SPRINTS: "When we feel like things are out of control, the arts have always been there"

SPRINTS are keeping pace. 2024’s Letter To Self was less a debut than a megaphone barking their arrival; a ferocious and visceral album which earned the Dublin punks a swarm of critical acclaim, including a Choice Prize nomination.

This year, there was a set in front of 10,000 at Glastonbury, where Kate Nash joined them to sing her hit ‘Foundations’. Furthermore, the quartet announced a deal with the legendary Sub Pop label in North America in June, and are fresh from a string of dates supporting Fontaines D.C. in Germany and Austria.

Singer Karla Chubb and guitarist Zac Stephenson are the chosen representatives to sit down for a drink in a Dublin hotel. We’re here to discuss their sophomore record All That Is Over. It’s a cinematic step-up, bursting with literary influence, diatribes against the far right and sweet, sweet noise.

“I’m really happy, which is terrifying because that means that you have hopes to be dashed,” says Karla. “I’m more nervous than I was for the first one. Because I care a lot more. We’ve never been in a better place, the band’s never been stronger. So now there’s a lot to lose and that scares me.”

Now it makes sense that she starts the album by uttering “Abandon All Hope”.

“I should listen to myself,” she laughs. “We did all the press for the first one, and people were like, ‘Karla, you’re really dark.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I am unfortunately.’ ‘Abandon All Hope’ comes from Dante’s Inferno, it’s on the gates to hell. We wanted to set the tone of the world we’re stepping into.

“But it is really about everything we’ve experienced in the last year and the chaos of the world – trying to forget about that and come together and push through. Persevering despite it all.”

All That Is Over deals with upheaval, both in their personal lives (in the form of a long-term relationship coming to an end) and the wider world. Was one easier to process than the other?

“God,” Karla ponders. “That’s a very good question. Personal upheaval is easier to deal with, because all you really have to deal with is yourself, your shortcomings and failings. There’s actionable change you can control. And tangible results you can see.

“I think the world can feel a bit hopeless, and that’s one of the central points of this album. When we feel like things are out of control, the arts have always been there. It’s what connects me to humanity, my emotions, and honestly to a purpose for life. It’s community and it’s togetherness, and it’s the first thing to be discarded by governments and by people.

“People forget Covid and everything we learned. The thing we all turned to was the arts. We turned to music. To movies, to poetry, to podcasts. We wanted that togetherness, and that’s what helped us survive a worldwide atrocity. Now we’re going through another epidemic with the rise of the right, and the first thing we’re doing is turning on each other.”

That observation feels sharp, considering our conversation takes place the day after far-right commentator Charlie Kirk was shot dead in Utah – a violent end for a figure whose brand of rage-baiting, divisive politics, mirrors the views SPRINTS tear into.

“It angers me because a lot of people don’t realise that they’re being manipulated,” says Karla. “It is not trans people in bathrooms, or immigrants or refugees, affecting housing or access to mental health care.

“There are systemic issues in our country that are not addressed. Pointing the finger at those who are already marginalised does infuriate me. Are we all that dumb? Really?”

“The far right capitalise on division and turning people against each other,” Zac adds. “When people say, ‘that’s woke’ –  what does that even mean? Actually being nice to people? Why is that bad?”

‘Descartes’, the lead single from All That Is Over leans into this further. The ripping line “Vanity is the curse of culture,” taken from author Rachel Cusk, references the idea that it is egotistical to think your views are superior.

“When I first read that, my mind went to politics and people’s vanity in their beliefs,” Karla shares. “Rachel Cusk probably has an entirely different interpretation. I think social media is also very relevant, but for me, what inspired this idea was the right tapping into people’s vanity in their own beliefs.

“Religion is a massive part of that. People are tapping back into traditionalist values and religion and the Bible. Some people might be trans and believe that they’re a trans person and they exist. Why does your belief in the Bible matter more than that? It’s vanity.

“Why do you get to decide what’s right and what’s wrong?," she continues. "Why does the church get to tell us what’s right and what’s wrong? And how are we subscribing to a book that was written fucking thousands of years ago?”

A good question.

“People consistently refer back to it and all it’s doing is taking rights from women, stripping rights from the queer community, and pushing people to the fringes.

