Just after the release of Hello Sadness (QRO review), Los Campesinos! newbies Jason & Kim + veteran Tom had a cuppa with QRO. In The States for just a few gigs, drummer Jason, singer/keyboardist Kim, and guitarist Tom talked about making Hello Sadness (in Barcelona!), plus new Christmas songs & Heat Rash series of fanzines & seven-inches, the difficulties in making their set lists, all the staff changes in Camp Campesinos! (including the departures of prior singer/keyboardist Aleks, prior drummer Ollie, and just recently left violinist Harriet), who’s the ‘new guy’ now, being in a Budweiser ad during baseball & football (both American & rest of the world), sexy bass voice, ‘bad boy’ tattoos, meeting in Japan, international incest implications, initials, snuff films, and much more…
QRO: Yesterday was the (U.S.) release date of Hello Sadness. It is your first full-length with Kim, [new multi-instrumentalist] Rob, and Jason in the studio, though you’d done All’s Well That Ends EP before that…
Kim Campesinos!: Yes, I did that – did you [Jason]?
Jason Campesinos!: No, this was completely my first.
QRO: So what was it like for you first?
JC: It was really good. I’ve recorded in bands previous to this, but I think it was really nice experience for us. We approached it completely differently, I think – we actually rehearsed the record, which sounds normal, but I think usually they just go in recording without really rehearsing; they just go with the songs, record and write essentially in the studio. We really worked on this from a different angle, really worked and ironed out all the parts, so it was really great for me.
Tom Campesinos!: I think it was different from our previous ones. We used to kind of record either on tour, rehearsing in soundchecks – the other approach as well; we used to just record a lot of stuff and make decisions in the mix.
It was kind of just because recording kept getting delayed; we had sort of been given an extra two months of recording, so it really helped with the attitude we wanted with this album, where we wanted to kind of be decisive with all the parts, and kind of hone it down. We tried different drum phrases out; explore every avenue with every part. It was really fun, really good to do. Hopefully that’s reflected in the record.
QRO: And for you [Kim], this would have been your second?
KC: Yeah. The first time was just, I kind of forget it was recorded, just because it was very quick – we already knew how to play the songs; they were already whole songs.
I was just surprised at how relaxed, and how natural the recording process of this album was. It seemed that, because we had so much time beforehand, it all fell into place. I guess we all knew exactly what we wanted to happen.
It seemed pretty… nice? I don’t want to say ‘easy’…
TC: It didn’t even seem like they were new members anymore by that point, as well – we’d been touring for quite a while. It felt really natural. I don’t think we were even thinking about it that way – I kept forgetting that you guys hadn’t…
QRO: What about the Heat Rash releases – what was the line-up for those?
KC: Yes.
TC: Yes, on all of them.
I guess, with that, we did a little bit of recording, as well, hadn’t we? We did a free Christmas track, two seven-inches. The second one is coming out in the next couple of weeks. It’s all been delayed – months…
QRO: How was making Hello Sadness in Barcelona?
KC: Perfect… It was the best I could experience for recording an album I could imagine. Really great weather, really nice place to be – it was just really nice. It felt more like a holiday than we had to work.
TC: It’s kind of a cliché as well, but when you’re in that good a mood when you make a good record, it definitely helps with the recording. Hopefully it comes through…
QRO: Do you think there was more a change between Hello and [prior record] Romance [Is Boring – QRO review], than say between Romance and [record before that We Are] Beautiful [We Are Doomed – QRO review], or Beautiful and [record before that/debut LP, Hold On Now,] Youngster (QRO review)?
TC: Probably.
This is something we forget as well – we’ve had three staff changes between one record. It’s also the longest gap in time, which is weird. Beautiful/Doomed was pretty quick, so that felt quite natural, and Romance Is Boring was not that far after Beautiful/Doomed, and this one, we had a lot more time.
Yeah, I think there probably was, but it’s kind of incidental, rather than chasing a new sound. Because that always feel disingenuous.
We kind of all sat down and agreed we wanted to make something more direct, kind of hone it down, but it wasn’t like we wanted to go electro or something. And enough had changed for it to feel different, without forcing anything different.
Los Campesinos! playing “The Sea Is a Good Place To Think of the Future” at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY on October 15th, 2010:
QRO: How was your recent U.K. tour, your first tour without Harriet?
TC: I dunno know – it’s been okay? We’re all getting along really well.
We’ve got two new keyboards, which has kind of been a bit of a distraction.
I guess with this record, as well, a lot of the arrangements haven’t needed replacing stuff. It kind of just felt natural and easy. It’s always hard to adapt, but kind of you have to get on with it, look forward – there’s no point in dwelling on the fact that someone’s left, get upset about it. She’s made the right decision; we want to carry on with the band. It was a great tour.
