Los Campesinos! (25/09/2012)
The 59th Sound recently had the pleasure of catching up with Gareth David (aka Gareth Campesinos!) front man for Welsh septet Los Campesinos! Having just arrived back home after a week in sunny Spain, Gareth gave us the low down on recording latest album ‘Hello Sadness’ and touring Australia for the first and maybe last time ever, as part of the Harvest festival line-up.
Hey is this Gareth?
It is, hey Nazia how you doing?
I’m good! How are you?
I’m very well, thank you very much
That’s good, yeah I don’t know what happened with Jason last week, but I’m glad I got through to one of you guys!
Oh you had trouble with Jason did you? I don’t know what happened there, did you get through to him at all? I think he may have forgotten at the end of a long week.
So I’ll get into the questions, where are you at the moment?
I am at home we just got back from a week of shows in Spain. We had a week there in the gorgeous sunshine and got back late yesterday, so just getting back to a brief bit of normality really.
The band release a quarterly fanzine called ‘Heat Rash’ which is a collection of images, stories and music, what’s your contribution to that?
I’m the editor basically, I crack the whip as the one who makes sure it’s as enjoyable for the rest of the band as possible, by constantly nagging and trying to get them to finish their pieces and try to get it to the press on time. It’s a thankless task and one which I don’t deserve any thanks for either [laughs]. I contribute a large proportion of the written content, each issue has a different theme and the last one was basically a gate to our last album ‘Hello Sadness’. This next one which we’re doing at the moment is based on touring and live performances and stuff, so I kind of direct it and edit it.
What was it like recording ‘Hello Sadness’ at Music Lan in Girona? I think that’s how you say it…
It was amazing, Girona, I’m not sure, I can’t say it properly myself, but it was incredible. We’ve been very lucky that we got to record all four of our records in exotic climates. This was the first time we recorded in Europe and Music Lan in Girona was a really great studio incredibly well equipped, but most of all it was just in the most beautiful location.
We were surrounded by fields and we were in the shadows of the Pyrenees Mountains and the facilities included an outdoor swimming pool and a pool table and a cinema room. It was an incredibly peaceful environment to be recording in. I think that kind contributed to the way we approached the record and allowed us to approach with sort of the fervour that we did.
Producer John Goodmanson (Wu Tang Clan) is back on board for this record, he also produced ‘We are beautiful, we are doomed’ and ‘Romance is Boring’, what’s it like working with him?
John is absolutely fantastic; he mixed together our first record called ‘Hold on Now Youngster’ which we were doing with another producer but it all started to fall apart. We kind of called in John as an emergency, to fix the shit, but since then we’ve become very close friends with him. He’s just such an open and warm character. I think in an environment (where) you’re recording and you’re putting your heart on the line and all your artistic endeavours are exposed to judgement, having somebody like John who is as sympathetic and understanding as possible is important.
As well as the fact that his CV speaks for itself, having worked with bands as varied as Wu Tang Clan and Pavement and Hanson and Owl City, so really he knows his stuff. When we’re in the studio he’s very much the eighth member of the band and I don’t think we could imagine doing an album without him.
There have been some reshuffles in the band; Jason, your sister Kim and Rob Taylor (aka Sparky Deathcap) have joined the group. How has the dynamic shifted since the changes in line up?
I guess now at twenty six, twenty seven years old we’re adults as opposed to when we started the band we were…..young adults [laughs]. So our relationships as friends and as band members and as human beings are lot more sensible and mature and I think that’s caused a much better environment between all of us. So the people that have come in have been natural, very, I wouldn’t use the word replacements, because this kind of feels like what the band was always supposed to be.
I guess previous members had other commitments which we knew they were going to pursue or other things they were perhaps distracted by and now the seven of us as we have it, are incredibly focussed and devoted. We’re the closest of friends as well, so it really it’s been that Los Campesinos! is more enjoyable now than it ever has before.
How did Jason go from being the band’s road manager and merchandise seller, to the full time drummer?
Well he was never road manager I think that’s giving him far too much credit! Yeah he sold our merch on tour. Jason’s an incredible drummer and he’s drummed in a lot of bands in the past but he’s only ever really been sort of a part time member of the band’s that he’s been in. When we needed a new drummer he was the obvious replacement because he was one of our closest friends, having been on tour with us since about 2008.
So he was already very familiar with the songs after having heard them every night for the past few years. Then when it came to doing the new ‘Hello Sadness’ and with him playing on the record and being able to contribute to writing drum parts and how the songs would shape themselves, it’s been a natural and obvious transition for us I suppose.
Well you might want to check the wiki it says he’s (Jason) been your road manager!
