(Joe Burnham interviewing, Kirsty Farthing photography)
Interview 1: Tom Campesino.
So you've been having a fun time so far?
T: Yeah, it's been a bit nervewracking since we're playing these new songs for the first time. I think we're getting into it slowly, but it's harder to enjoy playing those new songs at first because you're concentrating so much.
Yeah, there's more of a dynamic than some of the songs on your first album. More going on?
T: Yeah, the main goal was to try and write songs which would be more interesting over a longer period of time; trying to delay the sense of gratification you get with some of the older stuff.
Because your first album was quite accessible?
T: Yeah, but we've now deliberately tried to spread those moments out, instead of sorta trying to force them down the listener's throat. So there are some things, like trying to avoid the repitition of hooks and creating more dissenence; just that idea that when there is that dissenence, that the more harmonic moments are exaggerated.
Do you enjoy playing songs which are more stretched-out, or do you perfer the immediacy of your earlier work?
T: I think for a live session it's a combination of both. It'd be exhausting for us - and those in the crowd - if it was too much one or the other. It's sort've like doing the tracklisting for an album; there should be the peaks and troffs. And so we try to do that live as well; the same with balancing old material with new material. We've obviously got this new album that we're excited for people to hear but we're aware that it's a live show and they've actually paid money for it - they probably 'wanna hear the other stuff. And we're happy to play them too, playing to how the crowd reacts.
And you've been playing America now - how has that gone?
T: Over the summer we were there for quite awhile. We had four months, this time last year, where we did two sorta sets of recording, and then we went back in - may? - for another month. We've not been back since, but I think we're going back - I think May again this year for a gig.
Were you playing mostly festivals or smaller gigs?
T: Kinda a headline tour - the clubs of the bigger cities. I mean it was a pretty comprehensive tour: up and down the east and west coast. And further inland this time - bits of Texas - New Mexico. Had quite a long spell down there. It's fun to be in those places - you get something called 'Vegas throat'
Vegas Throat?
T: Because the air is so dry, you start to get a croaky voice. Apparently Frank Sinatra used to suffer from it when he was in Las Vegas and the nervada desert.
Well that adds some credibility to it, at least.
T: Yeah, it makes it seem less weedy in a silly way.
Do you think the American audiences have reacted differently to the songs?
T: I dunno really. We sell more records, and we do better in America.
Really? I didn't know that.
...
T: Yeah, and the fact that we can go to smaller places in America - the more provincial places and have people come is kinda fun.
I didn't know you were doing so well there, because a lot of English bands find difficulty breaking into the states
T: Yeah, well we actually do better in the US than we do in this country; which is kinda weird.
Why do you think that is? Because it's quite rare for an English band to do well there.
T: Well that might be more indicative of how badly we're doing in this country *laugh* I think there is this British thing - Americans like the accents, so we can get away with it. Maybe they find us charming for some reason?
Is it intentional that you're starting this tour a few days ago, and you've got the album - romance is boring - coming out the same month as valentines day?
T: *laughs* Well it's a nice coincidence, and we're going with it. But it wasn't pre-ordained, it was.. yeah.
What does valentines mean for a campesino then?
T: We've actually got a day off. I'm gonna see my girlfriend back home... I think everyone's got boyfriends or girlfriends back home, so we'll probably have a big band orgy.
Interview 2: Tom Camesino and Rob Campesino
The album leaked last year. How did you feel about it? I know when Brand New's album leaked, they took it very personally and changed a lot of the arrangements around. Did you feel like that?
T: Yeah, I mean the immediate reaction is that it's disappointing and it's really upsetting because you want to be in control of how you present your material to other people. But it's got to the point where you're seen as stupidly idealistic to even consider that as a way for it to happen. But we are still idealistic, and we are still at the stage where we'd like to believe that we could have that control.
I mean it is quite rare now that albums will come out without being leaked first.
T: Yeah, I mean it is rare, but it's kinda sad as well that it's got to that stage. And the thing is , as well, it's obviously flattering that there's a demand to hear the music and that people are willing to go to the effort to leak it. And there is something quite nice about the idea of it spreading organically on the internet, with people just taking an interest in it and sharing it with their friends. But at the same time it's frustrating.
This is a question which might be quite cliché - filesharing and your opinions on it. Are you frustrated when people download your albums, or do you take it as a compliment?
T: Well it's a combination of both because I really don't know what the answer is. And I can understand why people do it - if you can have something for free why would you pay for it? Because that just becomes a charity otherwise. But my own stance - because I used to download illegally - but since I've seen the effect of it on bands and the industry, I've made a concerted effort to stop doing it.
