Catapults talk about new single, “If You Don't Matter, Nothing Does”
Hello Catapults, thanks for your time. Would it be please possible to introduce your band to our readers, as well as your roles in it? Hi, thanks for having us! First, there's Joost who's writing all this. I'm the lead singer and rhythm guitarist. Then there's Maurice on lead guitar and backing vocals, Lars on bass and backing vocals. And, finally, there's our drum machine, Malte. With a worldwide pandemic going on, how have you handled the management of your band over the past few months? All that stuff has been quite a mess, huh? We were in the middle of recording our LP “I'll Be Honest” when the pandemic really took off so after that was all wrapped, we had to stop any kind of band practice for a few months. But since we spend most of our time together anyway, we decided to meet up at each other's houses and plan the release and promotion of the album. Sometimes when anyone of us felt unsafe with the situation, we would try to plan over the phone. Doesn't really feel the same as when you can actually play some music in between, though. You've recently dropped your new single, “If You Don't Matter, Nothing Does”. What's the story behind this song? IYDMND was one of the first songs we finished for the LP. We wrote this track at a time in 2019 when I got pretty fed up with just feeling gloomy and wallowing in self-deprecation. The months before, we wrote “If You Don't Matter”, there had been a lot of uncertainty and anxiety in my life and I decided to find a few good things about life. That's how I realized that the things I cherish the most are the people that I can call my friends and relationships and this song is kind of a thank you to them. The song comes along with a music video. How was the shooting experience? It was great! We knew long before shooting that we would want to make the video about a guitar that we built from old skateboards. We came in contact with Connor McBriarty, who previously did a lot of video work for Storyteller. And he offered to film the music video for us. We filmed for a whole day in August at Lars' place while one of his roommates did the set design for the giant art piece at the end of the video. It really was a humbling experience to see something so incredible being done just for us and for a short part at the end of a music video. We're really grateful for that. You recorded your debut album after a year of songwriting. Any funny story to share from your recording or writing sessions? Oh, absolutely, the whole recording for the LP at some point devolved into one single onslaught of running gags for us. We drank a lot of Paderborner Export Beer while we were in the studio. It became such a meme for us that we did our own bootleg radio commercial for that beer in between songs. It's horrible and hilarious, and I don't think I will ever delete it from my phone. You worked with Sören Kucz, Tom Porcell and your longtime producer and friend Paul Zimmermann at the Limetree Studios. How was the collaboration? Absolutely fantastic. Not only are they the nicest people ever but they share the same passion for our own music. They really made this a heartfelt project and I think it really shows. We have worked together with Paul and Sören before, when Paul produced our first two EPs and Sören mastered them. But it was kind of a disconnected process. So, this time, we brought them both together with Sören being the primary sound engineer while Paul took on a role of a consulting producer. Thankfully, they both have very similar concepts of what we should sound like and they hit it off really well. Adding Tom into the mix as the mastering genius, they all made “I'll Be Honest” into what it is now: the best sounding record we could possibly make at this point.
I’m sure you are, like a lot of people, missing live shows. Do you already have some dates planned for the end of the year or 2021? Yes! Since we finished the album, we became part of Spider Promotions. They are doing their best to get us to play as much as we can in the coming year. We also did have a hometown show in the planning for November but since Germany is going into another lockdown, we unfortunately had to postpone that show. But it should still take place and we hope to bring Attic Stories back to Oldenburg. They're a great band from Karlsruhe in southern Germany and they have become even greater friends to us in the past year. The last words are for you. If you have a message to convey, here’s your chance to talk about it! First off, a huge thank you to everyone who has listened to “If You Don't Matter, Nothing Does”. We hope you find some comfort in the song, just like we did. Also, we have a bunch more singles coming out in the next months before “I'll Be Honest” releases in March 2021. So, please stay safe and healthy, love each other as much as you can. Tell your friends, your family, anyone close to you that you love them. We think in times like these that is one thing everyone should definitely be more open about. Also, to all American listeners and readers: PLEASE VOTE. VOTE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT BECAUSE IT DOES. Thanks for your time!
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