Indie-rock lifer Corin Tucker talks new album, DeLuna Fest

Q: I like new album. The press release says it harkens back to the “riot grrrl” sound. Do you agree with that?

A: I think that may be talking more about some of the lyrics.

In terms of the sound of the record, we kind of wanted to make a dancier record than the last album we made. We noticed that when people came to our shows, they really wanted to move around and they were dancing during the acoustic songs. We thought, ‘huh. OK, maybe we should have written some things that were a little more upbeat.”

So we made an effort with this record to write things so people could get out and dance to it.

Q: When you say “we,” is it a collaborative process or do you bring the songs to the band?

A: It’s definitely collaborative. For this record, it was much more collaborative than the last one.

I usually bring some things, parts of the song in, like a guitar line and maybe a vocal idea. And then we work with the rest of the band to build on that idea and turn them into different things.

Q: How long did you rehearse and get everything figured out before you recorded it?

A: We really worked on it for about a year. We went out and toured in 2010. Then, at the end of 2010, we started writing.

In 2011, we really wrote that whole year and started recording in August of 2011. We didn’t finish this record until May. So we took our time for sure.

Q: This one doesn’t sound as labored over as last one. The last one was a little lusher. This one sounds a lot looser, but it took nine months to make a record that sounded loose. Was it a live in the studio, or were there a lot of overdubs?

A: We kind of pieced it together. That’s kind of how this band has worked, because we all have a lot going on. Most of us have families and other bands.

We mostly work at (band member) Seth (Lorinczi’s) house, where his recording studio is. So we’ll get a chunk of time to work at Seth’s house and we worked on a few of the songs there. And Seth loves to labor over things on his computer and add weird sounds and do all kinds of cool things to do it.

We came back for another session in the winter of 2012. I think that we have a looseness of jamming as a band, which is really fun, but we did take our time recording things and sometimes even re-recording things until we really got what we wanted.

Q: You’re doing a month on this tour. How long does a month feel if you’re on the road?

A: I haven’t done a month in a really long time. So I don’t know, but it will be kind of interesting, with what it’s like now with my life and my age. I think we’ll be really busy.

There aren’t really any days off. We’ll be just driving across the country. But I think we all really enjoy playing together and are grateful for this opportunity to play together, so I think it will be fun.

Q: Why haven’t you done much of a tour in the last couple of years?

A: I have two kids. I mostly like to stay home and be a mom to them. But they’re a little bit older now and I think they’re more ready, more independent and in school. It’s just more feasible for me to do a little bit longer of a tour.

Q: Most people I know work a 40-hour-a-week job. What is the life of a musician that can take some time off?

A: Well, I actually have a part-time job. So I do work, I work about 20 hours a week at a regular web-development marketing-type job that I’m really fortunate to have. And that has been just a really nice kind of balance to do that and to be able to do some music.

As I said, we work really slowly with The Corin Tucker Band. The pace is really different. We haven’t made much money. It’s a different situation, but it’s good. It’s about being able to be able with your kids when they’re young. That’s a really important thing to be able to do.

Q: Anything else after this month of touring?

A: I’m not sure right now. I think this tour will be a huge commitment for this band. I’m happy and proud that we’re doing this. I think it’ll be a lot for our lives and it will be an accomplishment.

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