There’s less than two weeks to go to this year’s T in the Park and the expectation is rising among both fans and the acts who are playing at Balado.
For James Skelly of The Coral, though, the anticipation of a Saturday afternoon in the sun at Scotland’s biggest outdoor festival isn’t for a greatest hits party set.
That would be too easy and for anybody who’s ever known The Coral that’s not how they do things.
Instead, James told Rocktalk, T in the Park will be a great chance to showcase the material on their brand-new album, Butterfly House, alongside some of the old favourites.
“We’ll do about 10 new songs and probably 11 or 12 old ones,” he said. “I know it sounds a lot of songs but we play them so fast live, we end up shaving about a minute off them.
“We like to mix them up a bit. Nobody wants to hear a band play their whole new album at a festival they want to have a party but I think our new songs will be perfect for the atmosphere there.
“It’s always great at T in the Park everybody’s pissed by half-one in the afternoon. There’s always a few stretcher cases by then but it means everybody’s really up for it. I’m really looking forward to it.”
One of the most popular UK bands of the past decade, The Coral are in great spirits as they head back out on the road. Even more reason to celebrate is the fact their new album, Butterfly House, comes out straight after T on July 12.
It’s a big departure for the band less indie singalong, no out-and-out radio-friendly singles, more a classic song-based album, brimful of 60s-influenced soundscapes with just a slight tip of the hat to Love and The Byrds but also touching on the sound captured by early 90s Dodgy and Teenage Fanclub.
It’s the sixth album by the band a rare achievement in the post-90s, download era and illustrates that, rather than rest on their laurels, The Coral still have the fire in their hearts and fully believe in what they’re doing.
“I think we’ve made the best album we’ve ever made,” says James Skelly. “I think it has to be, or there’s no reason for anybody to listen to it.”
This is the first album they have made without founder member and guitarist Bill Ryder Jones, who left the band in January 2008. It’s also the first they have made following their Singles Collection that year. Those two landmarks were a chance to stop and take stock, then draw a line under what has been done and set sights on the future.
“If we never did the greatest hits thing, this album wouldn’t be as good. So it was definitely a part of it,” says James. “Going back to all those tunes made you realise ‘Yeah we’re a great band, one of the best out there’. It cleared space in our heads and made us feel really positive about the future.
“We did some new songs for that release, which we produced ourselves, and that gave us loads of confidence to go in and do this record. The whole thing was really positive for us.”
Decamping to RAK studios in London, with all the writing complete, The Coral found in legendary producer John Leckie (Oasis, Radiohead) someone who empathised with their vision and brought both his obvious enthusiasm for the band and his vast experience to the table. In return, given the respect that they had for his work, The Coral embarked on a truly collaborative process.