What sort of effect have you seen on bands?
T: Um, they can't afford to tour... they can't afford to do anything basically. And when we've been trying to arrange support for our American tour, hardly any of the bands can do it because they're not making any money from anywhere. No band at our level and considerably upwards makes any kind of profit at all from touring. You're lucky if you break even at most. Most tours lose money, but the tour was always to promote the album.
I didn't know that, I'd always heard that most bands make more money through the touring?
R: That's the rolling stones example, where they make millions a night.
T: It was always like a lost maze, but it was promotion for the album. And we gain back through selling records.
R: It's strange really, I think people consume a lot more music than they used to. I think with the internet particularly, there's sort of more awareness of bands than maybe there was 10 years ago. And maybe that's why people feel the need to
T: And that's one of the things I've found that I've liked about my new approach. Because once you start paying for music, you make sure that it's something you really want, and you almost put more effort into enjoying it and listening to it because you've made that commitment. I genuinely get more pleasure from music that way, and things feel less disposable, and albums which I might've discarded after one listen before, I now take more time with because I've spent - like, £6 - online.
Obviously with your first album it took awhile for reviews and stuff to roll in, but now with this it's obviously all happening at once - do you read the reviews? Or try to...
T: Yeahhhhh, kind'of. *Laughs*. I have Google Alerts and so...
Cause this is one thing I've sorta wondered, like, do the bands all sort've get together in a group and read them or is it more like "Hey, I heard these guys like us"
T: Sometimes the people that do the PR will forward you the good reviews saying you've done a good job and quietly forget about the bad reviews. I think me and Garath both get Google Alerts and both read most reviews. And every now and then we'll be like "Did you read that one?". But there's a LOT of reviews, but - not surprisingly really - there's a small amount of well-written reviews. Kinda regardless of what's positive and negative, it's always apparent what's well-written and what isn't. And so, as soon as it's badly written you sort've discard what they're saying.
What publications do you take more seriously then?
T: It's not even that, it's down to blogs too. I mean anyone can write their own blog. And some people are better at assessing music than other people. Like, music criticism is a pretty hard thing to do - and it's great that everyone can have their own blog and say what they think, it's good to have that - but it's almost an art-form in itself that not many people can do that well. And again, regardless what they think of you, it is obvious whether it's well-written or not.
R: It is though. Like, I used to do the music reviews for Nouse - and I used to like pan bands all the time without any kinda' feeling... Because we kinda knew that - although we had a website - there wasn't really going to be any repercussions, unless the paper was sent out to press people. But now, like if anyone says anything bad about you on the internet, you can find it and track it down. Which can be kinda depressing!
T: That's the thing as well, I don't think we could ever preach about filesharing or downloading because it's only now that we're in this position that we can suddenly emphasise with musicians! *laughs*.
How do you think the reception has actually been to the album?
T: It's kinda as I expected because we're sort've a marmite band and we've made a marmite album. So it's obviously not gonna be for everyone. Well we were quite aware of that... and we tried to be as self-indulgent as possible... because you can go down the route of sorta trying to second-guess what people want to hear or try to write what you think's going to be popular, and you're gonna end up in a coldasack. I mean we could write a Vampire Weekend album, but we're not like that. You've kinda just gotta do your own thing, and if people connect with it in a positive way then that's great, but if not... I mean, we made like a 15-track album which is obviously overlong in the modern...
And obviously you had sorta an 'extended EP come out last year'
T: Yeah yeah. And I think we could've paired down the album, but we sorta decided to leave it as it was like... I mean, albums like Wowee Zowee or like the first three or four modest mouse albums are far too long
R: It's weird because shorter track-lists sort've elevate the tracks, making them signposted like "these are really precious!" Rather than if you have loads of them... I don't really understand the whole thing, because I always sort've see it as a bonus when there's lots of tracks on an album.
T: I can understand why people would think it'd dilute it, but at the same time I can still go back to those longer albums - even now - listen later in the album and discover things that I might not've paid attention to.
R: Like 69 Love Songs
T: Yeah exactly. But you can't listen to that in one sitting.
Yeah, it's a bit overwhelming.
T: And 15 tracks isn't quite 69 but it's the same sort've idea.
Obviously from the first to the second to the third album, it has been sorta getting moodier, more stretched out, more... because obviously, as all music reviewers should, I read the Youtube comments on your videos to see the 'common person's' view of things, and like one thing which kept on coming up was people were like "This used to be a really happy band that I could kinda play and it'd make me feel bouncy", and a few of them are saying that's not happening now. How do you sorta respond to that? Is that intentional or?
