Name: L.A.B.
Members: Brad Kora, Stuart Kora, Joel Shadbolt, Ara Adams-Tamatea,   Miharo Gregory
Interviewee: Joel Shadbolt,
Nationality: New Zealand
Occupation: Lead singer, guitarist
Current release: L.A.B.- In Dub (by Paolo Baldini DubFiles) is out via Echobeach.

If you enjoyed this interview with L.A.B., visit the band on Instagram, and Facebook for more information.  European customers can order the vinyl at HHV.



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

For me, it’s not so much creating, but it’s more just about playing music and jamming.

Music has been a huge part of my life since I was young, my father was a musician and mum is still my biggest supporter to this day.

I’m happy if I can spend all day with a guitar in my hands, it’s really the only thing I know how to do!
 
For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

Our way of creating music always comes from us getting together in the studio jamming ideas. Sometimes different members of the band will come in with a riff, some lyrics, a bassline, and we’ll build from there.

However, most of the time, the magic comes from all of us just sitting in the same room jamming. Some of the best songs we’ve written have been smashed out in a day in the studio.
 
Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

For us it’s really important to have no distractions from the outside world when we’re in the studio. So when we’re there, we’re locked in. We all sleep, eat, jam and record for that week.

We all have our own things that we like to do while we recording to help keep us sane too. Brad, our drummer, runs a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gym, so often there’ll be half of us in one room mixing, and a few of the boys rolling in the other!
 
What do you start with? How difficult is that first line of text, the first note?

For us, no one song is the same, we try to take each song as they come. Sometimes we’ll have lyrics completely finished, and will write to them, other times we’ll have a killer instrumental, and try to fit the lyrics to it.

We’ll have lyrics for one song end up fitting better on another - there’s definitely no one set way we write.

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control over the process or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?
 
We’re definitely all about following the track and where it takes us. So many times in studio we’ll have one idea about what we want to do, and what we want to have happen, and the complete opposite will happen. For us, it’s about trusting the process and going on the journey.

A track like ‘Why Oh Why’ was the last song we wrote for our fourth album, and we wrote and recorded it in a day. It’s something that we weren’t trying to do, but it came to us fully formed. It’s just about trusting the process!



Especially in the digital age, the writing and production process tends towards the infinite. What marks the end of the process? How do you finish a work?

For us, we like to do all of our recording at one studio, Surgery Studios in Wellington. It’s an incredible space, and is one where we’ve recorded all of our albums so far. It’s also super busy!

We try and get in there for as long as possible, but often, the deadlines end up being dependent on how long we can spend in the studio. Which is great, otherwise some albums would never get finished!
 
Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practise?
 
Every time we finish a track, we all take it away with us and spend as much time at home ourselves with the tracks. Trying to listen in different environments, get feedback from our family and close friends, anything we can to try and look at the tracks in a different light.

If everyone is happy, then we know we’ve got a good one.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

We’ve always been super lucky with each album we’ve released in terms of being able to stay busy. With every album release we’re doing interviews, and trying to promote the album as much as we can. After almost every album release, we’ve been straight back on the road playing shows straight away, which is a great way to see if the album is connecting with people.

We’ve always been able to take our music to the people after we’ve released it, which is always one of the biggest buzzes you can get.
 
Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?
 
For me, music has that incredible unknown quality to it. There’s always something about a track, a riff, a chorus, just any part of a song, that when you hear it, you just know it’s magic. You can’t describe why, or what in particular, but it just hits you in a way nothing else does.

Music has an amazing effect like that, and it’s something that I’ve had all through my life. It’s a buzz that you can’t get anywhere else, and to be able to think that we can give people that feeling, even in a small way, it’s incredible.