More than a decade after Alabama Shakes last released an album, frontwoman Brittany Howard is finally allowing herself to get excited again.
This Friday, the multi-Grammy-winning band will return with I Must Be Dreaming, their long-awaited third studio album and first since 2015’s Sound & Color.
Produced by Alabama Shakes alongside Shawn Everett, I Must Be Dreaming builds on the musical experimentation of Sound & Color, while tackling themes of love, fear, grief, hope, and the increasingly chaotic world around them.
Frontwoman Brittany Howard, who released two solo albums during the band’s time away, has been waiting “a very long time” for this new album to come out, she tells Rolling Stone AU/NZ in an Australian exclusive interview.
Ahead of the release of I Must Be Dreaming, we spoke to Howard about bringing Alabama Shakes back together, finding their sound again, making sense of the world through music, and why Australia still holds a special place in her memories.
Rolling Stone AU/NZ: How are you feeling today? I mean, it must start to feel more real now.
Brittany Howard: I actually feel really excited for the album to come out this Friday. I’ve been waiting a very long time for this album to come out. So I’m starting to get those feelings of excitement that kind of lay dormant when you’re putting it all together. So yeah, I’m starting to feel those feelings.
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It’s been more than a decade since the last Alabama Shakes album. Why did now feel like a good time to get together and produce some new music?
I feel like the timing was actually really natural. It wasn’t anything someone had to reach towards or even really ask for. We have a friend who needed help with his business and fundraising. And he asked me to send a couple songs off my solo records. And I was like, ‘Of course, yeah’.
But then this guy, he means a lot to the whole band. So I called Heath [Fogg, guitarist] and I called Zac [Cockrell, bassist]. I was like, ‘Hey, would you guys want to get together and do this fundraising show?’. And they’re like, ‘Of course’. So we had to get together to rehearse the songs.We hadn’t played them in seven, eight years. So we do that and we surprised the fundraiser, we raised a lot of money. And it felt good, it felt right.
So we started to get together more and that’s kind of where it jumped off from. We found ourselves in the studio just wanting to record an EP because we wanted to do some touring. And that turned into a full album. Now here I am speaking with you!
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Was there a particular moment in the studio where you realised it was more than an EP then?
I mean, we had a lot more demos that we finished than we thought we would. We went in there to do like three songs. We ended up doing seven. So when we left that session, we were like, ‘Hey, let’s do a few more. Let’s go back and do another session and do a full album’.
That’s really cool. As you mentioned, you released couple solo albums during the break between Alabama Shakes records. Returning to the studio with the band, did you feel like it gave you something creatively that you didn’t necessarily get through your solo work? How did it differ for you?
I think when I’ve done my solo albums, I’m really the leader of the ship. I’m steering the ship, I’m writing the music, and I have all these demos and all these details. I also feel in a way like anything goes. There’s a certain kind of freedom when it’s just you on the line, you know what I mean?
And with the Shakes, I really enjoyed it because there’s a lot of feedback and there’s a lot of trust between us when it comes to taste. I admire Heath as a guitar player and I admire Zac as a bass player and I also admire their taste. So when I’m bringing something up or when I’m playing something, they’re telling me it’s good. I trust them. I know it’s good. And that’s the difference, really.
It sounds like it was quite a collaborative process between you all.
Yeah, I’d say so.
Now, after the 10 years between albums, did you have to rediscover the Shakes sound at all? It sounds like it came pretty naturally, right?
Yeah, I feel like between me, Zac and Heath, usually what we talk about is music. We talk about what we’re listening to, a cool show we saw. And so it was natural for us when we first got together just to talk about what we’ve been listening to, what we’ve been playing and writing.
And then hearing people’s demos and getting excited by that, like, ‘Oh, I picture this and could do this’. That kind of paved the way for what the sound was going to be. And that’s kind of how it’s always been. That’s how the Shakes have always been from our very first rehearsal together.
Was it important to you to go into the studio with an open mind as well?
Yeah, I’d say I was very open-minded because I didn’t know what was going to happen. I kind of went in with no expectations, you know, hoping for the best. But it was fun. It’s like, ‘Let’s see what we can get into’, or like running around on a playground. There’s all these instruments to touch, there’s all these sounds we can make. So I was very open-minded, whatever somebody wanted to play or hear, I was down.
There’s so many themes that run through the album as well, was there anything weighing on your mind heavily while you were creating this album?
