Clap Clap Riot: "It's Alright"

Oly Cheyne (he/him)

In their first release since 2017’s Dull Life, Tāmaki Makaurau’s Clap Clap Riot (CCR) have returned with a bang. “It’s Alright” marks the first drop from the five piece in what is shaping up to be a cracking few months for fans of one of Aotearoa’s hardest guitar pop bands. “It’s Alright” harks back to some of Clap Clap Riot’s earlier tracks, featuring driving guitars and a rhythm section that pushes the song forward, the energy ramping up with each chorus call, the melody fast and fuzzy in all the right places. Lyrically the song touches on sentiments on overthinking things and the fear of losing touch, something CCR don’t need to worry about with “It’s Alright”. Holding their trademark energy, the new single is a product of CCR’s dedication and craft in honing their sound within a live and collaborative context and translating that onto the record.

I had a yarn with guitarist Dave Rowland over Zoom about the new track, which was produced by Tom Healy (Tiny Ruins, Merk). He talked about the importance of the band’s writing process and building of the song through their live performance. The recording process behind “It’s Alright”, and most of their previous work, was all about getting the song in its purest form right, rather than putting ten thousand bells and whistles and layers of sound over the top. The elemental approach stands out within the new single as it does not overwhelm or seem overcooked.

The importance of being a live band to CCR, in both performing and creating, can’t be understated. It has been their method for so many years and still underpins their ethos, however, the last year or so has challenged that. Dave mentioned the lockdown period in 2020 during the first wave COVID-19 meant that they weren’t able to physically get together to dive into it, but were still able to write and workshop some ideas that had been rolling around in the band’s collective mind beforehand. “The hardest hit people within the music sector were the venues and the sound and light techs, they rely on the bands to be out there touring to make a living”, Dave said, and the disruption for the band was felt wider as they couldn’t go on tour and support those vital members of the music industry by touring and playing shows.

Clap Clap Riot were lined up to tour the motu for the first time since 2019 back in March this year, but once again these plans were scuppered by the resurgence of COVID and bungy jumping alert levels. Rescheduled for this August, CCR are hitting the road, zipping from Pōneke to Tāmaki, and down south to Ōtautahi and Ōtepoti. The stars have aligned to coincide with the release of “It’s Alright” a few weeks ago, providing a perfect opportunity for the boys to unleash the new material they have been saving up and fine-tuning over the last wee while. Expect to see them cracking through some old faves from Nobody/Everybody and Dull Life, and introduce some new songs that will be on their upcoming album, due out in the first half of 2022, with a few more singles on the way in the next couple of Months.

Catch them at Meow on Edward St, for the first leg of their tour on Friday, 20 August.