Florida five-piece Capstan let us in on some interesting tit-bits from behind-the-scenes of their second full-length, ‘Separate’.
The pandemic allowed us the most time to write we’ve ever had together
In the past, touring and working when we’re home made it difficult to get any real stretch of uninterrupted time to work on new music, but when we were forced off the road last spring, we dedicated ourselves to working on the new record. We’ve never scrapped so many ideas or spent so much time fine-tuning songs as we did with ‘Separate’. We think this record represents our tightest effort yet-no fillers, all bangers.
We camped out on a ranch outside of Austin, TX to record for a month
It was an amazing and immersive experience for us. While we did have internet and power, and heat for the cold December nights, we basically were in an epic barn all day making this record. We cooked for each other and ate under the lean-to, worked out and showered outdoors, and hung out every night after family dinners under the stars. There’s nothing like having your total focus on the music, and the environment there allowed us to do that like never before.
Working with Machine elevated the record
He’s easily the most youthful OG in the industry. He brought so much energy to our entire recording process. He got the best out of our vocal performances, Anthony especially. He helped out a ton on the pre- and post-production, adding elements to the songs that really brought new colour. Machine was also just a ton of fun to hang out with-riding his motorbike all over his property, throwing footballs and frisbees with us every day, showing us his flamethrower, and sharing copious amounts of ice cream with us.
Speaking of ice cream, we became obsessed with Creamy Creations
We shopped at the HEB down in local Dripping Springs a few times a week, the Texas equivalent of our beloved Publix Supermarkets down in Florida. At the time, we discovered their private label ice cream brand, “Creamy Creations”, and it’s undoubtedly the greatest ice cream we’ve ever had. Unassumingly packaged in a standard cardboard freezer box, but so creamy that you can pull it right out of the freezer and use a PLASTIC spoon to scoop yourself this amazing treat. It defies logic, really. And the flavours? Strawberry Dream, Cookies Over Texas, Birthday Cake, Mexican Hot Chocolate, Texas Starry Night, just to make a few. It’s easy to say we ate more ice cream collectively in that month than we ever had in our lives up until that point.
We got to feature three artists on this record, our most yet
Getting Shane Told (Silverstein) on ‘alone’ was incredible; we had previously toured with them back in 2018, and the band was kind enough to feature Anthony during their set every night, so being able to feature Shane really made it come full circle. We had experimented with saxophone on our last record, ‘Restless Heart, Keep Running’, so we knew this time around, getting Saxl Rose, undoubtedly the most recognizable horn player in the scene, was a cool thing to connect. He’s super talented and was great to work with. And lastly, with ‘sway’, being the ballad it is, we were always imagining a female voice to duet with Anthony, and we felt our friend Charlene’s voice complimented the sound we were going for wonderfully.
Taken from the August issue of Upset. Capstan’s album ‘Separate’ is out 23rd July.
