Following a string of single releases that tugged at our hearts we caught up with talented duo Late Cambrian for a quick Q&A.
Cougar Microbes: What time did you wake up today?
John: 7:00 am
O: I woke up at 7:40AM to babysit my physical therapist’s 6-month old baby.
CM: Was it out of choice or necessity?
John: Neither… I tried to sleep late… I even took melatonin. But it wasn’t meant to be, woke up with the sun.
CM: Describe your sound to the uninitiated?
John: We try to do electro-pop with live instruments. My influences range from Bowie and The Police, to Phoenix and Passion Pit and whatever shows up on my Spotify station… Always absorbing ideas like a sponge.
CM: What have been the highlights of your year (musically) so far?
John: 2016 we started work on our EP. On the previous LP, ‘Golden Time‘, we started adding the electro elements to our music, but I wasn’t fully in control of the recording process. For the new EP in engineering, writing, producing and editing the recordings. Jesse Cannon is mixing and mastering. I have been really happy so far. One song, “Dark Heart“, I need to do a small remix of to remove a part that is too ‘screechy’ sounding for my ears. But that will happen when the rest of the EP is done. I’ve also started playing guitar and bass for Tracy Bonham and will be co-writing with her for her new album, so that’s an exciting project to be a part of.
O: In 2016, it is exciting to notice our increasing international presence. We keep getting invitation to play in different countries. It’s like “Next time we play in the UK and Germany, we could possibly say yes to this invite in Czech Republic!”. The highlights to me involves tweeting with fans from all over the world everyday and finding out how they can relate to the songs regardless of our cultures and influences.
CM: How do you kill time on the road when on the road? hobbies/games?
John: Our biggest tour was a 26 date tour opening for Wheatus in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands and Germany. The drives between venues happened overnight, so I was sleeping when the driver was awake and I was awake when he slept. To keep busy, O and myself and the band saw the sights and ate at cool pubs and bought way too much chocolate…
O: I don’t remember having to kill time ever. When I look out of the window on the tour bus and see new places and people, my mind goes wild. We did start watching Rick and Morty with Wheatus and MC Frontalot on tour.
CM: What have been your favourite venues to play?
O: My favorite venues are Melkweg in Amsterdam, The Garage in London, Postbahnhof in Berlin, locally The Knitting Factory and The Bell House in Brooklyn. I don’t hate any venues but there are absolutely places with the wrong vibe we will never book again like Fat Baby.
John: I love playing the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, NY. It’s kind of our home base venue. We are planning a show there soon. I love the shows I’ve seen there and loved playing there.
CM: Any venues you hated?
John: my two least favorite shows we had were at the Black Bear Bar in Williamsburg. The vibe there killed my happiness… Maybe it’s not the venue’s fault, but when two shows don’t feel right then it starts to feel like it’s the place and not the show.
CM: Are you able to write on the road or do you do this in your off time?
John: my hat is off to anyone that can write on the road. I don’t know how they do it. Writing for me is a journey of discovery. I can write a ‘song’ anytime and anywhere, but writing a Late Cambrian song is a different thing. Writing a song that feels like this band and sounds like this band takes my full attention. I certainly can’t do it on the road.
CM: Is there a song you are simply sick of playing live?
John: I sometimes feel like I’ll be sick of playing a song live, when I think of the song, but then at rehearsal I realize it’s still super fun. So, not yet.
O: I don’t know why but yes, I kept asking, “Can we take ‘The Last Concert‘ out of the set?”. It was the title track of our first album in 2011.
CM: What is the songwriting process like for you?
John: when I sit down to write a song, I have my keyboard, bass and guitar with me. Sometimes the entry point to a cool song idea isn’t the keyboard. “Yearbook Photo“ started as a bass line and I built it around the bass. Every day is different. I think I enjoy writing on bass the best. The single deep note gives me a lot of psychological room to riff on melody lines and rhythm ideas.
CM: Do your songs go through many revisions and demos before recordings?
John: A lot of times the demo recording of the song becomes the actual song, but with live drums and re-sung vocals. On “Thanks For Your Time“, we ended up keeping the demo lead vocal for the chorus sections because it had the right hopeful emotion for the song. Magic happens when it happens, and I make sure that even my demo performances sound good enough to keep.
O: Many verbal and vocal revisions. We sing the songs we are going to record when we are out and about but no demos. It’s like painting. If you practice drawing what you imagine enough, you can skip the sketching process and go right at it with your intuition. It helps that we now have the capacity to record at our home studio.
CM: What came first, the lyrics or the melody?
John: music always comes first. Then I play through the music and let it pull lyrics out of me. At some point the song starts to take shape and I can mold the lyrics together into a song. I wish lyric writing came easy all the time, but I’m very picky with lyrics and never want to write a song with bad, cliche lyrics unless that’s the point of the song….
CM: What is your favourite track of yours?
O: “Golden Time”, “Yearbook Photo”, “Walk of Shame”, our Japanese only release of “Don’t You Want Me” (Human League Cover) and “American Idols” (‘PEACH’ bonus track, Japan only)
John: “Yearbook Photo” is my favorite song of ours, followed by “Thanks For Your Time“.
CM: If you could record any cover in the world what would it be?
O: I always want to do “Under Cover of Darkness” by The Strokes and an acoustic version of “Being Boring” by Pet Shop Boys. Maybe Ukulele Anthem by Amanda Palmer.
John: I’ve done of a few covers: “Kissing The Lipless” by The Shins and “Life on Mars” by David Bowie.
CM: What are your views on auto tune?
John: If it serves the song, then use it. If it’s a crutch or a pop affectation, it will really ruin my enjoyment of the song. You can do some interesting things with auto tune, if you put your guitar through it. It’s a tool, like anything else.
CM: What is the most flattering thing you’ve read about yourselves?
John: Anything positive being written about our music is an honor and a privilege. Our last single, “Yearbook Photo“, got is a whole bunch of new fans. I’m so happy that bloggers and music critics noticed us.
O: This morning I stumbled upon an old Facebook message that I missed from a fan saying that he likes the transition of my vocal in “Objects May Appear“. That made me smile.
CM: What was the first record/tape/cd you ever bought?
John: “Led Zeppelin 4″. Rock music was so good at recruiting people to want to be musicians at a young age.
O: First CD: Alanis Morissette‘s “Jagged Little Pill“. Cassette would have been some Hong Kong pop star in the 90s.
CM: What was the last song that got stuck in your head?
John: “Burn The Witch” by Radiohead. Their new album is my favorite since ‘In Rainbows’. The song itself isn’t exactly a catchy song, but it got lodged in my brain after I listened to it twenty times.
O: Guilty pleasure. “Make Me Like You” by Gwen Stefani. It was playing at the gym so…
CM: was the last show you paid and queued up for?
O: Todd Rundgren at Highline Ballroom. He pulled a really unexpected show!
CM: If you had to bring an artist back from the dead in exchange for sending a living artist down ,which artists would it be and why??
John: I would bring back Amy Winehouse, because she was amazing and we really could have used a bunch more albums from her as she matured. If we had to trade for a living artist, why not Ted Nugent… Since he’s a washed up gun nut that helps to lower the IQ of political discourse in our already vacuous political discourse…
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