Checking the Wikipedia is one of the things I would least like to do in the whole entire world! [laughs]. I think (people) who update the band’s Wikipedia page think they know a lot more than they actually do.
What’s the creative process like with seven people in the band?
It’s myself and Tom, I write the lyrics and Tom writes the music and it’s pretty much as simple as that, it’s how we kind of started the band. Although, for example, with Jason joining the band and his being able to contribute to drum parts in a way that Tom wouldn’t necessarily. Him not being a drummer himself, he doesn’t have the same sort of understanding that Jason does.
But everybody’s kind of, I suppose we’ve hit on a formula that works for us and the rest of the band have been happy for that to be the case and so there are no arguments. We pretty much have the same ideas, direction as the band that we want to take it in and me and Tom are happy bearing the brunt of the song writing, so it works very harmoniously.
So you’ve done a couple of other things, you were in Paul Heaton's The 8th very recently, how did you find that?
Amazing, he is my all-time favourite song writer and so then to be invited by him to perform with him, was completely overwhelming. I think the main reason I was asked is because he was aware of what a big fan I was [laughs] and knew I would say yes to doing it. It was a really interesting thing to do something different too; obviously being in Los Campesinos! involves kind of a lot of gigs in dingy clubs and basements. The surroundings of the shows are a lot more conventional sort of rock music surroundings. To go and do this show with Paul Heaton which had a full light show and a string quartet and choreography as a part of them, was something I don’t think I ever would have been able to experience with Los Campesinos!, it was amazing to get that opportunity.
You’ve recently played the Redding and Leeds festivals, what springs to your mind as some career highlights thus far?
I guess a whole myriad of things, obviously the sort of days when we were signing a record deal, is still hugely prominent in our thoughts and happy memories with a lot of U.S festivals we’ve done like Lollapalooza. Lollapalooza’s probably the most amazing festival experience we’ve ever had in Chicago, that was amazing. Then things like on personal level for me doing the Paul Heaton stuff is a dream come true. Things like being on the Budweiser advert, that’s the sort of thing that makes you feel like we’re a proper band and so that’s still something we’re very proud of.
Do any of the members have annoying habits?
Umm I think we probably all do, but by now we spend ninety per cent of our time to together so our annoying habits have stopped being habits and have just become a part of that person. I think we’ve all just become very, very irritating people to each other [laughs].
And having your sister in the band has that thrown up any challenges?
No it’s the most wonderful thing in the world. I think to be able to do all the things that we get to do, but also to able share it with a very loved family member makes it all the more wonderful. So I’m always grateful to have her along and I’d like to think she feels the same about me being there.
This will be your first ever Australian tour! Are you looking forward to coming to visit?
Yeah completely, I think after six years of touring there are not many places that we get to visit for the first time anymore. We get to go to lots of places still, but they’re places we’ve been to three or four times before. Australia has been the one area that’s kind of loomed as potentially being a place we’d never get to go. Before we were offered Harvest Festival we genuinely thought it was just a write off, we would never get to Australia. Which would have been a great shame because one of the earliest things I can remember of our band receiving support was a lot of people in Australia being like ‘I really want to see you guys play live’ and there has been a bubbling undercurrent of that ever since.
It all happened very quickly, we received an offer and then we were like ‘of course we’d like to’. It’s just, Australia, particularly for a seven piece band, is a very expensive place to get to and finally we received a financial offer that would make it possible. So yeah we’re absolutely overjoyed to get to play there and it will feel like the sort of feelings we experienced a lot in the first couple years of the band, of seeing new places and being really excited for these new places and for that reason, it’ll be amazing.
Yeah I think you’re making a lot of fans happy coming down; there are a lot of excited people waiting.
Yeah, we’re very grateful to Harvest Festival for that because you know we’ve wanted to do that for a long time and nobody’s ever helped us.
The band is playing Harvest Festival in November, any artists on the line-up that you’re hanging out to see?
Dexys Midnight Runners are one of my all-time favourite bands, so the possibility of me getting to see them play four times, I’m seeing going them in a couple of weeks, they’re playing in the city. But yeah to get to see them four times in the space of a week at Harvest is going to be fantastic.
What kind of experience would you like festival goers to take away from your set at Harvest?
We’re going to be very, very excited I suppose and we’d want to pass that excitement on to the audience at least, if we might be able to. I can only assume because it’s taken us six years to get to Australia, it just may well the only time we get to play there. So hopefully it’ll be worthy of that sort of once in a lifetime sentiment.
What’s next on the cards for Los Campesinos! I heard that there was a fifth album coming out maybe next year?
