Scottish pop-punk act The Murderburgers released their new album ‘What A Mess’ on March 15, 2019 via Asian Man Records. I caught up their singer/guitarist Fraser to discuss the album and a lot more. Check it out below. Be sure to visit the web links for everything mentioned in this interview, which can be found immediately after it.

I guess the most obvious and annoying intro question is can you tell me about the recording and writing process of the new album?

I wrote the album around February/March last year and demoed it not long after that, then we recorded it over a few days in the summer with Jimmy from Paper Rifles in Edinburgh. Jon and Kev from Paper Rifles did all the backing vocals on it, too. I think the whole thing was recorded in five and half days or something insane like that. Matt Allison mixed it for us then Dave Eck at Lucky Lacquers mastered it.

Was this your first time working with Paper Rifles on a Murderburgers album?

It was the second time. Jimmy recorded the EP we did last year and Jon and Kev did the backing vocals on that as well.

That’s cool! “What A Mess” is probably The Murderburgers’ darkest album yet thematically. However, at the end, there’s a closing track called “The Thing That Helps Me Survive.” You sing “You need to let some things die So that you can stay alive (I want to stay alive)” What things do you think you’ve had to let die in order to move forward in life and deal with your problems in healthier ways?

Anything that makes me feel bad isn’t welcome anymore. 2017 was a pretty awful year for various reasons and it took a lot of work getting back to normal after it and now for the most part I feel good, so now I just do what I can to maintain that. I only focus on the good things now. I’ve been sober since the end of 2017 and it’s been wonderful. I work on new music all the time. I hang out with my flatmate Hebe’s dog Alfie all the time. I think of dumb movie ideas to unsuccessfully pitch to Seth Rogen all the time. Whenever I start to feel like shit, I pick something that makes me feel good and I do that instead.

I also eat a lot of cereal now. HUGE multigrain hoops guy now. I not a big fan of actual Cheerios, but the knock-off ones are the shit.

I read in a different interview that you got into yoga and meditation as well. I’ve heard that helps combat depression and anxiety. I’ve been curious about that because it seems like meditation would be difficult for anxious people because when you have anxiety, your mind is cluttered up with a million different thoughts. How do you relax enough to meditate?

I never really got into yoga, just meditation. I have friends that do yoga and say it’s great though. A friend of mine recommended an app to me called Simply Being that I use to meditate. It has the sound of rain and a waterfall and shit like that as well as someone talking every now and then. I find it hard clearing my mind if I try to do it in complete silence, so listening to that helps. I recommend Miguel from Teenage Bottlerocket’s book “I Wanna Be Well” to anyone that wants to give meditating a go. I haven’t really meditated as much recently because it’s hard to do it on tour. I should probably get back into it though since I have a bit of time at home.

I know you got Murderburgers and Bike Notes, what other musical endeavors are you looking to get into? I know you write and come up with ideas constantly, which I think is cool?

I’m just focusing on Murderburgers and Bike Notes at the moment really. We’ve been working on new Bike Notes songs and are planning to record our album later on this year, and I’m going to hopefully demo some new Murderburgers stuff before I head off on tour again in June. I always toy with the idea of starting something new but then end up just writing more Murderburgers stuff because I know I’ll actually get to play the stuff live on a regular basis instead of just writing and recording some songs then leaving them to die somewhere.

hat makes sense. Were there any bands in particular that caught your attention and inspired you while writing and recording the latest album?

Not really. I tend not to listen to other bands when I’m writing new stuff so that I don’t accidentally rip anyone off.

Fair, well, when you do, what do you like to listen to?

Recently I’ve been listening to Better Oblivion Community Center, boygenius, The Creeps, Get Married and Andrew W.K a lot.

Web Links:
The Murderburgers / Asian Man Records | Paper Rifles | Get Married Atlas Studios | Boygenius | The Creeps