T: I don't know, I guess from our perspective the emphasis was always on sorta melodies and the melodic aspects of things. And it still is, but we've just sorta stretched that out and introduced more dissinent aspects and spaced out the hooks. I don't think we ever saw ourselves as a happy or sad band, like you kinda hope that things are a little more complex. We always tried to embrace the paradoxical elements as well because Gareth’s lyrics were often quite dark and they'd contrast with the upbeat elements of the music, so we always saw ourselves as that. But no one ever sees you in the way that you want to be seen or that you see yourself, so you can't control that. But I don't mind that people think it used to be happy and now it's sad.
Do you think that pattern will continue, or do you think you'll keep on changing your style? Or where do you see it going?
T: I think instinctively we naturally sorta want to push ourselves and change and try things out. I mean we might start approaching things more conceptually... but to me, the change that you mentioned just felt like this more organic, natural development, as much as playing live, playing louder with the guitars more distorted. And it's only when I go back now and listen to the first album I realize how different it sounds. It wasn't necessarily that we sat down and decided "let's sound like this", it's just how it happened.
R: Because you had like a different lifestyle when you were writing the first record too, so I suppose the purpose of it was different. You weren't writing it as like a record were you?
T: Yeah, like that was kinda like the main conceptual approach... to write an album in its entirety, with the peaks and troffs and let it develop either musically or lyrically .
Where do you think it'll go after this then? Same sorta style, or try something new?
T: Well hopefully we'll try something new but I don't like it when bands kinda cynically genre-hop. So I think we're not gonna go electro or start making afro-pop.
R: Cause bands make those... Like there was sorta a spate of Balkan folk music records that came out, sorta like cultural pillaging
T: Yeah like that's the thing, because it can sometimes come across as sort've dilettantism where you're just kinda superficially grabbing these elements from certain genres. So hopefully those changes will continue to develop, but it'll continue to be a natural thing.
Playing any festivals this year?
T: We should be, yeah, but it's all being arranged at the moment. Well *laughs* we're kinda waiting for the offers, see if anyone wants us.
R: Yeah, York Woodstock maybe?
That'd be good, sure they'd be happy to have you
R: They still have that?
They do!
T (to Rob): How do you feel about being interviewed by your old rivals?
R: Ha, well it was quite a fierce rivalry as I remember it. Because at the time, and it's probably still the same now, but Vision was a bit more tabloid-journalism but like massively more successful and streamlined and professional. Yeahh, and Nouse was a bit of a joke really. We were trying to sorta tidy it up...
That's gonna be in quote-marks!
R: Ha, we put loads and loads of white space in everywhere... We won like a student media award but... I think Vision was probably... well, not superior at all, but shallow. Ha, yeah, you can quote this.
How about seeing bands? Any bands coming up that you're gonna try and see?
T: Yeah we're going to the ATP with Pavement hopefully. Hopefully get a chance to go to prim-con-ver-ah(?) as well, as that's incredible, I went last year and it's vast become my favourite festival.
Where is that?
T: In Barcelona. Yeah, I'd really recommend looking up that festival.
One last question I guess - any crazzzzy stories? On tour, that you can delight the kids with?
T: *Laughs* Well we've got two separate vans on tour and one has been labelled the party van and one the pooper van. I think me and Rob are firmly in the pooper van, so we're probably not the ones who are partying. Oh we had some mayo on the bus earlier that threatened to spill over.
Hardcore!
T: Yeah, it nearly went everywhere.
R: We have more a free-and-easy attitude towards condiments... it may've spread all over the windows.
So not exactly smashing windows or burning down hotels?
T: Not yet, no.
R: One day. Although I broke the toilet roll holder this morning. God it was... yeah, I was going through a really tough period.
Interview 3: Garath Campesino
Kinda exciting, all the loud booming noises! It's a bit like we're in a bomb shelter here.
G: *laughs* it becomes a lot less exciting when you do it every day. Yeah, sound-check is quite traumatic.
You look like you're sorta hiding from the world there.
G: Nah I just worry about coming out into the cold, so I popped this on
Oh what, because that affects the vocals?
G: Nah, just because I'm a wuss.
Is it true that if you have certain environments in the day it changes how you sound? One girl I knew wouldn't drink milk a week before she sang.
G: Well I don't drink milk anyway! I'm a vegan, so. So I don't have any dairy, dairy never comes near my throat. But I think I'm not exactly a singer per-say anyway.
