Indie veterans We Are Scientists, comprising of Chris Cain,
Keith Murray and Andy Burrows, are currently on a tour of the UK in support of
their fourth studio album, TV En Francais. We caught up with bassist, Chris
Cain, before their headline show at Rock City.
Are you excited to be
in Nottingham?
Thrilled! I actually really do like Nottingham. We’ve had a
few days off here in the past so we’ve gotten to know it a little bit. There
are a lot of little spots that I’m into. I don’t know what it’s called, but
there’s a little cafe on some church grounds that has a big mirrored disc
sculpture – it’s awesome....
Is it the Playhouse?
Yeah, that’s it! Love that little spot – it’s nice for a
quiet little coffee, or a brew. I also love your Cineworld.
How’s the tour gone
so far?
Really, really well. I think this is our seventh show, so
it’s still in the honeymoon period and we’re all still relatively healthy and
have energy. It’s exciting to get back in front of people and play a proper,
sizeable UK tour.
We love you here in
the UK, but what’s your favourite thing about it?
A curry is a very high point for us. We don’t have much good
Indian food back home, so British Indian food is a big, shining light in our
sky when we’re here. Really, it’s the curry that differentiates the United
States and Britain for me. Otherwise, they’re pretty much the same place.
What’s your curry of
choice then?
I love very hot food, so I like a vindaloo or something
similar. But if there’s anything on the menu I haven’t had before, I’ll
definitely try it.
The new record’s just
been released. Are you happy to finally have it out?
Yeah, it’s a great feeling. As soon as we can get the crowd
to receive these songs as passionately as our other stuff, it will be very
exciting for us.
Were there any
particular influences or themes on the new album?
It’s not really our way to set out with a theme in mind. To
some extent we tried that and failed with this record. We wrote nearly half an
album that we wanted to sound really 90s, Lemonheads-y, but had to scrap it
because it just didn’t feel like a We Are Scientists record. Lyrically, there’s
been more of a direction with the album as it specifically deals with a
relationship that Keith was in during its very final moments. The relationship
ended shortly after we finished recording, but it was very much in turmoil
while he was writing the lyrics. You get a clear sense about it with these
songs. Previous albums’ lyrics have been more of a hotchpotch – one idea here,
another one there.
What music have you
been listening to recently?
Huge fan of the dudes supporting us: Superfood. I’m also a
big fan of the band supporting us in Europe and the States: Paws, from Glasgow.
There’s a Dublin called September Girls who are also really good. They play a kind
of reverb, surf guitar that’s popular these days, but do it better than most.
After the UK, you’ll
be embarking on a world tour. Are there any places you’re looking forward to
going to?
We’re excited to play in Perth, Australia for the first
time. It’s on the far Western side and we’ve never done anything but the
East-coast there. We’re also playing a couple of spots in Spain that we’ve
never visited. One of those is Bilbao. We love the country and I speak a bit of
Spanish, so it will be really fun for me. We’re always trying to get more shows
in Spain, but rock music doesn’t really sell a lot of albums over there. It’s a
tough country to tackle, so you have to find a live promoter who is really
interested in trying to set you up there.
Touring seems pretty
non-stop. What do you do to relax and stop yourself from going crazy?
We like to watch a lot of shitty movies on our bus. If
there’s a theme to our film festival, it’s low quality. We’ve been on a hunt
for a Bad Boys 2 DVD and finally scored it today. Last night we watched
Stealth. It features Josh Lucas operating at roughly standard for his career,
Jamie Foxx seriously slumming it and Jessica Biel roughly where she should be.
It’s pretty awesome.
You and Keith have an
awesome relationship. What are your key tips for a blossoming bromance?
That’s a good question – never got that before. For me, I
think it’s critical that you make a person laugh. It’s probably as important in
a straightforward romance as it is a bromance. Laughter is a fantastic inducer
of friendship. I would say it’s the foundation of mine and Keith’s relationship
– far more so than music actually. We kinda don’t listen to the same music and
don’t often have the same opinion of bands, whereas we’re pretty identical when
it comes to what we think is funny. We used to go see a lot of stand-up comedy
together.
Finally, how would
you best describe your live show?
Our live show is high energy. It’s probably distinctive for
how much we talk between songs. We do tend to blather away, often to the
frustration of some portion of the audience. It’s hard to tell how many of them
are quietly suffering. There are always one or two dudes who will shout for us
to shut the fuck up and keep playing, but I take a lot of joy in thwarting that
request!
I think we air more on the side of being energetic than
being precise as live musicians. If we were to stand still and stare down at
the ground, we could probably play our songs exactly like they are on the
album, but we definitely prefer to jump around, fall over and make a lot of
mistakes. That’s the kind of show I’d prefer to see as well.
