The first of March brought us the brand-new album from indie stalwart Tim Steward and his band We All Want To, their fourth studio record entitled 'On The Dots'.
“It's been finished mixing for about two months now and finally we're able to get that distance from it and enjoy it, rather than constantly thinking about all the various technical aspects,” Tim says.
“You get so intense; you're overthinking every little thing and listening really analytically and critically, and not about enjoying the song.”
'On The Dots' is an album that's been in the works for the past four years or so, with all the songs written between 2015-18, between Tim and bandmate Skye Staniford. With Skye locking herself away in a caravan on the NSW south coast to write, Tim accomplished much of his work in London courtesy of the Grant McLennan Fellowship.
“It was funny because I set myself the goal of writing a song a day for a month, writing and recording a demo a day. After about three days I was like 'oh my God I can't do this. I'm all out of ideas. What am I going to do?',” he says of his time in London.
“Then basically I had to force it through; I had to think about what I wanted to do. I had very little inspiration coming in and I had to open myself up really wide to any inspiration that comes in, and luckily I was able to do that. I was able to walk down the street and look at things, absorb them and bring them into my writing. I got on a real kick with it and by the end I was almost back to writing a song a day.”
Recording of 'On The Dots' also took place over a protracted period of time, with Tim and the band employing the services of a number of local Brisbane studios, musicians and engineers to compile and finesse the final product.
“We did a big session recording the drums and bass for a week in 2017 and we had to fight around doing tonnes of sessions around town with different engineers trying to get all the guitars and vocals and everything else done,” Tim says.
“Just the mechanics of running a five-piece band and everyone's in and out of town, studio availability is always up and down; so it took for what seemed like forever, even though it was just over a year. So in the grand scheme of things it's not too bad.”
'On The Dots' also features the 'new' line-up for We All Want To, with Scott Mercer and Arron Bool taking up permanent residency with the group. For Tim – who is one of two main songwriters in the band along with Skye – having bandmates who he can trust and rely upon is of utmost importance, leaving him able to focus solely on songwriting rather than managing band affairs.
“Honestly, when you've got a band and you're assessing your bandmates' work, if they're really nice people and don't give you any static and they bring great parts to the band, that's the best bandmate you could ever have,” he says.
“These guys, you don't have to worry about what they're going to play, you know they're going to rock up on the day and play something awesome. They're guys who have been around the band that long they just know how to do it and not muck around. It makes life easy for the rest of us; we don't have to worry about that side of the band.”
We All Want To will launch 'On The Dots' officially with live shows in Brisbane, Ipswich and Nambour. After so long engaged in writing and recording the album, Tim says it's about time We All Want To played live once again. “We didn't play last year at all because we were focussed on making the record,” he says.
“So it's time to reap the rewards a little bit, get up onstage and have some fun; just enjoy the songs and share them around a bit.”
'On The Dots' is available now.
We All Want To Tour 2019
Fri 15 Mar - Black Bear Lodge (Brisbane)Sat 16 Mar - Goleby's Basement (Ipswich)
Sun 17 Mar - Bison Bar (Nambour)
Sun 5 May - Stones Corner Festival (Brisbane)