What are you then, if you're not a singer?
G: Well I sing but I'm not a singer. You know...
So how do you pinpoint yourself in the genre of everything?
G: I try not to!
How've you been? Because you've been on tour two days now?
G: Yeah this is the third show tonight, cause we did Wrexham a couple of days ago, and had a great gig the day before yesterday. Really busy gig. And tonight should be good; it's sold out, and it's a really cool little venue, so it should be fun.
Looking forward to the rest of the tour? Any dates in particular?
G: Yeah, London will be good it's our big headline shows at Coco's, one and a half thousand people so that'll be amazing. Really looking forward to playing Falmouth because we've never played in there before. And often when you go to places that don't have gigs so frequently, the people at the gigs enjoy it a lot more.
I think York is like that too. This is more or less a wasteland for decent bands.
G: This is my first time in York, and I've just wondered through town.
Well welcome to the city!
G: Thank you for having us. It's very pretty.
We were just saying that York has a smell of burnt chocolate mixed with ciggerettes.
G: Well we noticed the chocolate. When we were coming in earlier we were like... wait, hold on! Nah but I'm from Bath, and Bath is quite similar looking to York really. But it seems like a nice place.
So the album's out now. Think it's been a positive response? We were talking to the other guys about whether they read the reviews, and they said they occasionally forward you things.
G: Yeah, well I think myself and Tom pay attention to the good or bad. It's always interesting to have your ego massaged or be kicked in the teeth a little bit. It's been brilliant though; the places where it's kinda important to get good reviews from, or we'd like to get good reviews from - have been incredibly flattering.
Which places are that?
G: Well obvious place like Pitchfork, NME, and I guess more prominent British websites like drowned in sound.
You do a blog for drowned in sound don't you?
G: Oh nah, we did like a takeover thing awhile ago to coincide with the release of the album, so we provided some content. But most of the blogging we do is on our own blog.
Cause it's like, this is what one person said, that when you believe one reivew when they're good, you also have to take it on board when they're not so good as well. Do you find that to be quite hard?
G: Well
Because obviously this is a large change of direction from your first album, so the reviews will be quite varied.
G: Well ultimately we don't put out records unless we have the upmost faith in them, so to a certain extent I can read bad reviews and not really get down about them. Because we've realised essentially that this record that we've made is the record that we *wanted* to make. And the state that it's in now is it's perfect state, because these are the songs that we've made and how we've envisioned them to be. And so some person who works part time for a webzine sayin' "I don't like it" doesn't really matter.
So you sorta have a layer of thick skin?
G: Yeah! Or just a total lack of concern. It's just like - I don't know them, they don't know me. They might not like our band, but I might not like a feature that they wrote. So you know, you can't expect everyone to like everything. But it's important to have people around you who's opinions you respect - there's like ten people who I probably want to hear the record - and if one of those people said "Oh, you haven't done this bit very well" or "That bit's a bit fast" I'd be affected by that. I'd think - "ah well, I want you to like it". That's just like close friends and people who's music I like myself. So as long as they like it, they're the people you care about liking it.
Has it been a change touring without Aleks now?
G: Um, it's been remarkably smooth; it's been like a really easy transition. And I think it's really exiting now, because we've got Rob touring with us as well, and he's toured with bands before but never as intenseively as he has with us. And Kim joined the band, this is her first experience of touring.
How's she found it?
G: She's found it really well, like a lot easier than I think any of us expected her to. But because all of this is totally new to her, she brings like a newfound enthusiasm, that perhaps is doing good.
Not a bad thing
G: I think we'd become a little bit jaded. And now that we're experiencing this, and some of us had been experiencing it for the first time, they're more excited and I think that rubs off on us. And I think now with the eight of us, we've got a really good mix of characters. And we're getting on better than we ever have.
That's good. So with the change of direction - it was kinda hinted at with the last album; I know you don't call it an album, you call it an extended EP, don't you?
G: Uh we don't, but other people do. But again, we don't really see it as necessary for us to pigeonhole everything. We just leave it up to other people.
But it's definitely a change of direction from your first one. I mean, would it be fair to say the first one was much more accessible?
G: I really don't know. Like, as you said there, feeling it's different to previous stuff, I've read and heard people say that they think it's vastly different, but equally I've read just as many people say that it's just a continuation of what we've been doing before. So I think it's really interesting that there's two really different takes on it. But I don't... I think the first record, the way that it was recorded I don't think was particularly accessible. I think it's quite an abrasive record and all the songs are played far too quickly and very much sounds like the first time we're in a recording studio. And I think now, we've really become better songwriters and I think the hooks... well, there's nothing quite as obvious as 'You me dancing' but I think a lot of those successful songs rely on the fact that the chrous is so juvinale.
