Los Campesinos! have come a long way in the past three years (and are incidentally the reason PYT met in the first place), and it’s been a delight to chart their progress towards proper indie stardom. We caught up with Gareth Campesinos! to discuss new band developments and album number 3.
Hi Gareth! We haven’t seen you in a while, where the devil have you been?
To put it simply: America. Pretty much this whole year has been spent playing shows in the United States, with occasional movement into Canada/South America.
You’ve spent so much time across the pond in the USA now that it must be starting to feel like home. Why is it that Los Camp! have ended up being creatively based there recently?
I guess there are a few reasons. A lot of the band enjoy spending time in the US, so that's an incentive, just that it's enjoyable and different to home. Perhaps two more important factors would be 1) we're more popular in America than we are over here, so there's more demand for us to play shows. It's pretty difficult to 'complete' America, and anywhere new that we go seems an adventure, with it being so far from home. And secondly, recording-wise it's made sense for us to be over there, as it's where John Goodmanson's based, and it's him we've been enjoying working with on these last two records. So long as we're recording in the US, he knows studios that he likes to record in, and we have easy access to all his awesome gear.
Since last you were playing shows in the UK a lot has happened. Obviously the big news is Aleks’ departure to the world of further study. How are you all coping?
Well, thank you. Obviously to lose a member of Aleks' talents and, more importantly, such a close friend is not a good thing, but we always knew this to be Aleks' intention and I'm really happy that she's going back to university to do something she loves. I have untold amounts of respect for her for that. We've yet to play any shows without her, and obviously that's something that's gonna take some getting used to, but I think this change has given us all a huge boost of excitement and desire to be better than ever. Which we will be.
So the latest ‘big news’ is brand spanking new Campesinos! #8. What can you tell us about Kim?
Well...Kim's an amazing musician and an incredible girl. She's played music all her life and her primary instrument is the flute, but she can take her hand to pretty much anything. She's one of THOSE annoying sorts. She's a really positive, fun, laid back person, with great taste in music. Myself and her go way, way back. Our friendship couldn't be stronger, we're practically like brother and sister, and I know she's going to be great for the band.
You filmed Kim’s arrival at Cardiff City’s new stadium; how did the 'transfer' go?
It was a dream come true in many ways. Football's always been my first love and to stand in that empty stadium (and a very good looking new stadium it is too) and imagine playing in such grandiose surroundings was an experience we lads relished. I was amazed at how good the final video looks and to have BBC News' Sean Fletcher anchor the piece handed it a needed air of professionalism. He got really into it and I think we produced something amusing and uniquely 'Campesinos!' in the end.
What can you tell us about new single There Are Listed Buildings?
Well, it's remarkable for being our first experimentation with horns on an LC! song. Jherek of the Dead Science and some amazing musicians that he knows came to the studio in Seattle to help out, and I think the results are amazing. Lyrically, it's a pretty bleak and bittersweet tale of love and lust and destruction. Though I'd dare not use the word "concept" the songs on the new record can all link to tell one big story, and this song kind of represents the tipping point in the relationship between the two protagonists. Also, the artwork for the 7" looks amazing.
It’s getting close to record number 3 (or is that 2?) coming out now. How excited are you about getting a new batch of songs out in the open? It must have been strange keeping them quiet for so long.
Very excited. With this record, it kind of feels like we know who we are as a band. Though I'm still fond of Hold On Now, Youngster..., I don't feel it represents me, or us, anymore, whereas these new songs find us where we want to be at. I'm excited of the challenge of selecting a set list when we have 30+ songs to choose from, and being able to mix things around every night, or take requests. Y'know, like a PROPER BAND.
Does the new LP follow on from WABWAD, or are you going off on a tangent?
Lyrically, there are a lot of the same themes. Obsessions with death and sex, destruction and decline of the human body, eating disorders, failed love affairs. Perhaps notably on this new record I allow myself to sing about football a lot more. I think I know "who I am" now, and am writing in a way I'm happy with, and think I will be for a while. Musically, Tom's written some incredible stuff. All full of a lot more patience and ambience and subtleties that we've not necessarily had in songs before. It's a complete honour to be able to write songs with Tom, and this album is head and shoulders above anything we've made before.
