Last month the Hilltop Hoods released their special recording project, ‘Drinking From The Sun, Walking Under Stars Restrung’: a project that tied together two of the Hoods previous albums, ‘Walking Under Stars’ and ‘Drinking From The Sun’.
Although recorded two years apart, a selection of songs from each album were re-recorded, remixed and restructured with the 32-piece Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the 20-piece Adelaide Chamber Singers Choir. The album features six songs from the two ARIA #1, double platinum albums as well as seven new tracks including their new single ‘Higher’, released at the end of 2015.
According to MC Suffa, deciding what to include from both albums and what not to include on the 19-track 'Restrung' album wasn’t as hard as you might think. “We kind of went with the singles and the title tracks and then whatever space was left we threw in the songs we thought would lend themselves to the orchestral arrangement the most, so that was easy,” he says.
What was harder was trying to fit and connect all those tracks together on one album. “We always spend a lot of time on the order of everything to make it sort of cohesive; especially with this one… So we were really conscious about trying to make it a cohesive album that flowed nicely.”
This is not the first time Hilltop Hoods have ventured down the restrung path. “We did this back when we did ‘The Hard Road Restrung’ [in 2007] and it was such a great process and working with an orchestra and just having that opportunity was amazing. So I guess we’ve kind of gone back for seconds,” Suffa says.
“After we recorded ‘The Hard Road Restrung’ there was so much that we would’ve done differently and we were able to take that and use it on this project. ‘The Hard Road Restrung’ was great for this process because we were able to take those tools and use it to put this together in the way that we really wanted it."
Despite their previous experience of recording with an orchestra, Suffa says it was still a difficult process to master second time around. “It’s not that easy. The mixing process itself, making a 32-piece orchestra and 20-piece chamber choir fit in with the existing song is a challenge.”
But Suffa admits recording ‘Drinking From The Sun, Walking Under Stars Restrung’ was an easier process than if they had recorded an entire new album: simply because there was less pressure on them. “I think the expectation and the pressure is a little less when you do what is essentially a remix project.
“Having said that, we do have a lot of new material on the album as well so sharing that with people is always interesting. But there’s definitely less pressure than coming back with a studio album,” he says.
Although easier, there was still a six-month writing period between Hilltop Hoods and composer Jamie Messenger to work on the arrangements for each track. “We went back and forth with Jamie on the arrangements for about six months. “So initially when we gave him the songs we gave him notes on what direction we’d hope they’d take and he mocked up some drafts and we spent the next six months going back and forth until we were both happy with the end result.”
Hilltop Hoods have a good working relationship with Jamie having worked together in the past. However, Suffa admits the trio can be a lot to handle, sometimes. “We can be annoying. Me in particular, I can be the most annoying because I’m a bit obsessive and so with lots of little things here and there I can probably get on people’s nerves.
"But we get along great with Jamie. We’ve worked with him heaps before, not just on ‘The Hard Road Restrung’. He’s done string arrangements for us in the past on tracks like ‘Chase That Feeling’ and ‘I Love It’. We’ve worked with him for a long time so we have a good working relationship.”
The next step is to take the 'Restrung' album on the road next month. And the Hilltop Hoods will be working closely with each orchestra and chamber choir they collaborate with in each state. “We’re working with the local orchestra in each state, and same with the chamber choir, and we’ll have Plutonic [Lab]: we’ll have our drummer with us. So all up on stage it’ll be 60 people; it’s pretty exciting. I’m excited about doing it. I’m also intimidated as fuck,” Suffa says.
Working with a different orchestra and choir for each show sounds like a large workload, but Suffa explains that working with such professionals gives them no doubts about the live shows. “It’s up to us to make sure that the show is fail safe and work out how we’re queuing tracks and stuff like that so that’s up to us.
“The rest, for these professional orchestras, is a walk in the park. They sight read and they get it straight away so I’m not worried about them at all.”
Another artist who'll join them on stage will be London-born, rural Ireland-raised vocalist Maverick Sabre. “He’s just an amazing vocalist so I can’t wait for people to see him perform on the tour. He worked with us on ‘Won’t Let You Down’ and ‘Live And Let Go’… We’ve hooked up with him and had a couple of quiet drinks before so he’s one of us and we’re going to have a ball with him on the tour.”
After the release of ‘Drinking From The Sun, Walking Under Stars Restrung’ and the tour to follow, Hilltop Hoods will be taking it easy for a while focusing on their personal lives and families. “I’m having a baby in July and that’s all I want to do; I want to hang out with my baby, that’s all. We’ve been touring and recording for five years straight so we need a little break,” Suffa says.
“I hope that people get [the album] and they like the added bonus of having the chamber choir mixed in there as well. I hope that people like it for what it is. It’s an experiment and we think it works and I hope people feel the same way.”
‘Drinking From The Sun, Walking Under Stars Restrung’ is available now.
Hilltop Hoods Tour Dates
Sat 2 Apr - Allphones Areana (Sydney)Fri 8 Apr - Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Sat 16 Apr - Adelaide Entertainment Centre
Sat 23 Apr - Rod Laver Arena (Melbourne)
Sat 30 - Perth Arena