Because you did have more prominent choruses in your first album. And that's probably less so now? I mean you have Romance is Boring which is probably the main sorta chorus you have now?
G: Yeah, yeah. I think so. I think it probably is a result of us improving as musicians and wanting to try to push ourselves more. And that means that while trying to experiment, we experimented with song structures more and sonic pitches and stuff, so perhaps it's not as much verse- chorus -verse- chorus like things might previously have been.
Do you see that sorta continuing in the future? Going further and further out?
G: I... no, I don't know what the next step will be. It'll be something that we'll have to give consideration to. And I think the way the band is now, with the eight of us and the musical knowledge that we've gained and the musical ability that we've improved with - and also the support we've had from our management and our record label - means that we can go in lots of different directions, there's lots of different things we could do. So hopefully whatever we do do will be exactly what we want to be doing.
One of the things the guys were saying is that the band is actually more successful in America than it is here. I just thought that was kinda interesting because I've never heard of that happening before.
G: Yeah, yeah, it's great. I wouldn't really know what to put that down to. Like when we go to the US we play to ridiculously large sell-out gigs all over. Yeah it's amazing. And it's obviously very exciting to tour the US because it's obviously... America!
Like to spend more time there?
G: Well we go there a lot anyway. We spent probably six months of last year in America, so I think so as much as there's demand for it basically. But it's always exciting to be there, and there's places in America now that we feel we know quite well and quite comfortable spending a few days in.
So it's valentine's day tomorrow, the album is 'romance is boring', how are you spending the holiday?
G: Ha, well I don't celebrate myself a cynic as much as a realist.
So what's the nature of romance to you then? This is a pretty deep question for a music interview, but that's just how I roll.
G: I don't know! *laughs* I think when you start thinking in terms of romance, that's when it becomes contrived when the object in itself is defeated. So I wouldn't know... it's not something that I'm able to... I plan to spend Valentines in a romantic tryst, we're going to Aberdeen tomorrow, and we have friends up there. I think Richard has booked a resturant.
Sounds very classy?
G: Yeah, I think it'll start classy and then rapidly decline, like any good relationship really.
One thing I was asking the other guys as well - when the album leaked onto the internet, how did you feel about that? Because some bands really get affected by that.
G: Well I imagine the fact that you're asking means you perhaps know how I felt about it, because I think we were quite open at the time. I think it's incredibly disappointing, because at the time I hadn't finished the artwork and stuff. I just think it's our creation, it's our thing, and I think at least we should be entitled to choose when people hear it. Because there's so few things that you can actually control when you're in a band, so it'd be nice to have control over that, which is essentially something we spent a year making.
And obviously that taps into the whole filesharing thing?
G: Well I think there's a real distinction between downloading generally and leaks because I think leaks really do just impinge upon the rights and choices of the artist, whereas downloading is a far bigger cattle of fish that I'm no where near intelligent enough to consider.
That's a very safe answer?
G: Well it's a very honest answer.
Because a lot of musicians have this problem. If they say they don't mind downloading, the label gets pissed at them, or if they say they do then the fans get angry.
G: Well I think an artist is very much entitled to mind, to be honest, because they invest time and money in making it so it's only fair that people - if they want to hear it - should be prepared to give something back. But as I said, it's not something I'm particularly...
Mm. So are there any places you'd still like to play? I know you wanted to do ATP before.
G: Yeah we did ATP! Perhaps too early on. Because it's something I'd still like to be looking forward to playing.
Cause it's even referenced in your songs?
G: Yeah, that was before we played it. I think... we've never played in Australia before, and we'd like to. That's the only part of the world really that we've not been to. We've been to South America, we've been to Asia, but Austraila remains quite elusive. It's very expensive to get to. And there's not very much demand - well, there's a small but very devoted group of people who are increasingly frustrated that we've never been there. But I really hope we do before the end.
Mm, and where do you see the end of Los Campesinos? Do you think this could be something that could last quite a few years, or do you think it might be flash in the pan?
G: I hope so. I think we've been going for four years, and had three records, so I'd like to think we're slightly past being a flash in the pan. I think it's exactly the sort of thing that we'll stop it when we get bored, or when we get boring. One or the other. As soon as it stops being fun. And as soon as it starts to seem like something we're doing through duty. That would be when we stop.
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