Lone Star State of Mind

Spoon's Britt Daniel reveals how ZZ Top and their native Austin, Texas inspired the group's 10th long-player, Lucifer on the Sofa.

- By Jim Beaugez. Photographs by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation

AFTER RECORDING SPOON'S previous few albums on the East and West coasts, guitarist, songwriter and frontman Britt Daniel decided it was time to head home to Austin, Texas, where he started the band with drummer Jim Eno three decades ago. The results were immediate. The Hardest Cut, the first song written after the band returned to Texas, is the hardest-rocking tune in the Spoon catalog. Built on a boogie rhythm inspired by ZZ Top and a deceptively simple riff, and featuring a blistering solo from co-guitarist Gerardo Larios, The Hardest Cut set the tone for Lucifer on the Sofa (Matador).

Recorded at Eno's studio, the sessions were marked by spontaneity, as heard throughout the album. The final takes include pre-song noodling, and that's Daniel calling out section-change instructions to his bandmates in the mid

We tried to track live whenever we could; Daniel says. That was the sound we wanted. It's a real band playing. I don't know if that's en vogue, but that's what we wanted to do.

A GOOD CHUNK OF WRITING A SONG IS KNOWING WHAT THAT RHYTHM IS GOING TO BE – THAT FEEL

Daniel shares guitar duties with Larios and multi-instrumentalist Alex Fischel, who rip the dueling guitar solos on Satellite, but Daniel's right hand is the secret to the Spoon sound. Somehow both tightly wound and loose at once, Daniel sculpts the album's hard-rocking, post-punk riffs and soulful segues with precision, always in lockstep with Eno. Lucifer on the Sofa is a raw rock and roll record made by guys who grew up worshipping artists like Prince and PJ Harvey.

PJ Harvey was the sound, he admits. When we were starting out, that was it. She had just put out Rid of Me and that was the sound I was going for, for sure. Daniel joined us to talk through the influences and gear – including his signature Fender Telecaster Thinline - he used to shape Lucifer on the Sofa.