British trio White Lies—guitarist/vocalist Harry McVeigh, bassist Charles Cave and drummer Jack Lawrence-Brown—just released Ritual (Geffen/Fiction), which follows up To Lose My Life…, the band’s commercially successful 2009 debut. The 10-track sophomore LP was co-produced by Alan Moulder (Depeche Mode, Killers) and was written over a five-week period when White Lies wasn’t crisscrossing the globe in support of its first album. Though McVeigh, Cave and Lawrence-Brown are all barely old enough to drink legally in the U.S., the threesome has been playing together as a band since their mid-teens, first as Fear Of Flying, which released two singles produced by Stephen Street (Smiths, Blur), and then under the White Lies moniker. The trio will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with them.
Lawrence-Brown: Tour diet is almost universally awful. You try your hardest to eat well, but it all flies out the window every time you get to an airport at 7 a.m. and fancy a Burger King for breakfast. Maybe the only exception would be Japan, where I have managed to eat fairly healthy and delicious food every time I have been there. There is not much point trying to fight the bad tour diet, even with the best intentions it just happens, so it’s good to have a plan of action come end of tour to lose some unwanted baggage. For me, that plan will involve swimming. I hadn’t been near a swimming pool for several years previous to the recording of our second, Ritual, which took place in summer 2010 in London. But for a few mornings a week during that process, myself and Charles from the band would head down to our local swimming pool and knuckle down to a good few laps before we hit the recording studio. Originally I was doing as a means to try and lose some weight, stay a bit healthy, etc., but I have come to realize that a morning swim does far more than just burn a few calories. It is an excellent way to clear the mind before a busy day, and if anything, I feel very energized following a few lengths in the pool. It also ensures a truly amazing deep sleep the following evening. It’s safe to say the rhythm and groove of Ritual is deeply indebted to mystical energy giving powers of swimming. For the best swimming, lose those baggy swim shorts, man up and get some Speedos. It makes a real difference; you glide through the water like a slippery fish and get far more lengths in in your time in the pool.
Video after the jump.
