Here’s our thirty second chat with Matty McLoughlin from The Soft Pack. Their new album “Strapped” comes out September 25 on Mexican Summer.

NT: When talking about your upcoming album ‘Strapped’ you were quoted as using David Lee Roth’s famous quote “The first rule of rock & roll is if it sounds good, it is good.” Can you elaborate on that a bit?

MM: It was our approach to making the record. Whether it be a garageband demo, expensive studio recording, or something else, if it sounded good we put it on the record. We didn’t really care about how lo fi or hi fi things were.

NT: You guys originally were named The Muslims, did you catch flack with that name?

MM: YES, we caught flack for having the name The Muslims. That is why we changed our name to THE SOFT MOTHERFUCKING PACK.

NT: There are quite a few songs on ‘Strapped’ with horns in them, were you listening to lots of soul and 80s music during and before the recording.

MM: We used Saxophone on most of the record. Sax is one of those things that is immediately enjoyable and everyone likes to it. It’s a familiar sound to people’s ears and it’s powerful. So powerful.

NT: Nada Surd covered one of your songs What did you think of it?

MM: Nada Surf covered The Muslims song “Brightside” Their version is ripping. We got to play some shows with them, they are cool dudes for sure.

NT: Your hitting the road with old friends from San Diego Crocodiles, were you guys trying to make this tour happen for a while?

MM: I can’t wait to go on tour with Crocodiles and Heavy Hawaii (another SD band)! I think the jokes are going to be sick on this tour. Lots of characters.

NT: If you had to move and were only allowed to take five records?

MM:

Neil Young “Tonight’s the Night”

Black Sabbath “Paranoid”

Megadeth “Rust in Peace”

Bobby Brown “Don’t be Cruel”

War on Drugs “Slave Ambient”

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