The Cribs
TM - Hi, this is Amelia and Elizabeth, and we are here with Ross from The Cribs. Thank you for having this interview with us today; we appreciate it.
TC - Thank you.
TM - What can fans expect from your tour?
TC - We haven't been down to Australia for 8 years, and we've put out a couple of records since the last time we were down there. There are new Songs to choose from as well. There is positivity around everything recently, and I think we're all enjoying it.
We got all our rights back a few years ago, and that really changed things. It put a lot of positivity around everything. I think we've all just been a little bit happier, and I think that has brought a good atmosphere around our live shows. We didn't get the chance to play it live in Australia because it was around COVID.
TM - How have fans responded to your new album "Selling a Vibe"?
TC - Overall, it’s been really good. In the UK, we managed to get the album out, and it charted higher than any other record we’ve released, so that was a really great start to the campaign.
Usually, when we go into the studio, we work with producers who are tried and tested—people from that indie-rock world who we’ve worked with before, like Dave Fridmann and Steve Albini, and we’ve also worked with Alex from France and Edwyn Collins.
This time we wanted to do something less predictable, which is why we ended up working with Patrick Wimberly. He comes from a younger generation of producers, and we wanted to get a different perspective on the band and the way we make records. We’ve always been pretty insistent on recording to tape and playing live, but with this album we decided to embrace the digital side of things and try a different process.
As a result, I think the album sounds a little more pop-oriented. It was slightly strange for me at first because I wasn’t sure how the fans would respond to it. Things are a little more controlled on the new record, but I think the fans have definitely responded positively. I think they’ve enjoyed hearing something a little different from what we normally release and record.
TM - What was your writing and recording process for "Selling a Vibe"?
TC - Typically from day one, we tend to get together in a rehearsal room and just make noise and, jam along with each other. We’re not a jam band or anything, but we just kind of jam together, and then we end up recording snippets of bits that we like and don’t like.
Then we just save everything and tend to put it together. For a few years, because Gary and Ryan moved away—we’re all brothers, and we lived in the UK in Wakefield. I still live there, but Gary and Ryan both moved out to the US on opposite coasts. So you can tell we’ve had enough of each other, I guess. Over the last few records, they have brought ideas in, and we’ve worked on them.
But on this album, we kind of went back to the way we used to write for a lot of it, where we would just get together in the rehearsal room and see what happened. We just let things write themselves. That’s probably the best way of explaining it.
I think the other thing that’s never a good idea is if you’re an artist and you’re writing music because you have to write it. You’re better off just giving it time and writing because you actually want to write. But the process ended up being that once we had got songs written, we then went out to New York, and we recorded in Williamsburg at a studio called CRC, which is the one that Patrick works out of. We recorded in the studio for about 5 weeks, and it was nice to be in New York for that time. After that, it was mixed out in Los Angeles by a guy called Laz.
TM - If you could have any band play one of your songs, what band would you choose, what song would you choose, and would it be in your style or their style?
TC - We are all massive Queen fans in our band, so if Freddie Mercury could have sung one of our songs, that would have been awesome. I would have to give him one of the more challenging songs. There is a song on the fifth album called Back to the Bolt Hole". Gary's got some pretty cool harmonies in there; they're pretty well buried in the mix. It'd be good to get Freddy to sing it.
For a newer artist, I would either get Taylor Swift or Harry Styles to do one of our songs.
TM - If you could go back in the time machine and see any band or artist live, who would you see?
TC - It would probably be Queen live at Wembley. I have watched that DVD, a bunch of times, and it’s just the ultimate live experience to me. I don’t know if it’s because that’s what I grew up watching, but that’s what a big gig looks like to me, you know? Fred wearing his yellow jacket and stuff. It’d also be really good to see Nirvana live as well, but I’d probably go with Queen. We have actually played with Queen with Adam Lambert at the Isle of Wight Festival.
TM - Is there anything else you want to say to your fans?
TC - We're pretty excited to be coming back because it's been a little while. It should be fun to see everyone and play for you all.
TM - Thank you for having this interview with us today; we appreciate it.
TC - Thank you.