Well, it’s our 3rd album. I think it has elements of both of our previous albums, but for this one we spent a lot more time working on all of the songs as a band. We ended up really getting all the songs down together before going into the studio, so when we did, we just put them down in a fairly straightforward manner. This is probably a bit closer to how we did the first album, though we spent a little longer working on this one, since we’re all living in different places now. We were all in brooklyn before, now Alec lives in Philadelphia and Sean is in Boston. For our second record, we just jumped into the studio and made a lot of decisions there, which worked alright, but I thought it was a bit more haphazard and stressful. So it was nice to be more sure of what we were doing before getting into the studio this time. I think this really helped strengthen all the songs to a point where we knew that they were all sounding good before pressing record. Then we worked with John Congleton in the studio, and he was great for getting down everything how we wanted it, but also really contributed with a lot of fresh ideas and different perspectives on it all. All the prep time has also led to us really being ready to play the songs live, so we’re really excited to finally be out and playing them for people.

Along with performing at Harvest Festival, CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH will also play headline shows across Australia. What can fans expect at both the festivals shows and your headline shows? Do you approach them differently?

In the festival shows, it’s usually a shorter set, and the fans have been wandering around all day, so we try to keep it tight and a bit more rocking and fun. For the headlining shows, it lets us stretch out a bit more and get a little bit deeper into what is now 3 albums of material.

Harvest Festival has a fantastic lineup (inc. Portishead, The National, The Flaming Lips), which artists are you keen to see?

I’d be pretty psyched to check out The Flaming Lips, the National, The Walkmen and Holy Fuck. Though i guess maybe that’s because I’ve already seen all of them and know that they’re all quite good, so that’s a bit boring. Hopefully I’ll discover someone new too…

With your extensive schedule, what can’t you live without when touring?

Well, i just got an iphone, and that’s been pretty exciting…. not sure how well that will work in Australia though! I generally try to pack pretty light, so probably whatever book I’m reading at the time would be next up, besides my toiletries bag that is.

What’s your favorite tour memory?

Days off in great cities is always fun. Just finding a cool area and wandering around. It’s a pretty good perk of being in a touring band. Favorites probably include Amsterdam, Tokyo, Mexico City, San Francisco… and actually, the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is definitely one of my favorite places in the world…. where else do you get to have a cheesy picture of yourself taken while you hold a Koala?! i’m probably gonna need to go back there when we’re back in Brisbane.

Name a band or artist you’ve seen over the last year that we should checkout?

Street Chant are a great band from New Zealand, you should definitely check them out!

Anything you would like to say to your Australian fan base?

We’re looking forward to coming back!! it has been too long!