QRO: When did you all know that she was going to leave?
KC: Umm… was it August? She just sat us down, actually, one day we got to the pub and she said, “I’m going back to school.”
TC: I think we were finishing the record.
QRO: Harriet left to go back to school, right? Like Aleks? Does that make any of the rest of you feel guilty for not going back to school?…
[Kim laughs]
TC: Aleks was doing medicine, so she had to go back to finish it, whereas the rest of us were doing three-year courses, so we all got our degrees. But Harriet didn’t finish her course, so she never got her degree – she’s going back to get it.
QRO: What are you doing for violins on the road?
TC: There’s a couple of tracks in there…
KC: I think, like we said, we bought two new keyboards… Adapted a lot of parts. It seems like it’s spread pretty evenly and pretty easily.
TC: There’s a couple of tracks where the song sort of rely on specific violin parts. There’s a couple where we’ve needed to transfer the line to the keyboard. A lot of it is we keeping things simpler; hopefully it is sounding good, rather than lots of instruments.
QRO: [Kim,] You and Rob do most of the new parts?
KC: It makes the most sense to put things on keyboard, rather than trying to put it onto guitar or something. It’s just seems the most natural and obvious way to deal with the situation.
TC: We could use the strings setting on the keyboard – I think we would feel a bit awkward with that. It wouldn’t sound good, and we would be awkward.
QRO: Had you already bought them before Harriet said she was leaving?
TC: Yeah. That was more to be able to play piano. We just needed better keyboards.
[note: at their first show in the U.S. on this tour, the batteries for Tom’s new keyboard died and he had to borrow AA batteries from the crowd…]
QRO: Where did you find Jason? Or Jason, where did you find them?…
JC: I was just hanging around, turning up to all their shows…
I used to play in The Pipettes (QRO photos). Our sound guy used to do sound for these guys. When I left the band, I just sort of e-mailed a few friends, saying, “Is there any more work on the road? I’d like to tour, still.” “Do you want to do merch for these guys?”
I turned up to a show, did merch for maybe three years, and then, yeah, they asked me to tour after that. Kind of a natural thing, really. I was the merch guy for a long time, which kind of makes me feel at least I knew them well before, kind of felt part of it, wasn’t nervous to step in. Quite natural thing…
QRO: [Kim,] Have you been giving Jason pointers on being the ‘new guy’?
JC: I think she’s newer than me, because I was touring in the band before her.
KC:
QRO: You didn’t tell him, ‘just try to be related to one of the current members’?…
KC: [laughs] That’s your way in…
QRO: [Jason,] Do you live in [Los Campesinos! hometown] Cardiff?
JC: I live in Worthing, actually, which is near Brighton. It’s about four-and-a-half-hour train journey to Cardiff. Quite a long journey, but I go up for a few days, stay in Cardiff, and then I just get the train back.
I’ve got a football team down home that I play with, so I quite like going back to football on the weekends.
I lived in Cardiff for a couple of years, and I just decided to head back to where I grew up.
QRO: And what happened with Ollie?
TC: That was kind of like a pretty nasty time for all of us. That was pretty much the hardest decision we had to make. We don’t really like talking about it…
I think it would be unfair of us on Ollie to talk about it, but I think he would probably say the way it happened.
QRO: Why only four northeast dates on this visit to The States (half of them in New York City)?
TC: It’s just meant to be a short, couple of gigs to go with the album. We’re going to do a full tour in the new year.
QRO: After this, you’re playing Japan. Are you going to fly from America to Japan?
TC: That would make sense… That would make a lot of sense.
KC: We’re flying back to the U.K., then flying to Japan. We just love long-haul flights…
TC: Need some air miles…
QRO: Have you played Japan before?
TC: Yeah – this is our band’s fourth or fifth time, maybe more?
JC: I actually met the band in Japan. The first time I ever met them, I was in my previous band. We were both over for ‘British Anthems’, and I was like, ‘Yeah, we’re so cool…’ And [Los Campesinos!] were one of the first acts on, and I was like, ‘Oh – suckers…’
We met them in a really cool bar in Japan. First time I met you guys.
TC: I don’t think I met you.
JC: You went back to the hotel. But we met [bassist] Ellen and all that lot. It was quite fun.
QRO: [Kim,] Have you been to Japan before?
KC: No, no. So I can’t wait – really looking forward to it.
QRO: Oh – so again, you’ll be the ‘new one’…
KC: Me and Rob both have never been there. So that’ll be really great.
QRO: How does the set list break out right now – how much Sadness is there?
KC:
The tour that just wrapped up, three days after the record was out, people knew the words and stuff. So it’s really nice to play new songs.
TC: It’s the first time in a while, as well, that we’ve really felt confident in a record. We’re putting that at the forefront of the set.
