Interviews About Albums: Coilguns - Odd Love (2024)

In this new interview, we sat down with the Swiss Post-Hardcore/Noise Rock band Coilguns to ask questions about their album, "Odd Love". Here you can listen/buy the album.

1. What can you say about this new album "Odd Love"?

Luc: It’s a new version of a Coilguns album. From the songwriting, the gear, and the ways to create the new material to the recording and mixing, the whole process of making Odd Love was way different from everything we’ve done so far. We felt that we did the most of our DIY approach. We needed to move on and explore new things. Jona took the time to write most of the songs, all alone in his apartment during COVID; he then sent me the guitar tracks, and I started to work on my drum parts on my own. I had to learn how to use basic recording gear since I was used to just jamming riffs in the practice room. We then went to a proper studio, Ocean Sound Recording in Giske, Norway, which was an incredible experience on its own, flew in a proper recording engineer, and spent three weeks recording all the parts. We also gave away the task of mixing the album to someone new with whom we had never worked before, quite a big step for us.

Kevin: I think it’ll be surprising for people who already know the band but in a great way. The Coilguns DNA is absolutely here, but it takes many different shapes on this album, and some of those are new to the band.

2. What is the meaning of the CD name?

Louis: Odd Love is a way to summarize our relationship with music in itself, the overall music business, and our band life. We're amazed d how long this band has lasted so far and the importance it has taken in our lives, knowing how randomly it started. Our music has always been a sane yet intense way to process all the light and deep things we were going through in our personal lives. Oddness is our normality and love is our motor to achieve it. It took us a long time to fit somewhere in a scene since we never believed and cared so much about scenes. Our drive was to get on stage and tear it down, and we found out pretty quickly that it would be hard to turn this energy into a business plan. Through the years we tried to cherish this strangeness while adapting to this gigantic chaos that is music today. This has for instance seen us start our own label and create most of our tools from scratch. We've obviously learned a lot together, and this whole process has taught us to love ourselves for what we are: a noisy odd band from a tidy watchmaking city.

3. Which one is the composer of the CD?

Jona: I composed much of Odd Love at home during the first two months of the Spring 2020 COVID lockdown. I remember setting up my home studio just a couple of weeks before everything shut down. The starting point for this record was really about going back to where Coilguns began with me writing songs and then bringing them to the others to arrange together. I prepared 14 demos and shared them with Luc, Louis, and Kevin. We worked on the songs collaboratively but took a different approach this time. We let the tracks sit for weeks or even months before revisiting them, giving space for our perspectives on the music to evolve. This process forced us to dive into levels of detail we never had time to explore before. We had decided to break all of our usual patterns. We knew we were closing one chapter and moving into a new era.

4. If you had to pick one song, which one would you pick?

Kevin: It’s hard to pick! The Wind to Wash the Pain is one that stands out because of the theme and emotions. But I think I’ll go with Bandwagoning because it’s the first one that we rehearsed, the first one that we recorded, and in a way, for me, the first song that I could envision as a part of this album. Also, it’s a super fun song to play, and it encompasses so many different vibes.

Luc: The Wind to Wash the Pain. The song definitely stands out amazingly on its own, but the lyrics resonate on a significant personal level. They really resonated with me lately while I’ve been going through rough times and facing the death of loved ones.

5. Are there some lyrics that you'd love to share?

Kevin: I really like Louis’ lyrics overall on this album. If you compare it to older things he wrote for Coilguns, I think this time it’s a bit easier to know what he means, and I love how the lyrics connect with the music of each song.

Luc: “This is the same all over again, waiting for the wind to wash the pain.” Again, because of how it affected me it also helped me deal with certain rough times. I hear them as a soothing message of resilience.

7. Which inspirations have been important for this album? Like musically or friends, family, someone you'd love to thank especially?

Kevin: I’d thank Scott Evans, who engineered this record. His work ethic is incredible, and he was the best mix between a fly on the wall, an encouraging voice, and a critical listener. He pushed us when we needed it and let us do our thing when we had to. And above all, he knew when to go in either direction. This record would have been different in so many ways if anyone else had engineered it.

Luc: I personally went back and listened to a lot of big names in rock or even hardcore/metal, just to get the feel of what it is or how to write parts in hits or really anthemic songs. I’m not sure it helped that much in the end. The inspiration really came when I just worked on Jona’s riffs. Like always, I guess :)