We’ll have the November shows, they’ll be our last shows of the year in Australia and then I think January, February back in the studio we don’t stop for long. So yeah, new album hopefully recorded early next year.
Nazia Hafiz
Hey is this Gareth?
It is, hey Nazia how you doing?
I’m good! How are you?
I’m very well, thank you very much
That’s good, yeah I don’t know what happened with Jason last week, but I’m glad I got through to one of you guys!
Oh you had trouble with Jason did you? I don’t know what happened there, did you get through to him at all? I think he may have forgotten at the end of a long week.
So I’ll get into the questions, where are you at the moment?
I am at home we just got back from a week of shows in Spain. We had a week there in the gorgeous sunshine and got back late yesterday, so just getting back to a brief bit of normality really.
The band release a quarterly fanzine called ‘Heat Rash’ which is a collection of images, stories and music, what’s your contribution to that?
I’m the editor basically, I crack the whip as the one who makes sure it’s as enjoyable for the rest of the band as possible, by constantly nagging and trying to get them to finish their pieces and try to get it to the press on time. It’s a thankless task and one which I don’t deserve any thanks for either [laughs]. I contribute a large proportion of the written content, each issue has a different theme and the last one was basically a gate to our last album ‘Hello Sadness’. This next one which we’re doing at the moment is based on touring and live performances and stuff, so I kind of direct it and edit it.
What was it like recording ‘Hello Sadness’ at Music Lan in Girona? I think that’s how you say it…
It was amazing, Girona, I’m not sure, I can’t say it properly myself, but it was incredible. We’ve been very lucky that we got to record all four of our records in exotic climates. This was the first time we recorded in Europe and Music Lan in Girona was a really great studio incredibly well equipped, but most of all it was just in the most beautiful location.
We were surrounded by fields and we were in the shadows of the Pyrenees Mountains and the facilities included an outdoor swimming pool and a pool table and a cinema room. It was an incredibly peaceful environment to be recording in. I think that kind contributed to the way we approached the record and allowed us to approach with sort of the fervour that we did.
Producer John Goodmanson (Wu Tang Clan) is back on board for this record, he also produced ‘We are beautiful, we are doomed’ and ‘Romance is Boring’, what’s it like working with him?
John is absolutely fantastic; he mixed together our first record called ‘Hold on Now Youngster’ which we were doing with another producer but it all started to fall apart. We kind of called in John as an emergency, to fix the shit, but since then we’ve become very close friends with him. He’s just such an open and warm character. I think in an environment (where) you’re recording and you’re putting your heart on the line and all your artistic endeavours are exposed to judgement, having somebody like John who is as sympathetic and understanding as possible is important.
As well as the fact that his CV speaks for itself, having worked with bands as varied as Wu Tang Clan and Pavement and Hanson and Owl City, so really he knows his stuff. When we’re in the studio he’s very much the eighth member of the band and I don’t think we could imagine doing an album without him.
There have been some reshuffles in the band; Jason, your sister Kim and Rob Taylor (aka Sparky Deathcap) have joined the group. How has the dynamic shifted since the changes in line up?
I guess now at twenty six, twenty seven years old we’re adults as opposed to when we started the band we were…..young adults [laughs]. So our relationships as friends and as band members and as human beings are lot more sensible and mature and I think that’s caused a much better environment between all of us. So the people that have come in have been natural, very, I wouldn’t use the word replacements, because this kind of feels like what the band was always supposed to be.
I guess previous members had other commitments which we knew they were going to pursue or other things they were perhaps distracted by and now the seven of us as we have it, are incredibly focussed and devoted. We’re the closest of friends as well, so it really it’s been that Los Campesinos! is more enjoyable now than it ever has before.
How did Jason go from being the band’s road manager and merchandise seller, to the full time drummer?
Well he was never road manager I think that’s giving him far too much credit! Yeah he sold our merch on tour. Jason’s an incredible drummer and he’s drummed in a lot of bands in the past but he’s only ever really been sort of a part time member of the band’s that he’s been in. When we needed a new drummer he was the obvious replacement because he was one of our closest friends, having been on tour with us since about 2008.
So he was already very familiar with the songs after having heard them every night for the past few years. Then when it came to doing the new ‘Hello Sadness’ and with him playing on the record and being able to contribute to writing drum parts and how the songs would shape themselves, it’s been a natural and obvious transition for us I suppose.
Well you might want to check the wiki it says he’s (Jason) been your road manager!
Checking the Wikipedia is one of the things I would least like to do in the whole entire world! [laughs]. I think (people) who update the band’s Wikipedia page think they know a lot more than they actually do.
