It’s been five years since Miami Horror released their debut album, ‘Illumination’, and after spending a busy, three years living and recording in Los Angeles, Miami Horror have returned with their new album, ‘All Possible Futures’.
The band’s sophomore album has been a long time coming, but over the time the band’s sound has grown and matured. Frontman Ben Plant says the new album is the result of blending the feel of their original album with some new and experimental sounds. “I think we really tried to achieve a balance between what we really wanted and doing what you would expect from the first album.
“We initially started with a lot of experimentation with different genres and sounds to what we normally would and then kind of tied it all together with the sound of the original album.”
With the band confident they had their production techniques sorted after recording their first album, Ben says the boys had more of a chance to write from a deeper, personal perspective with 'All Possible Futures'. “We focused a lot on songwriting, which we didn't really focus on so much in the first album. That was more about production and genre, but this time we felt that we already had that down pat and we focused more on writing from a personal point.”
The band has already given the nation its first taste of the new album with the first single, 'Love Like Mine', getting regular airplay on Triple J, and Ben says the response from listeners has been nothing but positive. “It's been all good news so far. They've played it for four weeks on high rotation so it's pretty good for us. The rest of the world seems to be reacting well too, and I haven't seen anything bad.”
The new album draws plenty of inspiration from LA's laidback lifestyle, and Ben says it's a place he's always been fascinated with from a young age. “We chose LA because it's a very original city. Even compared with a lot of places in Europe – they all have their own thing about them but they're quite similar in the way that they're built and the weather and the way that they're run. I guess LA has its own, strange thing that I've always been attracted to from childhood.”
As well as having a unique, laidback vibe, LA also happens to have some of the best recording studios in the world. But interestingly enough, the band chose to record the new album from the comfort of their own, home studio. The quality of production is a testament to Ben’s skills behind the desk, and he says it's no different to how they would have done it back home in Australia. “We recorded at home in LA and we would have recorded at home in Australia too. It's more so that we're lucky enough to be in the position that we can do it wherever we want. We found the place really interesting and we rented a house and had a studio in there.”
Although Miami Horror have never officially released any music in the United States, the band is starting to develop a devoted American fan base. “We had already toured America maybe two or three times before. Once DJing and twice with the band. Considering we never really officially released anything here and it was all just word of mouth we got a really good reaction,” Ben says.
Most of the band members also have solo projects they've been busy working on while living in LA. “Josh has always been interested in a more rockier style of music, so All The Colour was his outlet for that. Wonder Wonder was this idea that Aaron and I had where we went for more of a psychedelic, '60s-inspired style.
“We weren't sure if that music would fit Miami Horror, so we created that outlet to do that and we wanted to get that out of the system before we went on to the Miami Horror record.”
Now that 'All Possible Futures' has been recorded, Ben says the band would like to be based back in Australia. But after living overseas for so long, they no longer have anywhere to stay in Australia.
For the time being, it looks like LA will be home to the band, but in the near future the band will be spending the next couple of years touring the world to promote 'All Possible Futures'. “We're probably going to be touring for the next two years so there won't be much down time. I guess it will be spread between LA and Australia, but the thing with LA is we have a house, so that's kind of become home for the moment whereas every time we go to Australia we have to find somewhere to stay,” Ben says.
For any Australian fans that are worried Miami Horror will never come home, Ben says he has no preference over Melbourne or LA. Rather, he simply enjoys being settled in the one place. “Sometimes it's not about what place you want to be in, it’s more about not moving to another place. It's just nice to stay somewhere for a while so I guess once we're back in Oz we probably won't want to fly back to LA soon.”
'All Possible Futures' is out now.
