‘Less surf, more synth,’ barks Matt Taylor of The Growlers, while explaining their new sound. City Club is their fifth record. Released through Julian Casablancas’s label, Cult Records, it’s a little more polished than what we’ve become accustomed to. For the first time, the boys have ditched analogue and dug up digital. The album sheens and gleams on the surface, often ding-a-linging like a smooth jazz lobby, while lyrics of loneliness wallow raspily within.

The album is a dawning of growing up and settling down, while remaining unsettled. Awash and lost, much like us now, frontman Brooks Nielsen laminates closed-door melancholy with a walnut veneer. Here, Nielsen takes five minutes out of his tour hectic schedule to talk to us about Julian Casablancas, childcare and skimpy costumes.

Cecilia Dinwoodie: You used to live together before your house and studio got burned down. Do you all continue to live separately now?
Brooks Nielsen: Yeah, we all live separately now. Everyone’s trying really hard to grow up here, but it’s so difficult for us – being in a band this long really stunts your growth. And yeah, it really gives you the excuse to be a late bloomer and fall out of the more normal side of living. It took a fire to make us split up, but it’s good for us [laughs]. We need space away from each other sometimes.

Cecilia Dinwoodie: Does it affect the dynamic at all?
Brooks Nielsen: No, I don’t think it does, because we’re more mature now. We’ll make ourselves meet up and work and when it’s time to rehearse or time to talk business, we do. Whereas, before, I’d be like, “Hey guys, don’t worry – I have the house, rent’s taken care of, bills are paid, this is where you are… You’ll stay here and we’ll make music together.” I think I was just doing it as a leadership thing, but they don’t need that anymore.

Cecilia Dinwoodie: You were the daddy of the group!
Brooks Nielsen: [laughs] Well, I’m more the mummy of the group.

Cecilia Dinwoodie: Speaking of which, you must have softened a little now you have a baby and you’re married. Would you say it’s affected your song writing at all?
Brooks Nielsen: A little bit, but no. It’s just more ammo – something to talk about on the record. As much as they make me really happy, it can hurt to be away from them. And all emotions lead to song writing, I think, as long as I can put them into words.

Cecilia Dinwoodie: You’ve signed to Julian Casablancas’s label, Cult Records. Do you think you’ll stick with them for a while?
Brooks Nielsen: [laughs] Well, if I said no right now, I’d be evil, we’re just getting started! But yeah, I think so, we’re going to try to. We were with our last label since the very beginning, so we’re pretty damn loyal!

Cecilia Dinwoodie: You were saying you wrote Chinese Fountain in about two weeks. Was this the case for City Club too?
Brooks Nielsen: Really the same kind of set up. Matt and I went and tucked away in the Topanga hills of California and cut ourselves off from everybody and wrote. But we did have more time. I’d say it was two months in total, writing time, so we got to really see through our ideas a lot better than before. We’d been wanting to [make another record] for a long time, so it flowed out pretty naturally. It’s new blood and it feels great.

Cecilia Dinwoodie: Did you ever have moments of uncertainty, giving the album to Julian to produce? I know you’ve experienced cold feet before…
Brooks Nielsen: Yeah, definitely, but I’ve grown since then. I really put myself at fault for the things that didn’t work out in the past and for pushing people too hard and wanting too much control. There were definitely times when I was second guessing what I was doing, but, in the end, I’m happy.

Cecilia Dinwoodie: Could I hear Julian’s voice in a couple of the songs?
Brooks Nielsen: Yes! He sang on Vacant Lot and Rubber and Bones.

Cecilia Dinwoodie: Did he stay put in NYC, or did you record the vocals together?
Brooks Nielsen: He did a little back and forth [between NYC and downtown LA], as he’s got his family. In one moment, he can be a very shy person and in the next, he can be very certain about what he wants. And the singing was just passing a microphone around to Matt, Julian and I. It was a lot of computer work, which I’m not used to doing, but that was pretty interesting.

“I’m shy, I definitely am. It’s pretty pathetic! I don’t really wanna deal with people. I think music is my tool to figure out how to do that – I’m strong with people behind me.”

Cecilia Dinwoodie: So you’re more digital than analogue now?
Brooks Nielsen: Yeah, Julian’s never worked analogue before, ever, which really surprised me. I remember hearing that Strokes song that starts with a tape rewinding… But I guess they just used the sound effect [laughs]. It was cool. It made us do a lot of little things that I don’t think would have been possible on tape.

Cecilia Dinwoodie: Are you going to continue to make your own stage decorations and such, now that it’s no longer a financial necessity?
Brooks Nielsen: Yeah, we still are! It’s [going to be] much harder in London, but we’ve been talking about having somebody build some things over there too.

Cecilia Dinwoodie: And those outfits! You lot have been pulling it out the bag this tour.
Brooks Nielsen: It’s been fairly nice! We’re getting towards the end now and I’m like, ‘Okay, these suits need to be dry-cleaned.’ But at the same time, it’s nice not thinking about anything other than having to wrap my tie around my neck and having to walk on stage. I think I’ll continue something for when we get over [to Europe].

Cecilia Dinwoodie: You must be running out of looks by now though, surely. Are there even any outfit ideas left you’re yet to try?
Brooks Nielsen: [laughs] Yeah, I think it’s just gonna get skimpier and skimpier as I get older, kinda like Madonna.

Cecilia Dinwoodie: You’ve said in interviews before that you’re an introvert. I’m wondering in what sense you mean that?
Brooks Nielsen: I’m shy, I definitely am. It’s pretty pathetic! I don’t really wanna deal with people. I think music is my tool to figure out how to do that – I’m strong with people behind me. I think people get confused with that a lot in this industry. A person who’s sitting on stage or even talking in interviews is not exactly the person that someone else may know. It’s about turning it on and, most of the time, you don’t wanna do it at all, you know? There’s no calling in sick in this, and you’ve really got to turn it up all the way, because there are so many people depending on you – travelling and paying money and loving you.

Cecilia Dinwoodie: So a solo album in the future’s out of the question!
Brooks Nielsen: [laughs] That would be difficult for me, but I think it’s pretty inevitable when you see how peoples’ lives take natural course. It’ll probably happen one day – and by then, I’ll be fine. I’ll be a nice old man with a lot of stories to tell, and I can just make country music or something [laughs].

Cecilia Dinwoodie: I read that you said drugs like acid helped your creativity and imagination while song writing. Do you think winding it all down could inhibit your song writing?
Brooks Nielsen: [laughs] Oh, God! With all the pressures and what not, it’s easier to get fucked up but I find it actually gets in the way now. It doesn’t make me perform any better, it doesn’t make me write any better – it’s actually doing the opposite. When I was young, I think it was good to just break down walls that were built around me. It showed me that not everything was black and white – it can also be kaleidoscopic, but shit’s changed!