Dublin band Inhaler have released their highly-anticipated debut album ‘It Won’t Always Be Like This’, through Polydor. This swaggering indie rock album is a triumphant debut brimming with exhilarating soundscapes and eloquent lyrical content while showcasing the musical expertise of each member of the band.
I caught up with singer and guitarist Eli Hewson, bassist Robert Keating, guitarist Josh Jenkinson and drummer Ryan McMahon a little while ago to talk about the album, their musical growth and how guidance from producer Antony Genn brought out the best in the band.
There is no denying the depth of musical talent Inhaler possesses. Within ‘It Won’t Always Be Like This’, the listener is invited to delve deep into the album, explore and indulge in the band’s exhilarating sound through engaging and catchy songwriting and compelling musicianship. The beaming faces of the four-piece were enough to express their delight in finally being able to release their debut.
Eli: “Yeah it’s been a long time coming, it feels it was like 10 years in the making to be honest because we’ve been writing songs since we were teenagers. I think some of the first songs we wrote made it onto the album so it feels like, definitely, yeah, it’s about time.”
Covid and the lockdowns hit the band hard, considering they were gearing up for a big year ahead in 2020 and everything shut down. However, Inhaler took the time to hone and perfect the album writing five new songs and rethinking how they were going to create this debut album. The result is a cohesive, mature and sonically dense collection of tracks that moves through genres of disco, indie and rock.
Ryan: “The album that we were going to write and then record previously, before the pandemic happened, it was totally different and the songs that were written in the first lockdown that have now made it onto the album have just made it 100% better. So we’re really proud of what we have produced now and we’re also kind of glad that we did actually have all that time off to focus in on it more because if we had just gone in to record it straight after coming off tour, we would have been burned out, we wouldn’t have had the songs fully formed or ready to go. So we’re really happy with how it’s turned out in the end.”
The band pack in a plethora of glorious guitar moments within the album. In fact, the guitar melodies and solo’s have always been an enticing aspect within Inhalers music. The four-piece venture into many styles with the guitar from desert, indie, 80’s rock to psychedelic and more. ‘A Night On The Floor’ displays this spectacularly. A slinky bass, grooves atop funky beats and sultry drum progressions as the band create a sleek tune that subtly pivots around magnificent and expressive psychedelic guitar pines and simmering adornments.
When I enquired about who creates these wonderful guitar arrangements all of the band members gesture to the shying guitar virtuoso himself, Josh Jenkinson.
Robert: “ I think all the bands we’ve ever loved as a group have always played guitar and played it in different ways and in great ways and worse ways but usually always have a good time.”
Eli: “Yeah, and we just have so many different influences, so many different favourite guitar players. We love The Smiths, we love Johnny Marr, we love The Stone Roses, The Strokes. Pixies, these are all the best guitar bands, and that’s what inspired us to be in a band in the first place. We can’t help want to put that feeling in our music, and I also feel like there aint a great amount of that type of music around right now so it’s nice to be able to do that.”
Ryan: “And as kids, we grew up loving guitar music as well and so that was the first thing that we kind of gravitate towards one another over, was just the love for that. Not a lot of kids our age when we were 12 or 13 were really into [ it ] so we became friends.”
The rhythm section is another factor that sets the band apart especially within ‘Who’s Your Money On’. The intricate disco rhythms create a dazzling dance-infused tempo that fluctuates and chops through the shimmering disco ball synths, lifting the songs entire dynamic.
Josh: “That was, all chopped up on the sample pad, we made that song as a dance track, and then put actual instruments on it instead which was kind of cool.”
Eli: “We did it in a way where I think it was a recording of a song that we were trying to form a year and a half ago and towards the end of the album process, we were seeing, is there anything that we could dig up to give it a chance to be on the album. Our producer was like, oh yeah we’ve got that, that one kind of jam that we did a while ago on November 16 at 4pm or whatever. We were like, Okay, that’s gonna be really good. Then he took it and he cut up all the different instrument parts and put them on a keyboard and we started playing it like that and it gave it this weird stagnated feel, and it feels really choppy, and that’s actually how we wrote that one and [gave] it’s unique rhythm feel. That was a fun one to make and probably one of the most gratifying again.”
The band fill out their tracks with synths and experiment with different sounds on the album to create a refreshing and rich body of work. This resulted in multiple versions of each of the songs as they figured out what way each song would sound best.
All: “Yeah too many”
Ryan: “They’re locked in a vault, never to be reopened”
Robert: “ There’s always at least 10 demos for every song.”
Ryan: “ ‘ Cheer Up Baby’ is a song that’s only three and a half minutes long or something but it took us about three and a half years to get it right and what’s strange is how the final version of the song turned out pretty similar to the first version we ever did of it. That was a song that, we want to, I suppose, take our time with a little bit because it was the first song that our fans had really ever fallen in love with. So it was really important for us that we got it sounding and feeling the best that it possibly could. With songs like ‘It Won’t Always Be Like This’ its the same story, that was one of the first songs that we ever wrote and was our first single as well – what other songs are there that just have so many different formations?”
