AEREOGRAMME: Interview + Biffy Tour

Read our interview with CRAIG B from AEREOGRAMME! Check them out on tour with Biffy Clyro in Scotland too!

Chay Woodman

Date published: 12th Apr 2007

Skiddle faves Aereogramme are back on the road....

and they've just been announced as the support band for the forthcoming Scottish dates of the Biffy Clyro tour!

30/05/07 - Aberdeen Music Hall

31/05/07 - Edinburgh Potterrow

01/06/07 - Glasgow Barrowlands

ALL SHOWS OVER 14's except Edinburgh

AEREOGRAMME – INTERVIEW WITH CRAIG B.

Skiddle caught up with Aereogramme frontman Craig B for a natter about the new album and all things Chemikal Underground.

The reviews for the new album have been pretty amazing, but is it frustrating given how long it’s taken various parts of the press to waken up to Aereogramme?

We always got support from Kerrang, Rocksound, and The List…now it seems to have branched out a bit to places like the Sunday Herald and The Guardian. The stuff we did before wasn’t as accessible as the new album so I’m not surprised.

It’s album number 3 after all, so a review in Q must’ve been a shocker.

I wouldn’t have expected Q magazine to touch our older stuff, but, then again, it’s not anything to do with Phil Collins. This one is far more apporopriate music for those papers. The List review was fantastically well written. Doug Johnstone actually nailed what it was that we we’re trying to do. It was very encouraging to read it and it lifted my spirits.

Would the new album have been different if you hadn’t returned to Chemikal Underground?

We actually recorded the album before we knew what label it was going to be on and we funded it ourselves. We had an incling because we left Chemikal Underground and we’d done the Seclusion EP on Undergroove Records in London, that when we did the next album we kind of knew it was wasn’t suitable for Undergroove anymore. We didn’t really know where it was going to go so it had no effect on the album at all because of what we wanted to record.

How was your time at Undergroove?

It was fantastic. That’s the great thing about independent labels. You can actually have a relationship with these people. You can talk to them on a one-to-one basis and you can have that closeness. I’m still in contact with Darren (Saddler) that runs the label. There’s no hard feelings at all.

How did Chemikal Underground welcome you back? Was it with open arms or a ‘where’ve you been?’

(laughing) No, no! We toured with The Delgados in America and we’d spent all that time on Chemikal. When we left they fully understood why and they always said the door was open, so yes, they have welcomed us back with open arms! There’s no kind of industry dirtiness about them. They’re good people and they do a really good job and I really respect them for that. I wish I could give you some dirty stories but I’m afraid there’s none there!

Were you surprised when the album was leaked?

We expected it to be leaked. It was released in Japan a month before Christmas so we knew it was going about there. These days, it’s not something you can try and battle as it’s like trying to stop a dam from breaking when the first hole is released. It’s not something you can do anything about so you just have to accept it. Quite frankly, we’re listening to (band name deleted) in the van and it’s not even out yet but when it comes out, I’m still going to buy it. I don’t mind if they download our album and preview it because I would hope it’s good enough to go and buy the original album, with all the artwork, which still excites me. I don’t want a blank disc with a hand written name on it. I want the whole package. It’s very important and it’s also about supporting a band. Maybe I’m naïve but I hope it still applies to a lot of people who download music.

I keep reading the soundtrack element, and it is after all an album immersed in different emotions…

We were always asked about the dynamics of our music and the emotions, whether it was screaming anger or very sad or miserable. To us it seemed quite an obvious thing to do, being huge film fans and with the contrasting emotions in films all the time. It’s not something strange to watch in films so it’s something that we wanted to concentrate on in those terms.

It‘s like The God Machine soundtracking Solaris, with bits of Howard Shore’s Crash soundtrack for Cronenberg, Carpenter as well. The artwork even reminds me of Saul Bass credits.

That’s exactly what it’s supposed to be! It’s funny that you mentioned the film Solaris because that’s one of the influences that we wanted to soundtrack, rather than band influences, so it’s great when these things occur to you because that’s what we wanted to do. We didn’t want it to be ‘it sounds Trail of Dead’ but instead, specific film refereneces. When you listen to Exits that’s very much a reference to Solaris and Cliff Martinez as he was one of the influences on Iain who does a lot of soundtracks for TV and film himself. It was very much a discussion in the recording this time.

Are soundtracks something that brings the band together as people when it comes to getting into the studio?

Well, it’s quite funny because the song, The Running Man, we were watching the film in the studio, and it was written there from scratch. There’s a real jam at the end of the credits so that was very specific in the writing of that song whe you listen to it - 80’s sci-fi and a huge drum sound.

Can we expect a song called Buckaroo Banzai soon then?

You never know if it pays the rent!

This is your third album and yet in some reviews you’re still being compared to Mogwai, Arab Strap, and Biffy, who sound nothing alike.

It’s extremely tiresome and lazy journalism. I find it hilarious and interesting how we can be compared to Mogwai and then Snow Patrol! They’re completely miles apart from each other! But then we’ve had references on this album to Sigur Ros and The Cocteau Twins and it has been more specific this time as we seem to have genre-jumped all the time on previous albums and this one’s more concise. I don’t really want or care about comparisons to other bands because we wanted it to be far more soundtrack orientated. That was our main concern and it’s what we’d rather people referenced. If they want to say Cliff Martinez or John Carpenter, we’ll hold our hand up and say ‘yeah!’ The Scottish bands have never been an influence as we all just do our own thing.

Are there extra musicians on tour? Violin players? Full blown orchestra?

We’ve always used a laptop but we’ve also got Martin Doherty from Julia 13 as a fifth member so he does keyboard, guitar work, and backing vocals, so any extra elements are all covered. On this tour we can only handle one support band because out set is bizarre and in a semi- circle. I face Martin our drummer, and the guitar, bass, and keyboards are cut around and we’ve got this huge big percussion station with a big fuck-off gong and xylophone! It’s a lot of fun to watch and hopefully because it’s a lot of fun to play.

Band-wise, who should Aereogramme fans be looking out for?

Definitely DeSalvo. They’re one of the most exciting bands to watch live. You’ve got to see them to believe it! The music we’ve had on today in the Ipod…Foreigner, Simon & Garfunkel, Converge, everything.

Do you think you’ll ever come out in protest at some of the sheer shiteness of music by shaving off your beards?

Ha! I don’t think that would work and it would only scare the kids away! I don’t think mine’s coming off as it’s been on far too long.

Will Aereogramme ever shake the self-imposed ‘miserable’ tag?

No, because it’s me that keeps bringing it up! It’s a little bit of everything. I don’t think it’s miserable, I think it’s about being realistic.

What about your music being used on STV?

It’s strange as it’s music used to advertise the news and yet it’s a song about depression! Still, it’s better than Coldplay.

Chay Woodman.

‘My Heart Has A Wish That You Would Not Go’ is out now.

(Chemikal Underground Records)

AEREOGRAMME -

http://www.aereogramme.co.uk

http://www.myspace.com/aereogrammeofficial