INTERVIEW: Bootleg Rascal On Their Charismatic New Single ‘Therapy’
Article by Darcy Goss
Gold Coast’s favourite party-starters Bootleg Rascal unveiled their charismatic new single ‘Therapy’ late last week and we caught up with frontman Carlos Lara to chat all about it!
Featuring Citizen Kay and MAXINE and produced by the band themselves ‘Therapy’ is introduced with temperate guitars, amidst a sumptuous texture of precise percussion and swaying bass, staying true to the Bootleg Rascal charm.
Shimmering with cordiality, the sweltering flow of feature artist Citizen Kay floats naturally above as the song progresses into its prominent chorus; highlighted with delicate synths and frontman Carlos Lara’s iridescent stride. MAXINE’s effortless melodies perfectly compliment the track before it glides towards a polyphonic finale, punctuated with harmonious acapella vocals.
Check out our full interview with Carlos where we chat about the single, producing and what his therapy is…
Hey fella’s, how are we?
Really good. Thanks for having us!
Now, huge congrats on the release of your new single ‘Therapy’ today! Yet another solid track complete with the Bootleg Rascal charm, what does the song mean to you guys?
Therapy was a song that we had in the works for quite a while before getting it to the point that we felt it was complete. It was a super basic idea we started working on properly during the first C-19 lock downs back in March/April 2020. Unable to tour or do a lot of the things we normally would, we decided to fill our time working on music as much as possible. We felt super lucky to still have that as a creative outlet and we both realised how valuable that was for our mental health during that time. I feel like those feelings of uncertainty combined with a huge dose of cabin fever a lot of us experienced during that time really fed into this song. It made us sit back and think about what really makes us happy and how we need to cut out the background noise sometimes to really focus on what’s important. The song touches on a lot of those types of themes and given the fact we’re not out of the woods just yet with C-19 these topics feel more relevant than ever.
This track is now the second song you’ve produced together, we are loving this hands-on approach. How does it feel to produce your own tracks and what’s your process like?
I’d like to think we’ve always had a hands-on approach with our music, but COVID has really pushed us to hone our skills even further in the production & recording side of things. In recent times, doing a session in a studio or working with outside engineers & producers just wasn’t really an option for us, for many reasons. So, we had to find a way to make it all work, completely on our own. I honestly think we both really benefited from that, not just because we had to learn a lot and upgrade some equipment, but also because it made us take some risks and showed us that we’re capable of creating something even better than we ever imagined. It was super fun doing it all ourselves and experimenting in ways we didn’t have the freedom to previously.
You also collabed with the amazing Citizen Kay and MAXINE on this track. Talk to us a bit about that, how did it come about and how was it?
Yeah working with both was great and we’re super stoked with what they brought to the track. I remember we’d done a bunch of re-writes on the 1st verse in particular; it was sounding ok but we both felt like it was just lacking something. We were chatting to Rob our manager about it one day and he suggested we mix things up a bit and reach out to some other artists to see if they wanted to collaborate on the track with us. At that point we weren’t sure how that would take shape exactly but were totally open to try anything. We were both big fans of CK’s work already so we emailed him and his team first up with the track to see if he’d be keen to get on board. He immediately wrote back saying he dug the track and would love to be a part of it. It felt like barely a day later he sent us through a demo, and we absolutely loved it! He’d totally nailed it and filled that little creative void we were struggling with perfectly.
For the 2nd verse we already had some solid melody and lyric ideas but were tossing up the idea of getting a female vocalist on board to perform it. Again, we decided to reach out to a couple of artists we were into and see what came back. Maxine soon hit us back and said she’d be keen to have a crack at it. After no time at all she sent over a bunch of stems with amazing, multi layered vocals, recorded beautifully on a nice Neumann mic. We were totally blown away! We sent it straight off to be mixed and really loved the way it all came together in the end. Plus getting to collaborate with two really great artists on the same track is special too!
And of course, we’ve got to ask, what is your Therapy?
Well, I think it’s a combination of a lot of things really but of course music has always been a go to therapeutic for both of us. Whether that’s just as a listener or a creator I think we both use it daily, one way or another, to keep us on a level. Other than that, I personally find connecting with friends and family super important for my mental health as well. And when possible, going out for some sunshine, fine wines and food never fails to lift my mood as well!
Listen to ‘Therapy’ now!
BOOTLEG RASCAL
UPCOMING TOUR DATES
Tickets on-sale now via www.bootlegrascal.com
FRI 13 AUG | CQ UNIVERSITY VILLAGE FESTIVAL, YEPPOON QLD
SAT 14 AUG | THE OLD BUNDY TAVERN, BUNDABERG QLD