“It’s ironic that those preaching this gospel and moral code the loudest are often the ones committing the worst atrocities. Look at the people pushing this rhetoric. Donald Trump. The Catholic Church, I don’t even need to mention.”

“I also get frustrated with the inconsistency of going back to the Bible,” says Zac. “If you want to justify your hatred of homosexuality because of the Bible, why aren’t you sacrificing turtledoves every month on the steps of your nearest temple, which is also in the Bible?

“If you’re going to go off on one thing, why aren’t you being consistent with the whole thing? They’re using it to justify a weird little fear. Maybe they relate to someone who’s queer or something, and they push that down.”

SPRINTS. Photo: David Willis.

The sound on All That Is Over hits as hard as the subject matter. Slow-burning blockbusters ‘Abandon’ and ‘To The Bone’ open the record, simmering before All That Is Over unleashes a whole mess of sonic goodies. That’s including, but not limited to, the gothic-synth stomp of ‘Beg’, and the swinging, Pixies-tinged heartbreak of ‘Better’.

SPRINTS cite producer Daniel Fox, a retro Fairlight synthesiser, and a number of “more varied and modern” references.

“We had a lot more fun in that respect,” says Karla. “The debut was a brick and mortar guitar rock album and I think it had to be that. This time there was a lot of purposeful building of atmospherics in terms of textures, instruments and sampling.

“I was listening to a lot of ambient music, because I read a lot on the road and I can’t listen to the lyrics while I’m reading, because it distracts me too much. So a lot of early Aphex Twin. The Brian Eno airport albums. A lot of Portishead and a lot of early Massive Attack.”

Non-musical influences also seeped in. If you haven’t copped it from the mentions of philosophy, Dante and Rachel Cusk, SPRINTS seem a pretty well-read bunch.

“Because we were on the road so much, we fell back in love with our passions outside of music,” Karla shares. “It’s very easy to get swallowed by the touring life and forget about yourself as a person outside of just being a musician.

DYSTOPIAN FICTION

“I was reading a lot of dystopian fiction. Jack (Callan, drummer) really got me into Octavia Butler, Kindred in particular. He bought it for me for my birthday, and I was really shocked by her use of language.”

For the band, it’s important to be on the same page. That extends to who they choose to work with. There was no need for SPRINTS to worry about backlash for their politics during their recent stint supporting Fontaines D.C.

“There’s been opportunities where we’ve been offered [to support] big acts and we said no,” Karla shares. “When Bob Vylan was dropped from line-ups after the controversy at Glastonbury, we were asked to step in for a big amount of money, and it was an immediate no from us.

“It’s incredibly hard to see other people succeed and progress quicker because they might say yes to these things. It’s more important to stand by our words and be able to look ourselves in the face.

“With Fontaines, even though we were playing in Germany, it did give us a lot of confidence. We didn’t have to worry about our Palestine flag on the stage. We knew that there was no way they would play if we couldn’t.

“You would be misaligned to be doing one thing and not living the reality of that,” continues Zac. “We wouldn’t be able to cope with that kind of split.”

SPRINTS. Photo: David Willis.

Authenticity matters. Before SPRINTS there was Kevyn, with a Y. Karla slumps into her chair and stares daggers for bringing up her old band. It’s the same look you’d give a parent for recalling something embarrassing in front of other people.

Still, the question remains: why do some bands work out when others don’t? Considering Kevyn shared three members with the original SPRINTS line-up.

“With other projects, I wasn’t being as authentic as I could have, and I don’t think I knew myself enough,” Karla says. “I started to go to gigs, and Gilla Band shows, and thinking that this is the fucking chaos and sweat that we wanted. I was so sick of being miserable, and I was so sick of not doing what I wanted, because I was scared about what people would say.

“Maybe it’s a more difficult path. It’s much harder as a woman to break into male dominated genres. But eventually, you get the courage to make it yourself. Not being afraid of that anymore was the key. To just be my loud, boisterous, mouthy self. The shouty woman, the woman sweating and screaming at the front of the stage.

“It doesn’t matter to me if no one thinks I’m the best singer, or best guitarist in the world, because I’m going to put on a fucking good show. It’s about emotion and not perfection.”

• All That Is Over is out now.