Background
In an interview with Tiny Mix Tapes in January 2008, the band's vocalist, Gruff Rhys, stated that Hey Venus! was deliberately conceived as a 'pop' record following a request from the band's new record label Rough Trade:
| “ | ... asked us 'Can't you make one of those pop records like you used to make'. So we looked at the songs we had, because we're always writing. We kind of chose songs that we could play as a band that would be quite simple to record that we thought was some kind of pop music. | ” |
Rhys has also stated that after Love Kraft the band were "kind of thinking of making a loud record" following the "very different atmosphere" at initial shows on the Love Kraft tour, when the group played the "slow" songs from that album. Towards the end of the tour the setlist had become "full of fast songs from back catalogue" and this had an effect as the band entered into the studio for the Hey Venus! sessions: "It's definitely the first time our audience has influenced our music in that sense". Rhys used his second solo album, Candylion, as an outlet for the quiet, acoustic songs that he had written rather than put them forward for inclusion on Hey Venus!:
| “ | We wanted to make a really abrasive, loud record, so I figured I could keep fifteen-minute ballads like "Skylon!" and songs about lions made out of candy for the indulgent solo project. | ” |
Read more about this topic: Hey Venus!
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