Fresh off a whirlwind festival season and deep into the promotional grind for their new album, Irish garage punk/post-punk band SPRINTS show no signs of slowing down. When I sat down with vocalist and guitarist Karla Chubb and drummer Jack Callan, they were still buzzing with that mix of exhaustion and adrenaline that only comes from life on the road. Between laughter and reflections on burnout, anger, and artistic energy, the duo spoke candidly about their creative process of their new album All That Is Over out now via City Slang, the catharsis of rage, and the realities of making fiercely honest music in chaotic times.
Welcome to SPRINTS
So first, I want to thank you for taking the time to do the interview.
Jack: Thank you
Karla: Of course.
You’re welcome. And first, it’s an honor for me to be here. How are you and how this period is treating you with all the craziness of the promotion? [laughs]
Karla: It’s been okay. Yeah, I feel like we’re kind of only starting the promotion now that we were the last few months so focused on festivals and the summer that it’s only really know that it’s like, okay, it’s album time.
Jack: We finished our festival season last Friday, and now we’re into promo time.
Karla: So, yeah, this is.
Jack: Which is technically we, I think in our heads, or definitely my head mistakenly, “I was like, oh, we have some time off”. We don’t. We just have time off playing live.
“I was like, oh, we have some time off”. We don’t.
Karla: Yeah, we’re still working.
Jack: But it’s a change. You know what I mean? So we’ll have a couple of weeks of something different at least.
Yeah. You won’t travel too much, at least less anyway.
Jack: A little bit less.
Karla: A little, yes.
The new album of SPRINTS
So, you know, I had the time to listen to the new album. I really like it. It’s for me, much angrier than Letter to Self. And I wanted to ask you, how did you manage to get pisser this time? [laughs] Because I don’t know. Yeah, I was listening to both albums. I said,“yeah, it’s not possible”. She got pisser than ever.
Karla: Even now, the world just keeps getting worse, doesn’t it? I think there’s a lot to be angry about in the world. But I think also just, it’s really fun for us to play music like that.
We love it. We love the high energy, the really aggressive, big guitars, big wall of sound, big doom. It’s really fun to play live. It’s what we like. We like giving the people a mosh pit.
We like giving them a circle pit. Not only that, but we like giving them a wall of death. We want to make the crowd sweat. And the only way to do that is by writing angry music.
Jack: So the crowd have to sweat?
Karla: Yeah. If I’m going to play in 32 degrees, you have to sweat too. Because I’m going to feel like I’m going to die, so you have to.
I don’t have any problems. I’m used to sweating, so it would be easy.
Karla: Yeah, no, we’ve played some very, very, very hot shows over the summer and it was tough.
Welcoming Zack in the the band
This album also brings Zack Stevenson in the ranks after a change. Well, I will say dramatic change because it happened during touring and that can be quite challenging considering everything. So how did it go?
Karla: It’s gone well, I think.
Jack: I think it went better than we could have expected, to be honest. Because, yeah, like you said, at the time it was like, what are we going to do? We had one tour finished, and we had festival season starting two, three weeks later. So initially we were like, we’ll get Zach in for the summer, see how it goes.
Yeah, we said, we’ll see how it goes. And literally within two weeks we were like, well, he’s obviously going to be a full member of the band. Both musically, but also personally, we just got on so well and we just gelled as people, you know. Yeah, we’re very lucky.
SPRINTS: “While it’s chaotic, there’s still a very constructive chaos”
Absolutely, I might say. And this album was born during soundchecks and touring.
So the question is also, how did you manage? Because it’s mentally difficult to be busy preparing a show at the same time writing a new album.
Karla: Yeah, I think, honestly, with tour it gets quite monotonous. And while it’s chaotic, there’s still a very constructive chaos. We have a schedule for every single day, even our off days. We know where we’re going to be, what hotel, checkout time, breakfast time, lobby call, how long the drive is to the next city. So it’s all very constructed.
When you’re on a headline tour like we were, it becomes very similar every day. You drive to the city, load in, soundcheck, eat, warm up, have one drink, go on stage, play the show, load out, drive to the next city, sleep, repeat every single day. Within that monotony, I get very restless and bored. We all do.
It was in those moments between soundcheck and dinner or stage time are the only moments you can control. That’s when we could escape. And go to a museum, a park, read in a café, work on a demo, jam in soundcheck. It became really nice that even when we were sick of our lives, it was still art we escaped to. We didn’t want to sit in a dark room.
