What started off as a one-night thing has developed into something far more serious for The Roots and Elvis Costello. The Late Night with Jimmy Fallon house band had backed the legendary musician three times previously before they took the plunge and agreed to make sweet music together.
“It was really love at first sight,” The Roots drummer QuestLove explained of the experience, adding, “The second time he came on, we surpassed the first one. So by the third time, he was like, ‘Let’s stop messing around and do something together’.”
It seems like it was the right thing to do as once the two groups hit the studio, the creative juices started flowing: “we had 13 or 14 songs, but then we said, ‘Ooh! Wait a minute! Let’s replace four of these songs with four better songs! And now we have the tightest 12-14 song collection out of about 20 songs that we made.” he explained.
The whole plan seems pretty chilled. No release date has been announced, but they have confirmed that in the future they will mix and master their new material. They are also yet to lock in any plans with any record labels. Questlove explains: “We kind of have the freedom to take it around, whether it’s to Elvis’ people or Def Jam’s people,” says Thompson. “I can just say that it is brilliant.”
On top of that, The Roots, who have backed everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Carly Rae Jepsen, have begun work on their next album & Then You Shoot Your Cousin, which will follow up their critically acclaimed 2011 release Undun.