Josh: ‘‘A Night On The Floor’,
Ryan: “ ‘A Night On The Floor’, yeah. ‘My King Will Be Kind’ yeah, there’s so many different versions of them that, maybe 20 years from now we’ll be curious to hear, but right now, I’m really enjoying the album and how it sounds now in its finished form. Finally”
I wondered if they felt like they were going crazy listening to multiple versions of the same song.
All: “Yeah.”
Ryan: “ I was on the couch in the studio one day with my head back going, we’re never gonna finish this album.”
The band’s knack with melodies never falters throughout the album. Songs such as ‘When It Breaks’ and ‘Cheer Up Baby’ boast Inhaler’s signature earworm melodies. Interspersed throughout these catchy melodies are powerful, mature and thought-provoking lyrics that leave the listener craving to hear more.
Eli: “ It just flows. Flows like manna”
Josh: “I wish we had the recipe because we’d be able to just do it whenever we want”
Ryan: “Yeah then we would be able to do it with the second record.”
Eli: “I don’t know, we were just really lucky. I think you don’t write songs, I think songs just appear or they don’t appear, and we’re just lucky to have found these songs. I think that the songwriting on the album is really ahead of our age group. We are quite young to be producing songs like this, we’re just really proud of it. But if there’s a recipe, tell me what it is.”
Ryan: “It came to a point where we were so proud of the songs that are now on the album we’ve kind of, just had to slowly detach away from it and put our attention towards writing the second album. All we can do now is hope that people love it as much as we do and that it resonates with as many people as possible. We’re really excited for people to hear them. More importantly, we’re excited to play them live when gigs come back. It’s weird we always tested how good a song was by playing it live. So with a lot of these new songs we had to trust our gut instinct on whether we thought they were good or not and how they would go down live and that was difficult for us to adapt to, but in the end, I think it’s worked”
With lockdowns and the pandemic putting a halt on gigs for a while. The band didn’t have many opportunities to perform with each other. The only opportunity to perform was recording the songs for the album
Josh: “We’ve been rehearsing a lot, recently”
Robert: “yeah only in the last maybe two months. Prior to that we hadn’t really played at all, we weren’t even really seeing each other, “
Josh: “And we didn’t have our instruments, that’s the other thing as well”
Robert: “Yeah that was in the UK so it’s been very strange for us… we just met up together to record and that’s why the album process, it was a weird one because we had to both catch up as friends but also work pretty hard with a lot of focus [and] not much time on our hands.”
Eli: “No time off really either. I think it was interesting being in London because we were really trying not to get corona.“
Josh: “Yeah, that was like the main goal everyday”
Eli: “So we just went from the studio. We walked every day, to and from the studio to our place, and it was just work, work, write, write, write, work, work, work. It was intense, going from like three months of just doing absolutely nothing to all of a sudden just going alright here it is, But I think we were really driven”
Although it might not appear at first, but performing live can be tough on the body. Especially if you haven’t been gigging in a while. I wondered if the band felt that the first few shows back will be a shock to the system
Robert: “It’s gonna hit us like a train. I can tell you that now we will be absolutely fecked”
Ryan: “I’ll happily be fecked after that”
Robert: “I don’t know, if we can’t handle rehearsal in here, it’s gonna be tough to handle full tours. We’re gonna have to look after our bodies and take it seriously, for sure. I think, every band is gonna have to though, because not only have we not been playing together, people are out of shape. Actually, some people are in shape from lockdown”
Eli: “You go one way or the other.”
Robert: ”I think we went the other”.
Inhaler have released a fun video for their single ‘Cheer Up Baby’ where the band are covered in paint and spattering it around. It’s an anthemic and bright tune that is sure to be a pick me up on a dull day and the video subtly mirrors this.
Eli: “ A director called Joe Connor, really great, smart guy from Manchester and I think when we read his brief, we just really enjoyed the visual style that he was going to have. We liked the idea of the paint because it felt quite innocent and positive, it’s not like a dark video, I mean the song’s not dark but we just wanted to have a colourful vibrant thing because that’s what our music sounds like..”
The album is laced in evocative lyrics that ooze uplifting emotion while at the same time embraces a sense of sadness and longing. Lyrics in the aforementioned, ‘Cheer Up Baby’ are a fine example of this, “oh, how to kill these February blues.” …“When I think of all the things, I didn’t do, Oh, I can’t help but blame it on you…..cheer up baby you’re not on your own”. Perfecting lyrical flow and crafting lyrics that can relate to many people all at once isn’t an easy task but the band are doing an impressive job.
