Behind The Tracks: Von Loop - Rocket Fly (Single) (2024)

Rocket Fly started off as Luke’s ode and love of the band Pavement, crafting a guitar melody and initial structure.

The bands usual take in songwriting when it’s not from spontaneous jam sessions is bringing an idea to practise and ... turning it into a jam. We work through it section by section, listening out for what we want to hear coming from the song and what will serve the original idea, refining the feel and flow of the song until it seems to just sit.

Stevie was happy to really lean on what Luke had written for the song and fired down a solid bright bass line – but not missing the opportunity to sprinkle in fills as his own ode to Broken-Social-Scene. The drums were written at the time of the Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins passing, as another ode, the drums are trying to combine accents familiar with his play style. That and a barely successful restraint of wanting to play every song as a dnb or jungle breakbeat, is an impulsion Logan struggles with, it’s a sickness.

Vocals for us vary based on the aggressiveness of the song, the more rap, the more aggression. Although Rocket Fly is full of energy and impact, it’s essentially a love song filled with hope and sorrow. Songs in this vein, for us we feel, are complimented more by experimenting with Andy’s vocals and pushing that Northern Irish accent.

Recording was done as one out of a set of six songs done in under a week by (do we name Michael) at the Oh Yeah music centre, which is such a class set up it really helped with that ambience needed to capture a performance. A bit of a marathon, but we layered the drums and bass fairly solidly, which gave us more time to play with the guitars and all the extras a studio is fun for. The vocals captured on the original sessions were not used for the final cut, we were experimenting with how to really have that heart felt tone come across, and initially the recorded vocals were much softer. We decided to return and get Andy to capture a take that was more true to his live performances, realising the best way to get the tone across is just to express it raw and emote.

Much happier, we wrapped things up with mixing and mastering, with aid from our new friends as SODEH records to make the song pop.

We’re excited to get the song out and see if the stone makes a ripple. The journey of creating a song is always fun, having the opportunity to have new people listening and experiencing it and possibly relate is amazing.