Yes… the world. Specifically, the United States of America. And the things that our society is struggling through at the moment. It’s really unavoidable for me. I don’t think that someone like myself, while I have privilege, and I’m grateful for that, I don’t have so much privilege that I can’t be affected by the things going on in our country today. So all the things I was feeling, I wanted to transform on this album. There’s fear, and there’s love, and there’s hoping for hope, and there’s anger, and there’s grief, and there’s courage on the album. All of those things. And I really had to fight to get to those emotions because part of me also didn’t want to feel anything. You know what I mean?
Was it cathartic then, working on all of this?
I think it will feel more cathartic when it’s in the world.
What are you most excited for when it is out in the world? Is there something in particular that you’re looking forward to seeing or hearing from fans?
I’m just excited for the fans to know the words and to sing along or be excited when that song comes on.
Can you tell me about creating the album trailer? Why did you decide to make that?
Maybe so people can understand the context of the album. You know, where we’re coming from. Why we made it. And maybe just remind people who we are. Because there’s people who listen to us now who were like six years old when Sound & Color came out. They don’t know who we are. They don’t go back and watch YouTube clips of interviews, you know what I mean? But they’re here now. And so it’s kind of a way to introduce ourselves to them as well.
I was scrolling through the comments on the YouTube video and seeing some people say, you know, they discovered you at Bonnaroo in 2012, there were a couple of Australians who commented and said the same for Big Day Out in 2013 or Bluesfest a few years after that. It was just incredible to see the support, to see how genuinely excited people are for this album. What does that mean to you?
It’s a large part of why I keep going, especially professionally. I think I would write music whether it was being heard or not. I think I enjoy it. I enjoy making things and seeing what can happen. But I think having people so invested in us and, you know, I’d say the fans I’ve met, they’re good people, like they’re open-minded people. I think that’s really great. It’s really cool. And I’m excited that they’re excited and I’m excited that they come to the shows. I love looking out in the audience and see people really embodying the music, jumping up and down and getting a thrill out of it. That thrills me.
There must be no better feeling than that, seeing them all singing your lyrics back to you.
It’s very good. And for a moment we’re joined, you know, and we’re singing as one and it feels very powerful.
As I briefly mentioned, your Australian debut was at Big Day Out in 2013, and that was not long after Boys & Girls introduced the Shakes to the world. What do you remember about that experience?
I actually did just love it. You know, I am a country girl from a small town in Alabama and never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d go to the other side of the world, to Australia, you know, the land of the wallabies and the kangaroos and Sydney Opera House and Australia Zoo. Like, I was a huge Steve Irwin fan, so you know I had to go to Australia Zoo, and I met Terry Irwin, and I met Russell Crowe, and I saw the Sydney Opera House, we were on a boat, we went past it, and I was like, ‘Wow, this is unbelievable’.
And also, y’all have all different kinds of landscapes there. I went to a friend’s house in the outback, and some wild horses were walking by. It was just… it was beautiful. I got to hang out with Australians and drink with Australians and go to Australians’ houses. I don’t know, I feel like I got the full experience during Big Day Out.
Is getting back to Australia something you’re hopeful will be part of this new chapter?
Yeah, I’m really hoping that it’s possible. I’d really like to do that.
Now that the band is back, the album’s on its way, what do you hope this whole next chapter sort of looks like?
Oh my goodness. I’ve been so busy, I actually haven’t thought much about the future, which is kind of refreshing. But my hopefulness is that people can connect to, find comfort or inspiration in our words and in our music, and also just be connected to people who are genuinely friends and genuinely never thought this would happen, our music being shared across the world.
We’re real people, real lives, and when we get some free time, we make music. And so I hope people can just remember, if there’s something you’re passionate about, it is very possible that you can attain it.
I’d love to finish by asking you about the album’s title, I Must Be Dreaming. That could be interpreted by so many different people in so many different ways. What does it mean to you?
You know, I feel like when COVID happened, everybody huddled in their homes, and they couldn’t wait to get out. But I feel like the world we walked into was a different world. And then it also felt like at the same time, everything sped up. I don’t know how it feels in Australia, but it feels that way here. Everything’s faster, and I can’t keep up, and more things are happening. It feels a bit chaotic, feels a little bit out of control.
So when you open your eyes, and you see headlines that you didn’t think you’d ever see, you can’t expect what’s coming next. And I just said to myself, ‘I must be dreaming’. It has a double meaning, which is also like, within all of that chaos, and fear, and pain, are also really beautiful things. Really, really kind and gentle humans wanting to help each other out, and wanting to lend each other a hand, wanting to rebuild community, and kind of just take back our own labour in a way. That’s also very beautiful in the natural world, wanting to protect all the living things. So I must be dreaming about that as well.
Alabama Shakes’ I Must Be Dreaming is out tomorrow (August 28th). Pre-order here.