Eli: “ The lyrics are just about things that resonate with kids our age because they’re just about experiences, and, there’s this weird period in your life where you’re not an adult, you’re not teenager and you’re in the middle. That’s what most of the songs are about it’s that transitionary period but we wanted to make a really optimistic record because it’s such a horrible time, I don’t think we want to write sad stuff. A lot of it is just about experiences that we’ve had, or our friends have had during this kind of weird transitionary time. I think before COVID happened, the lyrics were maybe a little less serious and they’re more just like fun and kind of teenage stuff. After the pandemic happened it definitely forced us to write about broader subjects and naturally just wrote things that resonated with other kids our age.”
Eli has a distinctive vocal. Throughout the album, he shows he can croon with tenderness like the best of them in ‘Slide Out The Window’ and howl with impressive, swaggered rock bravado when the song demands, such as in the chorus of ‘When It Breaks’.
Eli: “I didn’t even know I was the singer until yesterday.”
Josh: “He considers himself more of a guitar player.”
Eli: “Yeah, literally, I don’t know why I ended up as a singer, but like I am, and I couldn’t sing for ages…I still find it quite hard. I have to force myself into doing it, and really like, find a voice.. because for a long time [ I ] didn’t have one.”
Eli: ”Yeah I definitely do consider myself more of, just a guitar player,”
Robert: “He practised”
Josh: “When we start doing shows again, I think you’ll [Elijah] find it a lot easier being the singer because you’ll be there in the moment.”
Eli: “I definitely enjoy it.”
I wondered what advice the band would give a shy aspiring musician
Eli: “Honestly, the best way to do it is just to throw yourself in the deep end, see how you swim, because that’s what we had to do you. We certainly weren’t ready to go out and play gigs when we did but we did it and I think you learn more in one gig, than you will in 100 rehearsals, it’s just a different animal. The only way to build your confidence is just, get out there and put yourself in front of people and, really just try and figure it out that way”
Ryan: “Comfort zones are dangerous.”
‘It Won’t Always Be Like This’ was recorded with long-term collaborator and producer Antony Genn at London’s Narcissus Studios and the band discussed how vital Genn was with regards to bringing out the best in them.
Ryan: “I think a producer is half the album, you know. We have to come with the songs and play them but the producer is essentially what brings life into the, like, the sonic aspects of the album. We were very lucky with our producer who is not only just a producer for us but also a great friend, Mr. Antony Genn, who’s taught us loads, not only about how to become better musicians or songwriters but also just better people as well, so he’s a very, good coach to have in our camp”
Robert: “it depends on the band too. There’s some bands who probably don’t even need a producer and they just get someone to help them record the album. For us, in a sense he’s part of the band because he really is vocal and helps us find parts of songs that sometimes you wouldn’t be able to find, so it depends. But for us, we think the producer is an important part of making the record for sure.”
Robert: “It’s easy to get caught up…when you’re in a studio, everything sounds good, you forget that you still need to finish a song that people are going to listen to, and you know, the average person isn’t going to care about the four or five keyboards you put on a song. Even though we care about it. So you have to sometimes turn off the fun creative side, and be serious because you can literally, and we’ve done it, where you work for days on something that you end up just going okay, that was a lot of fun but we don’t need any of that stuff. So I guess it’s a balancing act.”
Ryan: “There were certainly periods where we ended up bogged down or overwhelmed during the recording of the album, times where we were not feeling very motivated or anything or the vibe was a bit down. Ant [Antony Genn] was always there to pick us back up and, not only breathe life back into the songs but us whenever we needed it as well. So a lot of what people are hearing on this album, should be credited to him and the hard work that he put into the record as well I think.”
The band compiled their most catchy, genre-bending and boundary-pushing songs to date for this album. They have not compromised on the enjoyment and listening experience either, The order in which each song is placed is precise and creates an energising mood that fluidly flows to the end. The four-piece admitted choosing what tracks made the cut was difficult.
Robert; “Yeah, it was, I think there was some questions we had about some singles that didn’t make it on the record but at the end of the day it was important for us to have the songs that we love as a band and that our fans love but also give way to new songs. We wrote so many good new songs over the lockdown and songs that are kind of the now, as opposed to songs that might not relate to people as much at the moment so we took that into account and made, I think the right decision.”
Eli: “Made it to feel like a gig too. We wanted it to feel like you were at a show when you listened to it”
Inhaler have displayed immense musical and lyrical prowess within ‘It Won’t Always Be Like This’. For a debut, these guys are setting the standard very high. The rich and utterly lush production on the tracks is something to be admired and the dynamic energy within each song is irresistible. Each track warrants its place on the album creating a compelling and thoroughly enjoyable body of work ready for repeat plays.
Stream ‘It Won’t Always Be Like This’ Below
Author: Danu
