Lady Antebellum’s New Bartender

The word for the day was “new” as Lady Antebellum met with their radio friends in Nashville.  The first new thing was the logo, on the TV screen behind them.  It was the first time the trio saw the new logo.  The next new thing was a brand new single, called “Bartender,” the first release from an album expected later in the year.  Another new thing to talk about was Dave Heywood’s baby news.  All of these things were discussed in a fun and informal way:

Why did you decide to go in this new direction? A lot of it was the response we felt from the fans were ready for new stuff, new energy, and Compass showed us they wanted more energy.  Golden is much more of a “mid” record, so we wanted fresh new music out there.  We’ve been writing a ton also, we never stop writing, we had 30 songs we were pulling from, we wrote a bunch, so it’s hard for us to still be with the music we wrote a year and a half ago.  So we were dying to get new stuff out.  We have short attention spans, so we’re in that day and age where if we can keep pumping out music, we’re ready for new material.  Also being on the road, we felt we needed more Downtowns and Compasses.  Things in our lives are fun, there’s a whole new level of energy with our live show, so we have a fun record.

Talk about writing Bartender: (Charles) We’re writing with some new writers.  This was the first time writing with Rodney Clawson, he came on the road with us, and he took us out of our comfort zone.  He’s a monster, the way he phrases, he became one of my favorite writers quickly.  (Dave) The song Bartender started with a title Charles had on his phone and an idea I had on my phone, it was one of the last writing sessions we had on this album, and we want to have songs people can get lost in, we wanted songs that can stand up in a big venue.  It’s fun, anybody who’s been out and wanting to get lost, that’s part of the inspiration.  (Hillary) This girl is talking about drinking the pain away.  As a female too, from a female perspective, it’s not just a sad song, but she’s taking control of her heartbreak.  She’s going out with her friends to forget about what this dude did to her.  It’s not about rebounding, and I love that as a woman, taking the reigns of the situation.

Talk about writing on the road, and how this came about: We want to fight for this, we want to stay at the top.  We knew with Need You Now, there’d be a coming down to earth, but being on the road, we want more songs that grab people.  When you hear the record, you’ll hear more of that.  With Bartender, Dave has been the catalyst, he’s been working on ideas a lot, and we’re writing more now, going after it more, rather than just picking songs.  We don’t just settle on lines, or ideas we’ve already done.  We’re more selective, because we had time to stop and regroup and refocus.  For this writing process, Dave came in with more ideas than before.  I listened to every song that every publisher had, because I didn’t want to miss one.  We need to make sure this is our focus, a new determination.

Baby for Dave: It’s starting to be crazy, when we found we’re having a boy, it’s been real really fast.  We went to register yesterday, and I had no idea what we were looking at.  It’s a whole new world that I’m excited for.  I’m excited for the unknown.  Eisele’s been out with us a ton, so I feel like I’m doing better with babies.    (Charles) One thing is it’ll be the smartest baby, well disciplined baby, well behaved, incredible manners.  (Hillary) Kelly’s wife is one of the funniest people, so he’ll have her humor, and Dave’s chest hair.

Hillary, talk about performing Bartender:  It’s fun to get into character.  I did that with Downtown.  Same with this song, I’m so excited to perform this song, it’ll be fun to perform with Charles & Dave.  But I’ve been thinking about how to visualize the video.  Truth be told, I can now drink.  I’m not pregnant as I was during Downtown.

Charles, talk about the sound of the new record:  I was playing the record for one of my buddies, and he was like, it sounds so much bigger.  The difference, most records had three or four uptempos.  This album has more.  The sounds that Nathan was able to get, I loved the energy of Compass, but I wanted to freshen up our sound, have them hit harder than usual.  We tried to keep it organic, we don’t want to go too far from our sound.  We went to a club one night after a show, and we heard Luke’s song, and Downtown fits in that environment, and we need a song like that that gets everyone on the dance floor.

Thoughts about getting back on the winner’s podium? We knew it was crazy then.  We felt it can’t keep happening.  Then we had this welcome back to earth.  Now the fans are ready for a mix-up.  We still feel like it’s great, but we want to reach as many people as possible.  So for me, it’s more about we need to make a change, we need to do something new.  Don’t stray too far, but mix it up.  Show evolution as an artist, and that’s where we’re going now.  It’s not really awards we want, but we want to engage with our fans.  We want to be proud of what we’re doing, and we want to keep the excitement.  We worked hard, searched hard for the songs to build that excitement again.  Our fans are so loyal, even after a long break, there are so many who come out to see us.  We finally feel like we’re better performers.  We feel we’ve got the record now to capture that energy.

Tags: lady antebellum

Category: NEWS