Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Los Campesinos! — From Cardiff to Cardinal Town

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Los Campesinos! are the UK’s best-known indie rock band with an exclamation point at the end of their name. The literarily minded yet goofy bunch emerged in 2006 at Cardiff University in Wales, though none of the founding members are Welsh. Their fourth full-length album, Hello Sadness, was released last fall.

Guitarist Neil Campesinos! (aka Neil Turner; all band members pretend to be named Campesinos! professionally, a la the Ramones) spoke with LEO Weekly from his bedroom in Cardiff.

LEO: Are you aware of the “Fuck Yeah Neil Campesinos!” Tumblr blog?
Neil Turner: Yeah, I’ve seen that. Not to, like, check it out, but I have seen it.

LEO: How do you feel about that kind of tribute?
NT: Everyone’s got one. There’s “Fuck Yeah” for everyone who’s anyone now, so (laughs) … I don’t know. It’s interesting. But I can’t get too caught up in Tumblr. It seems to be for people between the ages of 23 and — how old am I? I’m going to be 27 this year. I just think I might have missed Tumblr and things like that. If it were around when I was a teenager, life would have been so much … worse! Harder.

It’s funny, when we’re on tour, we check out the Los Campesinos! tags on Tumblr just to see what people think of us — there’s a lot of people writing exciting reactions. But it’s, like, the photos at each show are crap. We hang out by the merch table to say “hi” to people, and there’s always fans who are really drunk, who want to pose for a photo. “Yeah, sure!” And you’re all sweaty and drunk. The next day, you go on Tumblr and you’re, like, (moans), “Oh, God, I look awful.”

LEO: The band certainly has fun. You’re known for putting on a great live show.
NT: Yeah.

LEO: (laughs) Tell me about that.
NT: (laughs) It’s just what we’ve always tried to do. And now we’re older and fatter and more jaded (laughs). But, as soon as we get on the road and get going, there’s nothing you can really compare it to. Especially after a few beers. There’s a theme developing here, isn’t there?

LEO: (laughs) Well, Louisville’s a big drinking town, so I think you’ll fit in quite well.
NT: Yeah. We’ve never played in Kentucky before, and I’m really looking forward to it, because of the musical heritage you have, so many incredible bands I like are from there. Will Oldham, Slint — Bastro and Squirrel Bait, David Grubbs’ bands — they’re from there, aren’t they? Shit like that.

LEO: Will, we see him around. For all you know, he might be at your show.
NT: I doubt it. (laughs) He’s not part of the Tumblr generation, is he? No, I’m joking, but I’d be very surprised. I’ll put him on the guest list, just in case.

LEO: Maybe he’ll see this article and know that it’s waiting for him. It’s always nice to hear from musicians around the world who are aware of what people are doing here.
NT: Yeah. We’ve been coming to the States since summer of 2007, and it’s the first time we’ve gotten to come (to Louisville). It’s a shame it’s taken so long … It will be the third show in, so it should be good. About a week later, we’ll hit a wall (laughs) and have to stop drinking. Go to Whole Foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Los Campesinos! with Yellow Ostrich
Sunday, June 17
Headliners Music Hall
1386 Lexington Road
headlinerslouisville.com
$12 adv., $15 DOS; 9 p.m.

Photo by Jon Bergman

c. 2012 LEO Weekly

Utah rocks

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Instrumental progressive post-rockers Interstates release their new EP, On Its Axis, at a show Thursday at Uncle Slayton’s. Drummer Alex O’Nan explains.

LEO: Your Facebook bio states, “Interstates has existed since 1995 and has been playing live shows since 2006.” Perhaps we should begin with an explanation of that.

Alex O’Nan: I guess that may be a bit of an overstatement. I’ve been writing electronic music since ’95 under various names, one being Interstates. In 2006, it became a real band by adding drums and guitar to the electronic music, and we started playing out — so that’s when Interstates, as it is now, started.

LEO: What scene are you part of? Who you down with?

AO: We are in the kid scene. We are down with Bubble Guppies, the Fresh Beat Band, and Little Einsteins. Neil has three under 6 years old, I have two under 3 years old, Brian has a teen and a pre-teen, and Shane is a pre-teen.

LEO: Which is your favorite state?

AO: Other than Kentucky? Utah.

LEO: Why do you keep forgetting to add lyrics to your songs?

AO: We prefer to let the instruments do the singing for us. It’s a little more challenging to write instrumental music, and it limits our audience, but it’s what we like. It’s not because we don’t have good voices.

LEO: What do the members do for work?

AO: Neil is a producer/engineer, Shane splits his time between producing and working at Four Pegs, Brian is a fire inspector for the city fire department, and I conduct trains.

LEO: I know Shane also plays in House Ghost. Does anyone else play with others?

AO: Brian was in the Muckrakers, I’ve played in several bands over the years, and Brian and I play with Dirt Poor Robins, which is Neil and his wife Kate.

Learn more at facebook.com/interstates.

c. 2012 LEO Weekly