Doomed for Success: Los Campesinos! Interview

January 26, 2009 5:36 PM
by Marcos Colón

Los Campesinos! first caught my ear at the start of 2007 while at a friend’s home in Paris. The video for you! me! dancing! came on MTV and I was instantly hooked on the seven-piece band’s unique and energetic sound. Luckily for us Americans, the British pop-band made enough noise to cross the Atlantic and release a debut full-length album, We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed.

Just before the start of their U.S. tour, CoolJunkie caught up and had an interview with guitarist Neil Campesinos on their first full-length release, the musical influences of the band and what 2009 has in store for the band.

CoolJunkie: So how did 2008 treat you guys?

Neil Campesinos: 2008 was probably the most eventful year of my life. It was pretty good. We did a lot and I think we all probably feel the same about that.

CJ: On your full-length debut album, We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed, you guys have a crazy range of tempo changes, lyrics and melodies, but this all seems to work for you in your favor, creating a beautiful album. What did you guys have in mind going into the studio for this?

Neil Campesinos:I think we wanted to do something a little bit different. We never really meant for it to be a proper, proper album. We were originally planning to records five songs, but we ended up doing 12. The songs on Hold On Now, Youngster, were some of the first songs that we ever wrote and we’ve been playing them for ages, but they weren’t entirely representative of the direction we were heading in or where we were at that moment in time. So going into record the songs for this album, they all kind of came together during our U.S. tour. They had more of a current feel to it, as far as where we were at, if that makes sense. For me, personally, they really touch base on the times that we had while we were in America.

CJ: So you guys were originally just planning to make We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed only five tracks?

Neil Campesinos: Yea, originally it was only going to be an EP. But we managed to be super-productive. Which is really cool because in a way we got around the difficulties of a second album without realizing it.

CJ: It seems like a young-adult audience can relate to a lot of the lyrics throughout the album, who is the primary writer? Or does everyone in the band contribute?

Neil Campesinos: The music is primarily written by Tom. Then he’ll put them on the computer and send them and we’ll write lyrics for it. But when we start playing the songs we might change the structure.

CJ: How big is the range of musical influences in the band? Or would you say that you guys have pretty similar influences?

Neil Campesinos: I think there are some core bands that we like, but for the most part we’re really diverse in what we like.

CJ: What are some of the bands that you might agree on?

Neil Campesinos: I’d say bands like Pavement and Broken Social Scene. We’d all agree on that. A lot of American and Canadian bands.

CJ: How would you classify your music to someone who’s never heard of you guys before?

Neil Campesinos: Probably just a pop band. I think that’s pretty fair to say.

CJ: What might be toughest part about being in a seven-piece band?

Neil Campesinos: I don’t think there are any hard part really. It’s all been really great.

CJ: What have you enjoyed most about it?

Neil Campesinos: Touring. Just touring for weeks and months with your friends and just hanging out. Toured the UK and the US and it’s just been great with them. We’re all really, really lucky and we’re aware of that.

CJ: What do you think about the American audience compared to that of the UK?

Neil Campesinos: I’m not really entirely sure if there’s a big difference, but one thing that does make a big difference is if there’s an age restriction at a gig. I don’t jump around at gigs as much as I used to, but I know that I did. (laughs)

CJ: Are there any particular cities that you’re looking forward to play on this tour?

Neil Campesinos: There are so many places. Right now I have my itinerary in front of me so I can see what’s gonna happen. Places like Baltimore, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans. (laughs) Basically everywhere. We’re very big fans of American culture so we’re looking forward to play everywhere.

CJ: What’s in store for the remainder of the year for you guys?

Neil Campesinos: We’re actually gonna be staying in the US until mid-May. Then more touring, then recording, touring, then recording. Then we might end up starting a new tour at the end of the year again.

Click here to hear more from Los Campesinos!.