What’s the creative process like with seven people in the band?
It’s myself and Tom, I write the lyrics and Tom writes the music and it’s pretty much as simple as that, it’s how we kind of started the band. Although, for example, with Jason joining the band and his being able to contribute to drum parts in a way that Tom wouldn’t necessarily. Him not being a drummer himself, he doesn’t have the same sort of understanding that Jason does.
But everybody’s kind of, I suppose we’ve hit on a formula that works for us and the rest of the band have been happy for that to be the case and so there are no arguments. We pretty much have the same ideas, direction as the band that we want to take it in and me and Tom are happy bearing the brunt of the song writing, so it works very harmoniously.
So you’ve done a couple of other things, you were in Paul Heaton's The 8th very recently, how did you find that?
Amazing, he is my all-time favourite song writer and so then to be invited by him to perform with him, was completely overwhelming. I think the main reason I was asked is because he was aware of what a big fan I was [laughs] and knew I would say yes to doing it. It was a really interesting thing to do something different too; obviously being in Los Campesinos! involves kind of a lot of gigs in dingy clubs and basements. The surroundings of the shows are a lot more conventional sort of rock music surroundings. To go and do this show with Paul Heaton which had a full light show and a string quartet and choreography as a part of them, was something I don’t think I ever would have been able to experience with Los Campesinos!, it was amazing to get that opportunity.
You’ve recently played the Redding and Leeds festivals, what springs to your mind as some career highlights thus far?
I guess a whole myriad of things, obviously the sort of days when we were signing a record deal, is still hugely prominent in our thoughts and happy memories with a lot of U.S festivals we’ve done like Lollapalooza. Lollapalooza’s probably the most amazing festival experience we’ve ever had in Chicago, that was amazing. Then things like on personal level for me doing the Paul Heaton stuff is a dream come true. Things like being on the Budweiser advert, that’s the sort of thing that makes you feel like we’re a proper band and so that’s still something we’re very proud of.
Do any of the members have annoying habits?
Umm I think we probably all do, but by now we spend ninety per cent of our time to together so our annoying habits have stopped being habits and have just become a part of that person. I think we’ve all just become very, very irritating people to each other [laughs].
And having your sister in the band has that thrown up any challenges?
No it’s the most wonderful thing in the world. I think to be able to do all the things that we get to do, but also to able share it with a very loved family member makes it all the more wonderful. So I’m always grateful to have her along and I’d like to think she feels the same about me being there.
This will be your first ever Australian tour! Are you looking forward to coming to visit?
Yeah completely, I think after six years of touring there are not many places that we get to visit for the first time anymore. We get to go to lots of places still, but they’re places we’ve been to three or four times before. Australia has been the one area that’s kind of loomed as potentially being a place we’d never get to go. Before we were offered Harvest Festival we genuinely thought it was just a write off, we would never get to Australia. Which would have been a great shame because one of the earliest things I can remember of our band receiving support was a lot of people in Australia being like ‘I really want to see you guys play live’ and there has been a bubbling undercurrent of that ever since.
It all happened very quickly, we received an offer and then we were like ‘of course we’d like to’. It’s just, Australia, particularly for a seven piece band, is a very expensive place to get to and finally we received a financial offer that would make it possible. So yeah we’re absolutely overjoyed to get to play there and it will feel like the sort of feelings we experienced a lot in the first couple years of the band, of seeing new places and being really excited for these new places and for that reason, it’ll be amazing.
Yeah I think you’re making a lot of fans happy coming down; there are a lot of excited people waiting.
Yeah, we’re very grateful to Harvest Festival for that because you know we’ve wanted to do that for a long time and nobody’s ever helped us.
The band is playing Harvest Festival in November, any artists on the line-up that you’re hanging out to see?
Dexys Midnight Runners are one of my all-time favourite bands, so the possibility of me getting to see them play four times, I’m seeing going them in a couple of weeks, they’re playing in the city. But yeah to get to see them four times in the space of a week at Harvest is going to be fantastic.
What kind of experience would you like festival goers to take away from your set at Harvest?
We’re going to be very, very excited I suppose and we’d want to pass that excitement on to the audience at least, if we might be able to. I can only assume because it’s taken us six years to get to Australia, it just may well the only time we get to play there. So hopefully it’ll be worthy of that sort of once in a lifetime sentiment.
What’s next on the cards for Los Campesinos! I heard that there was a fifth album coming out maybe next year?
We’ll have the November shows, they’ll be our last shows of the year in Australia and then I think January, February back in the studio we don’t stop for long. So yeah, new album hopefully recorded early next year.
Nazia Hafiz