It’s really hard now, because we’ve got four records worth of tracks by now. But I think, yeah, we’re going to prioritize the new album, obviously, because it’s our favourite songs, we’re excited to play, they’re better songs, basically.
There are always people who want to hear the old tracks. We want to give a good experience, so there are old tracks in there. But the main focus is the new album.
QRO: When you tour a new album, how do you prune the prior set list to make room for the new stuff? Is it just that a number of songs get played less frequently, or are there some that are dropped entirely (especially from the prior record)? Or both?
TC: Kind of try to do an even number of songs from each record. ‘Cause there are songs we like, and the people like, on all the records. Just tryin’ to do that.
JC: Keep the hits.
QRO: Are there songs that you feel that you ‘have to play’? Still want to play, but have to play as well…
TC: Yeah, definitely. There are songs, not that you wouldn’t rather play, but there are songs that get good reactions live, and so you want to play those. So it’s just a balance.
Los Campesinos! playing “My Year In Lists” at Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza on April 26th, 2010:
QRO: What about when you play two nights in a city, which you seem to always do when you come to New York (six times if you count the Union Pool secret show + Webster Hall, and the Maxwell’s Hoboken show + Irving Plaza – QRO NYC Venue Guide)?
TC: We’re trying to get a residency – get a green card and move here…
I think the idea is that two smaller shows is more exciting than one bigger show, where it’s diluted. We often find bigger venues harder; things at festivals can be difficult.
When people are really close, up front, and it’s the smaller room, it’s a more exciting gig.
QRO: Do you particularly try to make different set lists for those two nights?
TC: We try, yeah.
Again, that’s difficult, because there’ll be some people who’ve come to both, and some that won’t have gone to the other.
QRO: Can you not do “International Tweexcore Underground” because now it has incest implications with [Kim] now singing alongside [singer & real-life brother] Gareth?…
KC: We did do it once, on the last tour.
If we took that kind of attitude, then there’s… most of the lyrics… When I’m singing, when he’s singing, I’m not singing about me, he’s not singing about me. I couldn’t be in the band if we did that… [laughs]
There’s a perspective thing when we’re singing – it’s not like he’s in front of me…
QRO: And you’re all Campesinos…
Los Campesinos! playing “International Tweexcore Underground” – with Aleks, not Kim – at Union Pool in Brooklyn, NY on August 3rd, 2009:
QRO: Is it just coincidence that all of the various members of Los Campesinos! have never had the same first initial, so you all can have different initials despite going by the same last name?
TC: I think it’s coincidence… [laughs]
QRO: What new songs do you particularly like playing live?
TC: [Jason,] You like “[Baby I Got the] Death Rattle”, when you played the other day.
KC: I think they’re all really exciting.
TC: We’re at the stage when we haven’t played them long enough for it not to feel exciting, every single one.
“Hello Sadness” is fun. It’s a work out for [Jason].
JC: By the end of the set, it’s not so bad. I’m kind of into it, and it’s this primordial. It’s kind of ‘fall to the floor’, constant hitting of the high-hat.
TC: It’s good exercise…
JC: It’s good exercise… [laughs]
TC: “Songs About Your Girlfriend” is fun.
QRO: Do you still end with “Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks”?
TC: “Baby Got the Death Rattle” is the new end song.
[note: both times in New York, Los Campesinos! went into their encore break with “Death Rattle”, but still ended the encore/evening with “Sweet Dreams”]
Los Campesinos! ending a show with “Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheecks” at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, NJ on May 14th, 2008:
QRO: Are there any older songs that you still really like playing?
JC: I like “Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown, Part 1”. I really enjoy playing that.
TC: That’s fun.
Los Campesinos! playing “Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #1” – without Jason – at Bowery Ballroom in New York, NY on February 14th, 2009:
KC: And it’s totally different when the audience is really into it. You enjoy playing any song that people are embracing and having fun, new or old, it’s always really fun.
TC:
Los Campesinos! playing “You! Me! Dancing!” at Bowery Ballroom in New York, NY on February 15th, 2007:
QRO: Are there any songs that some members of the band want to play, and others specifically don’t want to play?
TC: [laughs] I don’t know – has that happened?
KC: I think people have got favourites, or some that maybe they get more nervous to play, but I don’t think there where people are like, “I hate that song…”
TC: We probably do argue about the set list more than anything – what band doesn’t? I guess that’s a good thing? It’s hard having to choose which songs to play, but it’s a good position to be in.
QRO: Are there any songs where the older members are, ‘Oh, that song’s so old – I don’t feel like playing that anymore,’ and you younger members are, ‘It’s not that old to me…’?
JC: When I first joined, they’d get really frustrated with rehearsing the like, but I’d be like, “Well, I need to! I’m sorry – I’d feel more comfortable if we rehearsed it.” I felt quite bad sometimes, obviously, not knowing it as well as them, but, yeah, obviously, it was a lot harder, because I didn’t know the songs, and they’d been playing it for four years or something.