How has the songwriting process for the band changed over time?
Marginally. I think the only change is the way that Harriet has come into her own as a composer, and the way that she's now capable of writing string arrangements. Whereas initially she perhaps didn't have the confidence to work on things on her own, now she'll come to the recording studio with beautiful arrangements for us to swoon over.
Who would you say are the current major influences on Los Camp!?
Musically, it's always difficult to say. I think Stuart Murdoch once said something along the lines of "Do you think Eric Cantona thinks of George Best whilst he's scoring a goal?". Generally I think I don't notice the influence in what I've written until it's too late. I want to be Kevin Rowland though, so maybe I'll just go with: "Dexys"
Tell us more about your Record Box Project. Is this something that you are going to do on the UK tour too?
Y'know, I'm not sure if we could. I know that Manchester still has some decent record shops, as do a lot of big UK cities, but one of the best things about the US is that wherever we play there's a sound guy who can give us directions to a great independent record store just a couple of blocks away. You just can't do that in the UK, sadly. Not even Bristol has a decent record shop any more. I'm stranded here in deepest Somerset.
Surely you are doing the tours in the wrong order? Escaping the UK in August when there could well be a ‘summer’ to enjoy, then returning for Autumn. What’s your favourite season?
FOOTBALL SEASON!!
We see that you have got the ace Copy Haho coming with you on tour. How do you know those guys? Can you tell anyone who hasn’t heard them what they be like?
I was a fan of theirs for a while, and then at the end of the SYF tour last year we had a show in Edinburgh. I asked if they could support and they could and they were rad. Afterwards we didn't get to speak for long as we had to head back to Cardiff overnight (and I had a football match at 10am the next morning) but what little chat we did have, it was clear we were going to get along. We've kept in touch on various internet networking sites since, and I'm excited to get to hang out with them properly come October. Actually, come to think of it, I spoke to one of CH aaaaages ago 'cause they were in the band Hooker's Green No. 1, and when they added LC! on myspace I was really chuffed.
Another Manchester show, another venue. If we stop opening new venues you are literally going to have played everywhere in the city. Do you enjoy your trips this way?
I was speaking to a friend about this the other day. Have we ever played the same venue twice? This is probably the time to mention that members of PYT gave us our first ever Manchester gig, and that was a riot. Since then we've experienced such exotic locales as the Klondyke Club...but I'm really looking forward to the Deaf Institute. I ended up there in a drunken stupour after our last Academy show, and from what I can remember, it looked beautiful. Manchester is always a pleasure to play, or visit.
You must have been finding some really good new bands on your travels. Please can you recommend us some people to be checking out?
I think the band that I'm most excited about at the moment is Former Ghosts. They're a project between my friend Freddy Ruppert (formerly of This Song Is A Mess But So Am I) and Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu. It's this really emotional, industrial synth pop music that drives me crazy. Their album Fleurs is easily my favourite record of the year.
Football Manager – 442 or 4312?
4-2-3-1 Two proper old school wingers with incredible crossing ability. Lautaro Acosta has to be my favourite for that.
We’re getting pretty close to the ominous date when Planet Sound ceases to exist as Teletext stop doing interesting things in favour of selling holidays to people who don’t have the internet. Have you any words to offer on the end of a national institution?
Well, I'm not going to say it's a massive shame, as it's a fair few years since I've been an avid reader, but I will always have fond memories of watching the football scores change, slowly, on p.303. And I used to be a fairly regular name on The Void and Megazine, checking it religiously every day straight after school, so I feel a little sad that future generations won't have the same experience. I do think the "internet" might catch on and offer them a similar experience, though.
Los Campesinos! play the Deaf Institute on 26th October. There Are Listed Buildings is released on Wichita Records and will be available on their UK tour.
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