“We wanted to make a more energetic record. I personally looked to artists like Springsteen, 70 s Bowie, The Smiths, The Cure, Neil Young as inspiration for not really for sound as much as for that dichotomy of bands who were entertainers still making, at times, weird dark music and writing songs that seem totally over-the-top by today s rock band standards," says Cymbals Eat Guitars bassist Matthew Whipple of his band s wildly ambitious fourth LP, Pretty Years.