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Captain are a bizarre blend of characters made up of two former members of The Junket, an ex-circus traveller and a guitarist who used to be in the Greek army. Add to that tales of lighting rigs collapsing, Wimbledon and 16 different flavours of Ben & Jerry's, and you've got the full picture.
Keyboard player and vocalist Clare Szembek breezes in smiling, clutching a packet of chocolate buttons. Captain are currently on one of several laps of the country this summer, taking in festivals and headlining shows just about everywhere. "It's been really good fun, we've had a mixture of festivals and our own shows. We did Wireless and we've been out to Spain and a few other places, Oxygen and T In The Park. I think we're enjoying the mix at the moment." You've played the Ben & Jerry's Festival as well, is that as exciting as it sounds? "Yeah we did," she says laughing, "oh yeah! 16 different flavours to try. I only tried one though, but we got to meet Jerry as well, the ice cream guru! Actually, that morning we had to do an interview for ITV news with Jerry, and we were saying 'This is so obscure!' because we were sat between the ice cream guru and the most orange man in the world, who was the presenter caked in orange make-up! It's a really nice, small family festival though, they're big on conservation and they give you trees to take home."
This summer has seen some extreme weather conditions, from record breaking temperatures to menacing storms, has this had any ill effects on the band? "We did Lincoln Festival last week. It was a beautiful day and we were all sound checking on stage and this weird, satanic cloud descended upon us and just released its contents. The lighting rig collapsed on Reu, our drummer. He was fine though. Had he been leaning forward or back it would have broken his back, or something horrific, but it just scraped his nose. It completely crushed his drumkit... It was a bit of a close one." Has he refused to play festivals now? "He's still fine but he did say he finds himself looking up going 'what the fuck's gonna fall on me!'"
Captain are still a fairly unknown band, but are gaining popularity with every step, so do you hear your own songs in pubs and clubs yet? "We heard 'Broke' in Asda, and you get texts from mates saying 'it's playing in TopShop!'. 'Glorious' was used on Wimbledon loads, whenever they rounded anything up, we were quite pleased about that cos it's a British institution." It helps to not be slotted into one pigeon hole, is this something you're aware of? "Exactly, I think we're conscious of not fitting into the current music scene. We want to achieve longevity and to make that happen there's no point. It's so easy to copy what's going on, it's only the sources of those musical scenes that last, like The Strokes. We weren't interested in copying, we wanted to write honestly and openly, and be bold with our choices. We'd rather them say they dislike it or really love it rather than 'it's all right'. I think because we are so different we are getting quite a strong reaction, but on the whole it's good. There'll always be people who don't like you, but that's fine."
Away from the band, what are your musical tastes, what was the first record you ever bought? "The Clash - 'Rock The Casbah', which is quite cool, but was quickly followed by 'Feed The World' I think," she says cringing. "I was brought up on some nice music - prog-rock, early Genisis and Peter Gabriel, stuff like that, so I had a good background, thanks to my dad." What was the last record you bought? "I bought a whole batch together. I bought the Guillemots new album and Camera Obscura. Being with the boys you get to know everyones music tastes and they're really into Phoenix and I hadn't heard much of them before, but we saw them at T In The Park." And as it's the summer, what would be your fantasy festival line-up? "Peter Gabriel," she replies without hesitation, "The Flaming Lips, we'd all like them actually, I'll do it for all of us... Rik would love the Beach Boys, but with Brian Wilson, Reu would like Sugar... Mario, he's a tricky one, maybe the Broken Social Scene, and Alex, I'd have to say Joni Mitchell."
Is it true that 'Glorious' was written as a celebration of London? "It is, the idea of the whole album is to be uplifting, it's a celebration about where we come from, for us it was London, but it applies to everywhere. The album's like that as well, a lot of the subject matter is quite dark, suicide for example, but we wanted to be uplifting about it, not downbeat. Hopeful is the word." And the album is titled 'This Is Hazelville', is that an actual place? "Yeah, Hazelville is the road Mario lived on in North London, and a lot of the tracks were written there, we just romanticised it, by taking the road out and just calling it Hazelville."
Aside from gigging constantly from here to eternity, what else does the year have in store for Captain? "We're gonna finish this tour then we're off on tour with Keane, as their main support in October, finishing off at the Alexandra Palace, infront of 7500 people, so that'll be nerve-wracking! I think we're hoping to go and tour Europe, possibly out to Canada as well. I think we'll be chocker up until Christmas, we might get a week off then!" With a busy future and busy night ahead, Clare's is whisked off for yet another interview and so that is Captain.
Captain release their debut album 'This Is Hazelville' on August 14.
