With The McClymonts releasing their fourth album and kicking off a national tour on the same day, it will make for a crazy few months, says Sam McClymont. Called Here’s To You & I, it has been more than two years since the band's last release, “so [we are] definitely overdue for a new album and new songs.”
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When one third of the trio, Brooke, fell pregnant in 2012, it soon came time to step out of the music machine’s carnival for a period of self-nurturing and career reflection.
“It got to the point at the start of last year where we needed to start slowing down a bit, so Brooke could enjoy her little girl and we could all just stop and kind of just regroup. And even just take that moment to look back over the past seven years of touring and making albums,” Sam says. “We’d never really just stopped and gone ‘Wow, look what we’ve been able to do and achieve' and enjoy those moments, because we were constantly moving onto the next thing.”
The break also allowed the eight-time Golden Guitar award winners a chance to unwind and find some much needed equilibrium.
“You can really hear that come through the music. It’s so much more open and honest and goes through so many emotions because we had time to live a little, and go through all those things that people do,” Sam says. “We really loved the songs we came up with for this new album because they just felt so much more raw and real, because we all literally had time to go get some balance in our lives and go experience all these different phases.”
It's the first album they have recorded in Australia and although there were some concern around being out of the spotlight, Sam says that the band’s fans are the most supportive any one can ask for.
“We hope that they are still wanting to hear the new music. And so far from our Facebook page and all that, we’re having such good responses from the two singles we’ve had out [Going Under (Didn’t Have to) and Here’s to You & I].
“But yeah, you’ve always got those bit of butterflies in your tummy not knowing how an album’s going to do. You kind of need those first few weeks to pass and see if it has gone alright,” she says.
Having won an ARIA award for each of their past two efforts, perhaps there is room for a little bit of quiet confidence.
“Everything was meant to be and it all just aligned, so we could make this record the way we have,” she says.
“We didn’t feel so rushed with this album. Sometimes, after you release that first album, you’ve got to get back in the studio to start that next one. With this one we just went, ‘You know what, let’s just write for a year and a half and see what we come up with.”
With the album released July 4, it all leads up to one big return to the spotlight - one which the band are looking forward to celebrating here in Canberra.
“It never fails to impress. Everyone comes out and they’re all ready to have a good time,” Sam says. “We feel very loved in Canberra. And it’s going to be good. At least the record will have been out for a good five or six weeks before then, so people have had a chance to listen to the songs and get into the songs we’re going to be playing.”
THE MCCLYMONTS
Where: Southern Cross Club
When: Friday 15 August
Tickets: Dinner and show $76 (6:30pm); show only $40 – 8:30pm. Phone: (02) 6283 7288
