The recordings for Be Okay To Not Be Okay were finished around July 2023. I was very relieved that the album received financial support from a private foundation, because it meant that Frank Goebel could take care of the mixing and I could finally take a bit of a break. That came at the right time, because we had just finished a rather exhausting tour and I was quite worn out. At that point I would never have expected that I would later start mixing records myself, as I had absolutely no idea about any of that.

The summer of 2023 was generally a pretty special time. We played a lot of concerts with Palila, including a show on the MS Hedi in Hamburg, which was a bit of an adventure and one of my favourite concerts. In late summer I also got the SG that would later become very important during the recordings for Thrash, although I obviously didn’t know that yet.

After the recordings for Mind My Mind I really wanted to keep recording new songs, but it wasn’t possible with Palila at the time. There were tours coming up, everyone was busy, and the schedules didn’t really line up. So I asked Benjamin Kövener if he would be interested in playing drums on a few songs. I sent him Remember and No One’s Laughing and was really happy when he sent back his drum tracks. After that I asked Dennis Reher if he would play drums on the rest of the album.

At that time I also didn’t really know yet what Would would become. I think it will probably always stay quite open – whoever feels like contributing is welcome to join. At the same time I also like doing a lot of things myself. On this album I even tried playing drums on a few songs, which worked more or less okay.

Christoph kindly gave me lyrics for some of the songs that were originally planned for Palila. Many songs that end up on Would records are pieces that are hard to realize as a trio, often because they need additional guitars or a different arrangement. Some people were quick to call Would a leftover project for Palila B-sides or a fun side project, but for me it always felt more like an extension of Palila rather than something completely separate.

That’s also why I wanted the first album to already include some electronic elements. Together with my brother Robert I recorded Cracks, and at some point I would actually like to make a small electronic EP as well.

I was very happy with how the album turned out, and since we were still busy playing concerts with Palila, I decided to just continue recording and started working on what would later become Get Away.

– Mattze

released February 23, 2024

Music and words written, recorded and produced by Matthias Schwettmann
Except Cracks & Smile: written by Robert Schwettmann & Matthias Schwettmann
Lyrics on Hipster Dad & Music Clips: Christoph Kirchner
Drums on Remember & No One’s Laughing: Benjamin Kövener
Drums on Start Another War, Smile, Reply & Work Alone: Dennis Reher
Piano on Work Alone: Christian Bünte
Synths & Beats on Cracks: Robert Schwettmann

Album Photography: Peter Schepsmeier
Album Design: Kommune Art & Matthias Schwettmann

Mixing by Frank Goebel at Noisehill Studio in Unna, Germany
Mastering by Doug Van Sloun at Focus Mastering in Omaha, Nebraska, USA

Music Clips

Electricity

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