The album that took 30 years to make is finally done.
Springloader began work on their debut album in 1994. Earlier this month, it snuck into record stores. What happened?
His eyes are wide. His hands are up, his fingers arched out to the side. A classic look of, “Watchagonnado?” spreads across his face. Rob Mayes has talked non-stop for nearly 12 minutes, and now he seems completely lost for words. Eventually, he shakes his head and stammers: “I don’t know what happened … I don’t know how 2024 came around.”
I’ve just asked Mayes a question – the question – that’s on everyone’s minds. The answer he’s searching for is 30 years old. It dates back to January, 1994, when Mayes and his band mates in the Ōtautahi “indie-gaze” four-piece Springloader first began work on what would one day become their debut album, Just Like Yesterday.
Back then, in a huge central city warehouse soundproofed so no one could hear their racket, Mayes and drummer Dave Toland began building sonic soundscapes together. “His drum kit was set up at one end and me and my Marshall stack was down the other,” says Mayes. “We were jamming. It was really loud. It was really good.”
They asked singer Michael Oakley and bassist Chè Rogers to join them. Things happened fast. Songs came together. They were booked for live shows. “It was like, ‘Let's get in the studio and record.’ Bang! Straight in the studio,” says Mayes, who was used to producing albums for other bands in a month or so.
Mayes used those chops to record almost everything he needed for Springloader’s debut album. “We got really good drums, really good bass … it just sounded really good,” he says. By then, in the middle of the 90s, their blissed-out guitar-pop sound – think Blind Melon meets Dinosaur Jr – was ascending at just the right moment. The video for ‘One More Thing’ proved they were ready to meet it.
Their timing was perfect.
Mayes: “And then …”
And then … nothing.
Mayes moved to London, where he stayed for several years. Work stalled. He fully intended to finish the record. Mayes carried it around with him in the format he’d recorded it, on one-inch tape. Occasionally, he’d tinker with it. But, as the years went on, it never happened. Springloader never officially split up, but they also never released that debut album. All four band members went off and did their own thing.
So, what happened?
That’s when Mayes’ hands go up by his face and he falls silent. Finally, he comes up with this: “Time just sped up. I didn't think it was a finished project or a dumped project. I was always multi-tasking, I had other things I was juggling … I was the label, I was the engineer, I was the graphic designer, I was the songwriter.
“With all of that, it all became too much.”
Earlier this month, on November 1, The Cure released their first new album in 16 years. Called Songs From a Lost World, it has been hailed as a masterpiece, received near universal acclaim, and described as Robert Smith’s strongest release yet.
On that same day, another record snuck into stores and onto streaming services, one that took far longer to complete. Just Like Yesterday, the finished, completed, debut album from Springloader, was finally done. “It had to be right,” says Mayes. “If we were going to do it, I didn’t want to be like, ‘I want to fix that’.”
The band reconvened in 2018 and began a six-year process to complete the album. Songs were rearranged. More guitar riffs were recorded. Oakley crafted new vocal harmonies, something he admits was a strange experience. “It’s so weird to think that at 50 I’m singing with myself at 20,” he says. “It's crazy, it's random.”
Artists can take a long time to finish records, and for various reasons. Fazerdaze has just released her second album eight years after her first following a tough personal time. Guns N Roses took 17 years to release Chinese Democracy after years of reported in-fighting, label issues and front man Axl Rose’s perfectionism.
Many albums sat on for that long don’t ever see the light of day. Deftones, Grimes, The Beastie Boys, Q-Tip, Beck, Gwen Stefani and Drake all have full-length albums that have never been released. Dr Dre reportedly spent a decade making his third album, called Detox, before scrapping it completely.
Yet none of those took as much time as Springloader’s debut. Just Like Yesterday took so long they threatened to break the Guinness World Record. It’s held by the Californian artist David Axelrod and his self-titled 2001 album, released a full 32 years after he first started work on it. Another 20 months and Springloader would have toppled it.
Mayes admits there are benefits to taking this long. Thanks to a resurgence of nostalgia for the 90s, many acts from that era are enjoying rejuvenated success, including Pearl Jam, who were just here for two stadium shows with The Pixies. Shoegaze, especially, has been popular on TikTok.
Since its release, Mayes says Just Like Yesterday has been doing big Spotify numbers thanks to its inclusion on shoegaze playlists. He’s been surprised by the popularity of the small number of CDs he pressed, which are nearly sold out.
But he’s also staggered by how relatable their songs from 30 years ago seem today. Oakley’s lyrics, recorded when he was working a dead-end factory job, seem to connect on a deeper level. On the title track, he croons, “It always stays the same / Just like yesterday.” “It’s more poignant now than when we wrote it,” says Mayes.
The interview’s nearly over, but Mayes has another admission to make. Springloader aren’t done. A tour is planned with the original line-up. Vinyl is coming. A second album is in the works, too, based on “nuggets of useful ideas” they recorded in the 90s. “I have some extra stuff in my pockets,” Mayes admits. “It’s heavier … more intense.”
It almost certainly won’t take Springloader 30 years to finish album number two. Will they commit to a release date? There’s a pause. Mayes’ eyes widen again. “Next year,” he says, finally. “This band’s a going concern.” But even he admits he won’t believe it until he sees it with his own eyes.
Listen to Just Like Yesterday and order the deluxe CD package on Bandcamp.
Paying subscribers get more benefits below, including the day’s biggest headlines, news round-ups, tour announcements, recommendations, links to all of the best music journalism I can find and my favourite song of the day … plus access to the comments. Join in the fun below!
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Boiler Room with Chris Schulz to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.