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There's a lesson for Gigwise to learn from this interview. When asking a band about comparisons drawn between them and nineteenth century literary figures, its important to either a) ensure that the band in question know who the author their frontman is compared to is, or b) firstly explain who said writer is and why likenesses may be made. Taking these steps may prevent mass confusion.
For when we ask lead fella of The Crimea Davey MacManus about his supposed status as the Lewis Carroll of his generation, we get some nervous giggles before he admits he has heard the analogy but has no idea who Lewis Carroll is. There's nothing like showing an interviewee up to get them to reveal all. We explain that he's the hallowed author of Alice in Wonderland, the creator of the rich acid and opium fuelled visions of mad rabbits and shrinking potions. “Ah right, well I haven’t seen it, y’know the film, but acid isn’t for me, it’s a horrible drug and it’s really ugly, it makes you feel awful afterwards. It was always mushrooms in Wales anyway”. We definitely lost him way back. But at least we know he doesn’t endorse the use of acid, for creative purposes or otherwise.
“I don’t really wanna be anything of this generation. If I had to be compared to anyone, it would ideally be Leonard Cohen” says the soft-accented Irishman.
Literary confusion aside, The Crimea have returned from a dissolved record contract with V2 in their previous incarnation as Welsh band The Crocketts. They have just released their debut album ‘Tragedy Rocks’. This is their first release as The Crimea with Warner who picked them up after they were reluctantly dropped by V2 following an impressive 30 releases in under 3 years. Charming eh? But Davey, along with guitarist Andy Norton, keyboard player Andrew Stafford, bassist Joseph Udwin and drummer David Hopkin, isn’t bitter. “They paid our wages for seven years but who likes their old employers, who likes their boss? It’s your job to moan about them. Seriously, they were the nicest people on earth and it broke their hearts to drop us but they did”.After re-composing their line-up, getting a new deal and spending half a decade recording their album, The Crimea are now ready to unleash their tracks onto an unsuspecting British public. Are they excited? “Fucking hell, yes! It’s not a day to soon!” enthuses Davey. But it’s not been an easy task. In the words of Andy Norton, “It’s taken a lot of hard work, blood, sweat and tee-yas (he’s a welsh boy, you see). ‘Tragedy Rocks’ has been five years in the making, being produced by themselves and Modest Mouse producer Dennis Herring in locations as exotic as New York City, Mississippi, Camden and erm, Plaistow.
Fontman Davey explains why they took 5 whole years producing “We spent ages on every song, recording things like 10 times, recording every different version until it sounded just amazing. We just tried to write something clever and not a load of claptrap and did everything again and again and again. We didn’t have a magic formula or a mathematical equation or anything”. It is described by their website as “lush and lacerating”, comprising of Davey’s trademark ethereal and damn well Carroll-like vocals as well as a big yet delicate sound. MacManus chooses to contradict his own PR’s placing of the word “lush” however. “I wouldn’t exactly say it’s lush but it’s definitely more realist. I would love it if it was lush. It’s quite an old sexual term” – saucy! He further clarifies by saying “it doesn’t sound like Lush (90’s shoe gazers), the band or anything”. The great thing is we are putting this out as an album, as a record first so we don’t even need to release a single. I think it’s a good way of doing it cos people will listen to the album and then we can worry about all the crap of getting in the charts at a later date.”
The Crimea have spent the last 12 months on the road as well as recording, recently putting in support slots for Ash and The Bravery in the US. “We have been really lucky with US audiences. We toured with Ash and The Bravery so it’s mostly been people who are really into their music. American shows can be really hit and miss, you can have some really good shows over there but we played some small towns on the outskirts of New York State and Kentucky and we would get the weirdest people turning up” says Andy. Sticks man Owen has a fonder, retrospective view of touring the states. “It’s just like having a holiday in France when you are a kid, everything is just completely different, the people are different, and its just nice to have the chance to spend so much time over there cos it is a whole different ball-game”.
Owen, in his broad welsh enunciation, continues on how he feels of their profile in the UK. “We have spent the last 12 months over in America so things are only really starting in the UK now so the album release is almost like the beginning. So we haven’t got particularly high expectations. We hope that things really pick up and it becomes enormously special for us”.
Having just played a John Peel Day gig, the band are keen to pay respects to the great man. Peel played their entire demo on his show and commissioned them to do a sacred Peel Session in 2003. He proclaimed one of the demo tracks ‘Lottery Winners On Acid’ (which is to be their forthcoming single) as one of his favorite tracks of the last five years. “He played every single song off the demo which was just stuff that we had recorded at home, before we even had a record deal. It helped us a lot in America cos people really respect him over there. It was only natural we were gonna play at a gig for him” says a respectful and occasionally flirtatious Davey. When he and Owen find out that they are being interviewed from Lincolnshire, they enquire as to exactly where. They recorded a few sessions at a recording studio nearby “you know, at that village where that kid bought a gun into school and shot a mate last year” says Owen (he means a knife, and this kind of activity is not indicative of this writers county).
The Crimea were due to play their Peel gig with Ash’s First lady Charlotte Hatherley, but she has just pulled out even though she made guest appearance in the audience of their gig the previous night. “She pulled out so we have been phoning up our rock star mates but we haven’t managed to get anyone good yet”. Best leave them to find someone worthy then!