We wanted to see art, see the world, write, read.
Juggling between life and the band
I am amazed you can keep up this rhythm. If I did that for two years, I would burn out.
It already happened to me, personally. So my safe part of my brain is asking: how can you do that?
Karla: Yeah. The thing is, we were balancing full-time education before. Jack was doing a PhD. We were all working full-time jobs while touring for three or four years. Once that stopped and gone, it felt like a piece of cake. I only had to focus on this.
I didn’t have to go back to a job. When I would be back at home, I could read all day at the café if I wanted. Of course, there are financial challenges, rent, food. But it gave me space to think, and that space became writing.
SPRINTS: “That naturally leads to creation”
I’m juggling work, internship, and my bachelor. I know the whole deal financially and psychologically. In my eyes, I’m surprised you manage to write an album with such a tight routine.
Karla: Yeah, we had rare days off or days at home without gigs where we’d talk, listen to music, get inspired. And when you’re on stage together with your friends in a big and empty room with a good sound system, you just want to make a lot of noise because it’s fun and good. Jack wants to hit the drums hard, I want to turn all my pedals all at once. There is no one that complains. That naturally leads to creation.
The new single Descartes
I also like Descartes, the new single, and the idea of about it, which is the curse of our culture. I was petrified and surprised that you chose that quote because it reflects today’s reality. We want to appear constantly. Instagram became numbers and appearance at the expense of our true selves.
Karla: I can’t take credit for that line, I didn’t write it. It was influenced by Rachel Cusk.
The second I’ve read it, it was like a light bulb. It’s not just vanity in appearance, but in belief systems. People believing their politics or religion matter more than someone else’s right to exist. In conservatism, they think that religion matter than the right for that person to exist. Or that the prosecution of trans people is ok because you don’t think that they exist or matter. That’s your belief, and not everyone else’s. That belief isn’t universal.
The current situation
Well, you mentioned the situation about trans. And I really need to mention, the current situation in the Netherlands right now. Because we’re talking about femicide and violence against women. I don’t distinguish genres of violence. I think we’re moving toward a nihilistic society. Your lyrics made me reflect constantly.
Karla: Thank you. That’s what rage is about. There’s a rise in violence against women—trans women, cis women. If the perpetrator isn’t white, there are marches. If it’s someone like Connor McGregor, or a powerful white man in general, there are none. Where is the protection, when you need it?
The double single, Rage and Beg
Today on the train I wondered if it was safe to go home at night. For the first time in nine years, living here. Will it be safe for me to take the metro and be safe at home ? Your music and lyrics really made me think in a way. And I completely agree with your words. I also love the videos. You released a double single, Rage and Beg. Why two singles at once?
Jack: One thing is that we were struggling to decide which single to release. I guess there were all good to be chosen from. Also, it’s the reflection of how music has shifted with streaming. It’s changed from years when you could publish a couple of singles, and it was followed by the full album. Now it’s about drip-feeds over months, and you want to keep people engaged. So, by the time the album has been released, the fans are excited for it. But, we were happy to do it.
Karla: We couldn’t choose the one or the other, where our manager suggested “Why not both?”. Perfect, we would really back and forth voting between them. It was always an even split for Rage and Beg so we did both.
Shooting the videoes with David Willis
I love the videos you shot with David Willis. Something in typical SPRINTS style. Something cool and fun. They also look low-cost.
Karla: They are very low-cost. We shot two in one day with no budget. Willis directed, filmed, and drove the truck [laughs].
Jack: He’s a great truck driver [laughs].
The emphasis on…
I dropped it because I liked the style, but I didn’t realize it was that low budget [laughs].
Karla: That’s ok. That’s kinda what we wanted. We had no money.
Let’s make it low also because they were meant to be visualizers, but they turned out great. Since we had no budget, we were constantly asking for help [laughs].
Closing words and see you at…
This was my last question. I wanted to thank you for your time. I hope you did enjoy the interview, I know it was a long day of interviews.
Karla: Thank you. It was actually okay. Now we get to eat some nice food.
Jack: Things could be worse [laughs].
Karla: Indeed, I could still be in an office [laughs].
Let me remind you. When are you coming back to the Netherlands? In the new year, right?
Karla & Jack: It will be March 2026 in at the Melkweg in Amsterdam.
Thank you again for your time.
Jack & Karla: You’re welcome. Thank you so much.