“My Heart, My Feelings” The Incredible Rise Of Sprints
Dublin four-piece Sprints have spent the past 12 months accelerating. The band enjoyed an exceptional year, laden with highlights – foremost of which include signing for revered label City Slang, and recording their debut album ‘Letter To Self’.
Out now, the release of the record is a key moment for the group. Clash writer Julia Mason flew to Dublin shortly before Christmas to catch Sprints in action, watching them support Kneecap at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre.
Granted backstage access, she sat down with Karla Chubb (singer-guitarist), Colm O’Reilly (guitar), Jack Callan (drums), and Sam McCann (bass), to look back on their rise. What follows is an engaging conversation around what promises to be a critically acclaimed album.
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How was last night, supporting Kneecap here at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin?
Karla: It was amazing. I mean, we’ve obviously seen them before, but to see them live in a venue like that’s big and iconic! They just filled the place. They’ve got such a good stage presence, unmatched, I think. I’ve been a fan of theirs, but I’ve not seen them play live in a full set. To see them us the whole stage and the whole venue and the full screen and the light show. I mean, they just brought it up another level. They’re probably one of the best groups in Ireland at the moment. They’re so political. They’re really on the ball, they really stick up for what they believe in and then they’re so down to earth to top it all – you’re like, where’s the downside?
Jack: For people who are so exposed, they are so genuine. You can tell pretty quickly that that’s very much them. It’s not just part of the show.
You recorded debut album ‘Letter To Self’ in France for two weeks with Gilla Band’s Dan Fox on production. Was everything written before you went to France and it was just a case of recording it?
Karla: Yes. I think that’s kind of the way we’ll probably always treat the studio. I think there’s a lot of bands who go into studio and maybe have ideas of what they want, and then just make whatever is in there. I don’t know if we operate best like that. I think we write naturally together when we’re together anyway, playing around with a riff or an idea or a lyric. And so everything was written.
There’s obviously edits, changes made, structures change. And in the moment, obviously we’re not like “this is the song and nothing’s changing in it”. But the concept, the idea of all the songs and the lyrics are pretty much nailed down and then you go in there and try and make the soundscape the best as possible. You get to go and have fun with pedals, drum noises, the way you place the mics, the shape of the room.
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What does Dan bring to Sprints?
Sam: Wine!
Jack: When we’re in the studio, the songs are pretty well formed. He has a really good ear, for little things that might elevate it and it’s like not everything will end up being used or but he’s great for “Oh, why don’t we try this” and it might be an amp, or a particular drum sound on a certain part.
Colm: He’s great at adding depth. And if we’ve got a block or something’s uncertain he comes up with some sort of solution for us. He doesn’t overstep it, but knows when to say “why don’t you try this”.
Karla: Or even “this sounds shit go back to what you were doing”!
Jack: But it’s good because we know each other well enough that that’s fine. I think you need that, it definitely helps. You don’t want to go in and not have any influence.
How was it when you first had the tangible album in your hands?
Jack: A good while ago we got the test pressings, so we’d heard it on record but hadn’t actually seen it. How it looks and feels, and even the different colours …
Karla: Pretty cool! Seeing the various colours! Seeing that for the first time on your own album, it came out so vibrant. And we obviously purposely tried to match some of the colours to the record, but they matched so well, I cannot believe how seamless all the design came together. Our friend Conor did all the design work. He’s been a friend of ours for years, and he’s worked on pretty much all of the Sprints artwork and single covers, so to be able to have that community run through the first album is really nice.
When you were putting the album together, was it a challenge to decide the order of the songs?
Karla: I think we’re all album fans. We love listening to albums from top to bottom and as a body work and like a real kind of statement of an act. So we definitely wanted it to feel like a journey. But I think a lot of the songs have sister songs on it, they’re a pair. Like ‘Ticking’ and ‘Heavy’ are quite similar and ‘Literary Mind’ and ‘A Wreck (A Mess)’ and then ‘Up and Comer’ and probably ‘Adore, Adore, Adore’ then ‘Shaking Their Hand’ and ‘Shadow of a Doubt’.
You wanted it to feel like a live set where there’s peaks and troughs but also that they kind of flowed nicely into each other. And the subject matter I think was important as well. ‘Ticking’ being the opener and ‘Letter To Self’ being the closer was very purposeful, not only in the song structure but also in the lyrics. ‘Ticking’ has “Am I alive? Am I alive?” and ‘Letter To Self’ closes with “I am alive”. You did want to feel a resolution.
Jack: Interestingly, I’m pretty sure when we left France we had the idea of a tracklist written out. But when it comes to the logistics of it, there’s obviously there’s an A and a B side. So it’s like the lengths, they can’t be too far out of whack. Which obviously, this is our first album, so that comes into it. I think we’re all pretty happy, but we ended up going round in circles for days! We ended up back where we were so we definitely made the right choice!
The themes running through ‘Letter To Self’ are brutally honest, very introspective. The opening track ‘Ticking’ has a few lines in German.
