 Sarah Shook & the Disarmers’ debut album, Sidelong, commanded listeners’ attention with its refreshingly blunt and unapologetically honest songwriting, tight musicianship, and outlaw spirit. Their upcoming outing, Years, finds that spirit ever present in the collection’s ten tracks as the foursome grow and refine their style with sharpened songwriting, a deepened sound, and unique perspectives that emphasize vulnerability, resiliency, empathy, and defiance. Ahead of the album’s release, Shook the time to chat about the story behind “Years,” her love of snakes, touring, and more. Bloodshot re-issued your 2015 record Sidelong last year, so with Years being your first all-new record with them, did you approach the process of making it any differently? Before Sidelong, we had never recorded a full-length album. Over Easter weekend of 2015, we did four days of tracking; it was a pretty high stress situation and I was totally wasted the entire time. So, before we started on the pre-production for Years, I spent some time getting myself together, determined to approach this recording session a little differently. I wanted to be sober and fully present both emotionally and mentally. I managed to swing that, and I think that it’s very palpable if you listen to the two albums back to back. That’s incredibly self-aware to be able to make that decision, see it through, and then be able to see the difference. Songwriters pull from varied experiences when they write and where songs are often fictional, the songs on Years feel like you not only wrote them, but you lived them. These songs absolutely come from personal experience. Years is a breakup album that I wrote while still in a relationship and it's the first album where I feel like one of the constant themes is exploring the dynamics of relationships not solely from my point of view, but also from my respective partner, or ex-partner’s, point of view as well. As problematic as that can be and the conflict that can cause, many of the songs are empathetic ones where I put myself in the position of someone else and use the way that I see them in a situation as the basis for a song. While they’re your truths, the feelings in them connect with many. It’s funny I was thinking about that a while ago. Anyone who is an adult has exes and this similar set of experiences where you have to go through some hard stuff, recognize patterns, examine motives, and make tough decisions. And in the end, hopefully you learn about yourself and come out a better person. We’re all definitely in the same boat as far as that goes. Absolutey.
The album is book-ended with “Good As Gold" and the title track, which feels like a goodbye. Is there any particular reason why you chose those as the album’s anchors? “Good As Gone” is a song told from my ex-partner’s point of view. We had an argument where he said, ‘When all this falls apart and you go your way and I go mine, you’ll be good as gold,’ in a way that was accusatory and not very supportive. I remember thinking to myself, ‘Why wouldn’t you want me to be ok? Relationships end all the time, so what’s the point of not wishing our former partner the best so they can move on?' I started it off with that song because it gives you the inkling that things aren’t going well right now and wrapped it with “Years” which very plainly states that I’ve been wasting my time and subjecting myself to something that despite my highest hope, isn’t working out, and it’s time to move on. "Years" itself was really a last-minute addition to the record. We spent a great amount of time rehearsing and in pre-production, yet I still felt unsettled. I was happy with the songs, but I had this strong feeling that the record wasn’t complete. I wrote “Years” two weeks before we went into the studio. We barely had a couple practices with it, but one of the things I really appreciate about my bandmates is that they support and believe in me and trust me as a leader. So even though it wasn’t ideal timing, they were all up for adding the song. I know the song will evolve over time as we play it live, but we got the basic arrangement and made it happen. It’s one of my favorite tracks. It also has this really neat break and tempo change which gives the song a whole new feel. We’ve never done that with a song before. Most of our songs have a similar basic structure, but “Years” is special because there is that stop when you almost think that the song is over, and then it comes back in with a tempo change and the drums doing something completely different. It gives the song a new vibe, while also coming off as climactic. It adds something special to the song for sure. You mentioned “Years” made the album complete, is that why you chose it as the title? When I looked over the songs, none of them, except “Years,” seemed right. The lyrics in “Years” specifically hinted at the fact that we don’t really pay attention to all of the minutiae when we’re in a relationship. We get so involved in the romantic aspect of it that we lose our ability to be objective and when it’s over, we look back and say, ‘OMG I did that for four years!’ We realize that all those years of contention have culminated into this decision where you wake up, bite the bullet, and say, ‘I’m out of here.’ In the end, I felt like I wasted four years of my life in that relationship until a good friend reminded me that if I learned something from it, which I definitely did, then it wasn’t really a waste. That’s a very mature, and rare, perspective, but a great one to have. On a lighter note, the album artwork is wicked. Who designed it and what is the significance of the snake? We had really long, drawn-out conversations about what we wanted the cover to be, when I finally said I would throw something together, send it to the guys, and then they could let me know what they thought. I came up with the design which is a compilation of public domain images, and presented it to the band with four or five colors options and everyone liked the yellow best. When I was younger, everyone in my family, except for me, was allergic to dog and cat hair, so we never had pets. I’ve always loved snakes and would be the kid in the yard hunting them down. I once got bit by a snake, and didn’t know at the time, but their fangs break off really easily. When I went to have them removed, the doctor told me to leave them there because my body would either push them out naturally or they’d just calcify in time. They didn’t get pushed out and so I have snake fangs in the finger on my left hand. No kidding?! That's really interesting. Recently you played SXSW and then you’ll be hitting the road pretty hard. Are there any new places or venues that you’ll be playing at this year? We have a lot of exciting things in the works right now. We’re planning on a West coast and Canadian tour, which I’m thrilled about and then we’ll do a pretty lengthy tour of Scandinavia and Europe later on in the year. I’ve got my passport and new luggage, so I’m ready to go. Sounds like you’re going to be a good kind of busy. Finally, when y’all are going from gig to gig, what are you listening to in the van? We all have pretty diverse musical tastes, so for the sake of keeping the peace, the general rule is whoever is driving gets to pick the music or opt not to have music. Personally, I’ve been burning through The Black Angels discography, but I also like L.A. Witch, Jacuzzi Boys, and Angel Olsen who I just found out about – she’s terrific. Website/Facebook/Twitter/Purchase
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