THE GIRL IS CRYING IN HER LATTE
A CONVERSATION WITH RUSSELL MAEL & RON MAEL OF SPARKS
Sparks have been making records and touring for a long while. Their debut album (intially released under the group name Halfnelson), Halfnelson was released in Jaunary, 1971. By the time their second album, A Woofer In Tweeter’s Clothing was released in 1973, the band became Sparks (and their first album was renamed Sparks) and the band was ready to take off. The core of the band was and still is Russell Mael and Ron Mael. Two brothers that not only get along, but have produced an astonishing 25 studio albums, two soundtracks (one for their own film, Annette) and a live album. Their 26th album, The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte, will be released in May, 2023 and they are embarking on a very extensive tour to promote it. And this tour sees them playing their largest venues in their career, including The Royal Albert Hall in London, and Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
The last two years have seen Sparks become more popular than ever. There are many reasons for this, one they are incredibly talented and their most recent album (A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip) made the top 10 in the UK. Edgar Wright made a fantastic documentary about them (The Sparks Brothers) and they released their first full-length film that they wrote and scored (Annette). They also toured extensively. The end result is a band that after 52 years not only shows no signs of slowing down but are gaining momentum.
Their new album is being preceded by their new single, the title track of the album “The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte”. Although the new single has all the classic Sparks hooks and sounds, it is a departure from their usual sound. This single is a wee bit more aggressive and angry.
“With 26 albums now, we are just always trying to find new context musically and lyrically to place what it is we do. There was nothing that we set out to do saying we need to do something heavier or more aggressive,” explained Russell Mael during our recent conversation. “It’s just that things evolve when we start the process of recording and so this time, a song like “The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte ” just unfolded that way, where it became an aggressive musically and electronically sounding song. I think just the contrast of the musical setting with those lyrics of the girl crying in her latte and everything that that conjures up. I think the two elements compliment each other.”
CATE BLANCHETT STARRING IN “THE GIRL IS CRYING IN HER LATTE” MUSIC VIDEO
“It can be expected that bands that have as many albums as we do would tend to mellow out in this stage and be more reflective,” added Ron Mael. “Maybe subconsciously we kind of rebel against that kind of career arc of levelling off. We overcompensate and try to make things even more aggressive and in your face in a certain sense.”
And as for the subject matter of the new single, Ron is clear that this was not a song about something they saw but rather captures some of the times in which we are experiencing.
“Creating this atmosphere of seperateness and loneliness in a crowded situation. It wasn’t inspired by an observation of anything on one of our coffee runs. I think, from the times of the last couple of years, there is a certain kind of feeling in general for people. We kind of feel some of that is reflected in the subject of the song. It is the kind of thought that you would have a more mellow song to echo that sort of lyric for us, but we try to go against expectations as much as we can. So it is a very aggressive song about a very still kind of situation.
But with all the success Sparks has experienced over the past couple of years there were high expectations for their new project.
“We were really happy about the fact that there was this new visibility internationally for Sparks for as a result of the two movies (Annette and The Sparks Brothers), and hopefully as a result of the last album and what it did,” said Russell. “So what we did ended up playing bigger places than we had on previous tours and there seems to be a new appreciation, it seems, for Sparks for what we represented. So for all of that, we didn’t want the new album to be a let down and set back as far as we are getting a bigger platform for people who will be paying attention to the new album, and we wanted it to be an album that if someone has it as their first entry into Sparks, or new to the band, then this album would be as striking or more striking than anything we have done. We feel we have done that and there was a pressure.
“The other thing is, we go with that spirit for every album and we are just know there is a bigger and broader focus on the band, which makes it even more exciting for us.”
With a new single comes a new video. Sparks have always made cutting edge and interesting videos and “The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte” is no exception. There is even a very special guest star, Cate Blanchett.
“We are really excited about the video,” remarked Russell. “We are fortunate to have that kind of relationship with Cate Blanchett where she was excited to be in the first video for Sparks new album. I won’t describe the video, but just to say, her role is key to the whole video. We are really excited about the new album and this was just an extra bonus to help kick off the new album that Cate really was excited to take part in this, especially knowing she is doing one or two other things right now that are keeping her busy. But she was so gracious to carve out time to take part in our new video. She is very bold with what she did in the video as well. She did not lay back at all. If there is ever an Academy Award, it should be for this video.”
PRE-ORDER/PRE-SAVE THE GIRL IS CRYING IN HER LATTE HERE
Ron added, “we are always surprised when people outside of music, that we really admire, are fans or have been fans for a while of what we have done. We really don’t pick up those things along the way. So to know she has been following what we’ve been doing…obviously we have loved everything she has done since she began, but to know that someone of that artistic stature who likes what you are doing is really satisfying. To have her participate in something we are trying to create, it was a pretty astounding time for us.”
The other interesting aspect of the new Sparks album is that they have returned to Island records. They signed to Island in 1974 and achieved great success while with the label, especially in the UK (“This Town Ai’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us” making it to number 2).
“It is a really unique situation,” agreed Russell. “We are really happy about it. Island was the label in the 70s that was really responsible for launching Sparks internationally. We had two albums before that but Kimono My House was the first one that really got recognition in a broader way, especially with the song “This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us”, so now now to be back with Island…and it is based on the music with the new album and that’s the thing that is most exciting for us. It is not based on ‘oh we should sign Sparks again because we had such a great time with us 48 years ago.’ They heard the new album and thought it was musically special and as an extra bonus we have this story of a successful period with Island back then. Now being back with them is a pretty unique situation.”
“We are really excited about all the places we’ll be coming to and a couple of key ones like Royal Albert Hall, we will be doing two nights there in London and both are sold out, which is really exciting. It is such an iconic place for us Americans who are Anglophiles to be playing there, and then when we found out we will be doing The Hollywood Bowl as well, which is another iconic venue as well, and for us, being from Los Angeles means a lot. So those types of places, and just going to all the cities we are going to on this tour again, it is going to be fun.”
Sparks have been around for over 50 years and as one can see, there are no signs of slowing down. The new single and album The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte are due out soon and no doubt, this will be supported by an exceptional tour.
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Main Photo Credit: Munachi Osegbu | Background Photo Credits: Anna Webber