Karla: I lived in Germany when I was younger. I just thought that that was a nice kind of nod to a little bit of my identity and my past. I think with ‘Ticking’ we’d been working on it for about a year before we were working on the album. We did it when we’re doing the ‘Modern Job’ EP. There’s one or two tracks that we did because we had like an extra day. And they didn’t feel right for ‘Modern Job’. When we were in the studio doing that, I just didn’t like the verse or something. I thought it needed to be a little bit like brasher or have something of an edge because it was supposed to climb up. I don’t know how it occurred to us but I did it in German and it just added this nice kind of twist to it. I always thought about doing something in German so it worked out for the album. And also we’re on a German label!
Many of the song are sharing a frustration with life, of trying to fit in. And that’s a thread that runs through the album, but it’s from an internalised point of view. It’s only the final track ‘Letter To Self’that the defiance comes out, its fighting back with lyrics such as “I’ll give as good as I get”. It’s just a wonderful end because as you say it does bookmark the album, clearly stating “I’m going to be all right” with lines such as “I always had the willing and, now I’ll find the way”.
Karla: Yeah that was definitely purposeful. I think the album is so confessional and autobiographical and it definitely bookmarks a time in our lives, and a lot of the struggles I’ve faced up until this point, particularly internally. And that’s the issue, as much as they might have been caused by external factors or things I’ve experienced or people, the damage is internal. How did you deal with the homophobia or the abuse or the struggles with mental health and feeling a total lack of belonging? How can I process that myself internally? I think if you do that so bluntly, that anyone who’s experiencing anything remotely similar or struggling can probably relate or heal a little bit.
I also think it’s just an interesting subject matter. I think it’s authentic and it’s so honestly, my heart, my feelings. I feel it’s tough for anyone that has experienced the same thing. But I have managed to come through a lot of those struggles. I have come out the other side. We managed to make something really amazing with friends. We get to travel the world with our little family now, our chosen family and do amazing things. So there is a day after the night and there is a positivity and obviously we love life and we love making music and touring and doing all this fun stuff. And I wanted that to be known as well, that it’s not all doom and gloom.
I do have to say also that I love, ‘Can’t Get Enough Of It’. It’s a little bit different.
Sam: I love it! I had to fight for it!
Karla: It’s very Black Rebel Motorcycle Club I think, which is Sam’s number one band. I do have to say he had to fight me a little bit on it to keep it on the album. I think I lost faith in it a little bit.
Jack: It’s hard though sometimes, when something sounds a bit different and even with ‘Shaking Their Hands’when we had the uncertainty about it going on the album. Some of it comes down to “is this a bit of a weird left turn?”. You’re thinking does it fit on the album? And even with like ‘Ticking’ or ‘Heavy’ when we originally recorded them before we really liked the songs but with the ‘Modern Job’ EP they just didn’t work. We want that kind of cohesion, for the album to be an album rather than a lot of songs thrown together.
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I do have to ask. Was ‘Literary Mind’ re-recorded?
Karla: It was. It’s much faster. We shaved about three seconds off it! From the start we thought it would probably end up on the album. So we wanted it all to sound the same and cohesive and I think especially when we play it live, you don’t know how different it sounds because of the instruments, the amps and everything – the different tempo we play it at. It had lived with us for so long at that point. There’re new parts that we developed like Colm has an arpeggio (the notes of a chord played in rapid succession, either ascending or descending) now in one of the breakdowns that we love to play live.
You had to include it on the album because it obviously isn’t on either of the two EPs.
Sam: The singer from Suede (Brett Anderson) he was like, you gotta put it on the album.
Karla: He said if your song isn’t on the album, I’m sorry but people just forget about them… and that song is too good to be forgotten about.
You sold out three headline shows in the autumn: London, Dublin and New York. Did you have the time of your life?
Sam: Yeah it was amazing. The Dublin show was like the best show we’ve ever played. London show too was class. But we got on stage in Dublin and just looked at each other!
And you follow up with further dates in America next year.
Karla: There’s a UK office, a European office and an American office for our label City Slang. The American office were just great. They got us. I think to do America on your debut tour, it’s unbelievable. As an Irish band as well. It takes years for people to build up that kind of credibility or that audience and we’ve managed to do it for our debut album. It’s insane.
And with your European dates you’re touring with English Teacher.
Karla: It’s really amazing, I can’t believe it. It’s such a nice full circle moment because we both signed to Nice Swan in the same year. They opened for us when we did like our first show ever in Leeds at Oporto. We fell in love with them instantly. We suggested it on a whim because we were looking at Europe and thinking we could get local bands but we thought it would be great to get one band to do Europe with us. And then our manager Pete said they didn’t have plans at the start of the year. Can’t wait.
Sam: They don’t know how much of a snorer I am!
With Sam doing more vocals as Sprints has progressed, will he be taking lead vocal at all in the future?
Karla: You definitely do! I wrote a song recently where I was like, this is definitely a song I think you need to take the lead vocal on.
Sam: I just find it really hard to write lyrics!
Do you have to write the lyrics to sing them!
Karla: We have Jack’s vocals on the album, for the first time ever on ‘Shaking Their Hands’; “counting the minutes until the clock strikes six.”
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‘Letter To Self’ is out now on City Slang.
Words: Julia Mason
Photo Credit: Niamh Barry
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