Review Fix Exclusive: The Fill In’s Alex Stiff And James Nunn Talk ‘No Love Lost’ EP And More

Review Fix chats with The Fill In’s Alex Stiff And James Nunn, who discuss the creative process and goals for their new ‘No Love Lost’ EP.

Review Fix:  What makes this EP special?

Alex Stiff: This new EP titled “No Love Lost” is the first in our discography to not have a CD pressing, but a cassette tape pressing. That is an odd choice, but we wanted to provide a fun and unique experience for these 4 new recordings and know that CDs fall flat in that regard, not to mention I personally have not purchased a CD in a long time. So for this new EP, not only is it pressed to cassette tape, but every tape comes with a digital download of all 4 songs to you can sync it with your device or make your own CD out of the tracks! Shortly after the warm reception to our last release “The Time Is Now” in July of 2017, it really sparked us to keep writing new material and this was one of a few songs we started working on. The idea was to push out another new single to start off the 2018 year with. When we finally got the song in a semi-demoable form, we went over to Fithman Studios (Charlotte NC) and started pre-production on the track in late 2017. After the holiday season, we returned to Fithman to start the actual recording process and decided at that time we would extend this release from just a single to a larger release of sorts and re-record some classics from the first album released in 2014 “Hipster Killers”. The recordings on this EP are the final sessions with Adam Patterson on drums and provides a blueprint for what’s to come. This release went through a few different iterations, and we’re excited to show you all the final product!

Review Fix:  What was the creative process like for it?

Stiff: The creative process for this release was rather similar to our past recordings; we all get in a room and just hash it out until we’re happy with it. When it comes to song writing, you can’t come in with an ego, and what I mean by that is that no single person writes music for the band and that everyone has their fingerprints on the songs. I may have a certain bass walk in mind, but James could bust something out that is much better than I was thinking, so it’s always best when everyone has a little bit of say, even if they aren’t the main songwriter. The lyrics are usually some of the last things finalized since those are the easiest to fix and edit up to the last minute, and because writing lyrics are still something I’m having to learn how to do as we go along. For someone that has a lot to say, it’s sometimes hard to make it all fit in the format of a song.

Review Fix:  What’s the standout track? How was it written?

Stiff: The title track “No Love Lost” was a riff I was kicking around in my head for a long time but just didn’t have the right words for it. We definitely wanted to keep the same driving rock n roll flavor folks have come to know and love from us, without it sounding like we’re treading waters we’ve already been across. I think this track has a little bit of everything you’d expect from a Fill Ins song; fun guitar work, heavy drums, cutting solos and enough attitude to boot. The lyrics were pulled from a few different moments in my life from the past few years expanding our musical reach and the experiences we have shared; with beloved music venues closing down, and fake friends occupying our time, with the general attitude being that ‘if you aren’t along the ride with us, then there’s no love lost when you fall by the wayside’.

Review Fix:  How do you want it to affect people?

Stiff: I will be a bit bias since this is our band and baby; but I want people to hear this release and long for the golden days of rock n roll from the mid-70’s, and that was part of the reasoning releasing this as a cassette tape. Take an old tube TV for an example; everyone knows the sound of the TV turning on and off with the slight static crackle as the tubes power off and screen goes dark. Small things like that actually improve an experience even if you don’t know it or not, and that is why we decided that a cassette tape would better represent these tracks than a CD would. I want the feeling of undoing the shrink wrap, clicking the tape into your deck and pressing that play button to be part of the experience we all share with this music.

James Nunn: I just hope it gives people a chance to shut their brain off from all the negativity out there right now and just enjoy themselves with our music. We’re all about having fun with no agenda other than loud amps and drums in your ears. 

Review Fix:  How is it different from your previous work?

Stiff: I wouldn’t say this is very different from our previous work as in ‘this is a major sound change for us’, but with each release I feel that we are a stronger and more focused band. For me personally, I’ve always struggled with being a competent singer, so it was very important for me to work on my vocal performances and better myself as a vocalist; and hopefully that hard work shows on these new tunes. 

Nunn: Sonically, I think this is our best release as far as quality of production. I’m really proud of how the mixing and mastering came together, which makes me very excited about the new material we’re writing.

Stiff: The last 2 tracks (“Save The Rock” and “Drinkin’ Again”) are re-records from our debut album “Hipster Killers” released in 2014. When Hipster Killers was recorded, that lineup had been playing for about a month before going in and recording these songs. It is a raw record with very little production or knowledge as to what direction we wanted to go, and it ended up being a very punk rock record due to the speed and reckless recording process. In 2018, we decided that it was time to take 2 crowd favorites and bring them into current day to bring a new breath of fresh air to the tracks. These tracks are exclusive to the cassette tape release and are not available on any digital music outlets.

Review Fix:  What’s next?

Stiff: We have been filling out the rest of the year with show dates across the east coast and have started writing again. It’s hard to tell what the “next thing” will be for us, but we have a ton of ideas that we just need support for in order to do. We promise it will be worth your time!

Review Fix:  Anything else you’d like to add?

Stiff:  NO LOVE LOST: EP is exclusive to cassette tape and limited to 50 copies! The A side is available for streaming on Spotify; as Side B is exclusive to the cassette tape; order your copy here: https://thefillins.com/store/no-love-lost-ep-cassette-tape 

Make sure to visit us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/thefillins) and on Twitter and Instagram (@thefillins on both) to stay up to date with everything going on in our world. If social media isn’t for you, you can always check out our website; www.thefillins.com for videos, music, news and more!

We also have our own brand of energy drink out on the market titled HATE ENERGY (www.facebook.com/hateenergy) which is low in sodium, sugar free, and packed with B12 and B6 to wake up your brain without the crash! You can check out the promo video here:

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