But now, I pretty comfortable with all of them. I think I should be after a year, as well. The old ones now, for me, are just as boring…
Los Campesinos! playing “Knee Deep at A.T.P.” at Bowery Ballroom in New York, NY on November 30th, 2007:
QRO: Where did the idea for the Heat Rash fanzines & seven-inches come from?
TC: Gareth’s always been into the fanzine culture, and we’d done a couple before, but I think it was Ellen, wasn’t it, who suggested turning it into a subscription thing. She came up with it, and we though, ‘Yeah,’ and it turned into a fully-fledged idea. It’s kind of a natural – it makes sense for us.
This is kind of a sidetrack, but it really pisses me off when people review an album and describe a track as ‘filler’. Because we’ve done that once, where we kind of decided to do something to pad something out – we did that once, on Sticking Fingers Into Sockets (QRO review). We did that once, to make something longer.
But since then, we agonize over every track. Spend two years writing a track, and then for someone to call it filler, suggest that you’ve written it just to make [the album longer]… When we genuinely have the other problem, cutting things down. Heat Rash is a really good outlet for all those tracks that even though we feel gutted not to put them on the album, rather than being relegated to a b-side. It’s kind of ‘extra tracks’, tracks that wouldn’t necessarily fit into a whole album, as well. It can just be single things, covers…
QRO: Do you play any of them live?
TC: We did “Four Seasons”.
KC: Yeah.
TC: That was one we really liked that we did kind of before this record was done. We played that live.
QRO: Was that the same sort of thinking for the Christmas release?
TC: That was just a download. That was a pre-Heat Rash thing.
QRO: Who sings “The Holly and The Ivy”?
JC: That’s Rob…
QRO: He did some singing on “By Your Hand”…
JC: He’s got a really good sex voice…
TC: He’s got really low bass. That used to be my gig in the band, but he’s got this way sexier, deep, sonorous voice.
QRO: So do you not sing anymore…
TC: I’ve been relegated… [laughs] It’s all for the best.
QRO: Have you gotten any new fans because of the Budweiser ads?
TC: Genuinely don’t think so.
Normally, the people that recognize it already know us.
QRO: At least in America, a lot of the ads have featured baseball – a British band’s song behind baseball & the most American of beers…
TC: It was on at halftime at the Superbowl as well.
It showed in between soccer games in the U.K. It’s really exciting when it comes on – it still catches me off-guard. It was on ITV the other day, halftime in the England game…
QRO: Did they at least make you appreciate baseball and/or American beer?
TC: Uh… [laughs]
The decision was nothing to do with the flavor of Budweiser. It was kinda purely financial. We don’t make any money selling records – for a seven-piece band…
It’s kind of strange – it doesn’t seem that there’s any ‘stigma’ attached to that sort of thing anymore. People seem to understand more why bands have to do it, because people aren’t buying their records.
It would be lovely if we were in a position where we didn’t have to make that sort of call – if we could just live off records, we would rather do that, but…
Los Campesinos!’s video for “Hello Sadness”:
QRO: Who were the people in hoods in the video for “Hello Sadness”?
TC: One of them’s your son, isn’t it, from a previous marriage?…
JC: Yeah, one is my son from a previous marriage – my Japanese son. When I was in Japan a few years back…
TC: One of them’s a dog that we trained to walk on its hind legs.
JC: And one is just a massive polar bear. Very dangerous to work with a polar bear, a really big polar bear…
QRO: [laughs] That’s why you had to put the hood on him…
TC: He’s kind of the anti-Ku Klux Klan, ‘Grand Polar Bear’…
QRO: You guys sort of ‘went limp’ for the video – did that make it an easier video to do, or a harder one?
JC: The whole video was really a painful experience for all of us, I think. Someone got really badly scarred – burns on his legs, got a really bad, infected carpet burn.
TC: The director wanted authentic pain, so when you see a grimace, or when you see a look in pain, it’s genuine wincing.
It’s just Gareth that gets dragged about, but the rest of us… It gets pretty weird.
JC: Going up escalators…
TC:
QRO: Did you just hire Jason for his tattoos? I noticed they were featured in both new videos…
JC: Oh, yeah, well – they’re actually fake. They just rub off, they wash off – Sharpies every morning. [laughs]
I dunna know – I’d like to exploit it a bit more. I feel like I’m the ‘bad boy’ in the band, now.
TC: Right…
JC: That’s why all the videos are snuff films now. All my influence, obviously…
[note: unlike most rock drummers, Jason doesn’t take his shirt off during a show – has said that it feels like he is “showing off” his tattoos…]
Los Campesinos!’s video for “By Your Hand”: