and ‘Therapy’ ft. Citizen Kay & MAXINE; and past discography reimagined, the record is a diversified offering of hip-hop, indie-rock, reggae and electronica. Including reworked renditions of fan favourites such as ‘Asleep In The Machine’ and ‘Overflow’, their modern song writing skilfully blends the genres of their foundation, shining a light on certain special projects that have always been fervently imperative to the group’s enduring career.
“When the world stopped, I started to really think about projects I’ve always wanted to do but never had enough time for. One thing on the bucket list was to have made a record which embraced the whole ‘something old, new, borrowed’ concept,” explains guitarist Jimmy Young.
In celebration of the release, Bootleg Rascal will embark on a three-date New Zealand tour, with performances scheduled in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland for February 2022. Tickets are on sale now HERE
Singles off SLOPPY SECONDS have seen widespread support from the likes of Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and via key press outlets including NME, Pilerats, Purple Sneakers, AUD$, Tone Deaf, Music Feeds, The Music, The AU Review and AAA Backstage. The music video for ‘All About You’ was added to rotation on Juice TV (NZ).
The tracks have also been spun on triple j, Double J, ABC Radio Australia, 4ZZZ, RTR FM, Tilos Radio (HUN) and CRI Easy FM (CHI), and added to rotation on Coles Radio, 2ONE The Edge Radio, Radio Metro, SYN FM, 2XX FM, King Island Radio, Hochschulradio Düsseldorf (DEU), Sun FM (NZ), Crescendo Radio (NZ), The Station (NZ) and KICK (NZ).The release of new material has also seen the band hit their highest ever streaming numbers, with over 371.2k monthly listeners on Spotify (up from 200k in late-June).
Since Bootleg Rascal’s mid-2013 inception, the group have frequently released critically-praised and fan-adored music that has yielded them a career spanning close to ten years.
Multiple tracks and videos have been supported by MTV, Rage, The Line of Best Fit, Clash Magazine, NME, Spotify, Apple Music and added to high rotation on Australia’s largest youth radio station triple j.
They’re a mainstay on the Australian and New Zealand live scene, and have sold-out multiple shows in France, UK, Netherlands, Germany, USA, New Zealand and Australia.