Sydney-based rock band, All Mankind have gained a loyal following across the U.S., UK, and Australia, having performed over 500 times in the last three years to more than 100,000 fans. The band’s live success, by word of mouth and with no label nonetheless, has led to album sales in the thousands and award nominations for songwriting and performance in both Australia and America.

This quartet is always on the go, has just finished recording their eagerly anticipated, epic full-length album with Mike Crossey (Arctic Monkeys, Razorlight, The Kooks) at The Motor Museum studios in Liverpool, England. The as-yet-untitled album was also mixed by Crossey and mastered by Robin Schmidt (Razorlight, VV Brown, Tommy Sparks) at 24_96 Mastering in Germany. Recently, Bestnewbands.com had the pleasure of chatting with lead singer Rich Beeston about the band’s recent performance Musexpo, the differences between touring in the U.S. versus Australia and their experiences in this writer’s beloved Liverpool.

Daniel Kohn: What was it like performing at Musexpo? Events like this can be tough since it’s a stuffy, industry crowd, did you find it as such?

Rich Beeston: The Musexpo shows were held at SIR in Holllywood. It’s not just a performance venue, it’s also got first-class rehearsal spaces, so some of the world’s top artists are often hanging out there. I won’t mention exactly who we saw and who was there at the time, but it was cool being amongst such a high level of musicians. The crowd were actually really friendly towards us, even though they were mostly people from the music industry. In the end, they are all music fans, and if they like something, they will definitely let you know (they’ll also let you know if they don’t like it)

 

DK: How is touring in the States different than touring in Australia? Are there any cities you want to play that you haven’t yet?

RB: Playing in the States is great. Whilst Australia and the U.S. are roughly the same size physically, the U.S. has 10 times our population, so there are hundreds of millions people to play to. There are so many places we haven’t played that we would like to get to. Every city seems like it has it’s own character – like individual members of a massive family. So we would definitely like to meet everyone in the wider U.S. family, from the favourite sons through to the distant cousins that not many people know very well.

 

DK: What was it like recording with David Nicholas, Peter Mayes and Mike Crossey? Did they enstill any lessons that they may have taught some of the bigger acts they’ve worked with?

RB: Each of these guys brought their own experiences. We worked with Peter & David on our earlier EPs. When we worked with Peter, he was working on an Empire of the Sun record at the same time. He has a great mind for sonic landscapes. David Nicholas has worked with some massive Australian bands like INXS & Midnight Oil. He taught us a lot about song structure, and making sure every part of your song is strong. We worked with Mike Crossey for our upcoming album ‘Simple Desire’. Mike does everything old school, from recording to tape, to using classic amps and guitars from decades ago. Mike has great experience in the UK with Arctic Monkeys, The Foals, and other awesome bands, and we had a great connection with him – it was like he was another member of the band. He really took our music to a whole new level.

 

DK:  While in Liverpool mixing your record, did you manage to catch a football match?

RB: We tried really hard to get tickets, but it was right at the end of the season. Was a real shame, as we love our football.

 

DK: Goals for 2011?

RB: For most people, we are basically a new band, and so 2011 is all about us trying to get our music to as many people as possible. So, we’ll be releasing our new album, touring the U.S., Australia, the UK & most of Europe. It’s going to be a huge year.

 

DK: Why are you guys having the record mastered in Germany as opposed to anywhere else?

RB: Our producer Mike & the mastering engineer Robin Schmidt have a great relationship. Robin is from Germany, but he and Mike both went to the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA) together, and have worked on a number of amazing records together. We knew they were a killer team, and we definitely wanted Robin to master our record.

Check out the band’s website for more info on the album’s release and subsequent tour dates.