Post by xlouisex on Sept 28, 2008 19:11:07 GMT
Okay guys, ive typed up the article for those of you who cant get the magazine!
Enjoy
*It's a little over a year ago since 'Because of the times'. Was it always the plan to follow it up so quickly?
CALEB: I dont think we ever really have a schedule in mind. I think usually we just come off the road and it'll come
really quickly because we dont really feel like ... Y'know, we're in Nashville where the scene isnt so exciting to
where you get lost in whats going on and you forget to make music, so we always try to make music.
But i think on this one we had a little bit of pressure because of the success of the last one. We had a lot of festivals
and big concerts and things calling to where we knew that if we were gonna go back and play these places we would wanna
have some new songs and some new material to play. It ended up we finished the record - we didnt realise we were gonna do it so quickly, but it came pretty quickly to us.
*How have you spent your downtime since then?
CALEB: I didnt really have that much time off because I had to get surgery and stuff. There was a couple of weeks where we didnt have any shows booked or anything...
NATHAN: I actually woke up the other day and thought - and i was in my own bed at home - i was like, i would love to be able to go downstairs to the bar and drink, talk to the concierge, find a good resturant to eat at that night and just not have to worry about it, because when you're on tour...
JARED: Yeah its crazy. When i'm at home i think like, God I would love to not have to feel a little bit depressed thinking that we're about to have to go out again already. I would love to have no forseeable future, have nothing planned, and justsee what that felt like.
CALEB: well be careful what you wish for. Really, if we woke up tomorrow and there was nothing planned for the rest of our lives, I would give you five weeks before you literally have shaved your head, fuckin' grew a moustache and took up some wierd religion...It wouldnt take long since we've been moving since day one.
*It's amazing that you sold out Londons O2 arena in less than an hour..
CALEB: i think it was actually an hour and fifteen minutes. I think our PR people put that out. (Laughs)
*But still its a huge venue, and one thats recently hosted Prince, the Stones, Springsteen...
CALEB: I think its ridiculous. Whenever they [record label] said, "the next move is the O2 Arena", we all said, "No. Theres no way, we'll never sell those tickets". And even if you do sell the tickets, you are always thinking.. considering our success in the UK, there have been kids that have been waiting for six years to see us play, and because things sell so quickly nowadays, they havent had the opportunity. So its like, "the first time they are gonna watch us will be in the O2 Arena and its gonna be half empty?
And then when it sells its great, but at the same time we know that people talk about the band and think that you don't deserve this and you don't deserve that. In all honesty, we feel like we've put alot of time in the UK, but we don't necessarily feel like we deserve to sell out the O2. Thats pretty big. I mean i find that with whats going on with this band.. Ive always heard that when a band gets big they change. And really in all honesty i feel like everyone else changes. You don't really change that much. And as opposed to us getting cocky over the matter, personally i feel like its been really humbling. I mean, I havent been walking around strutting since all this happened...
JARED: You've got a lot more on your fuckin' plate. You worry more than ever.
CALEB: Im scratching my head just like the kids are that are saying "why do they deserve..." Im like, "why do we deserve to be here?"
*Where does the album title 'Only By The Night' come from?
Jared: Edgar Allen Poe. We asked him what it should be…
Caleb: Actually, in his poem it says “only by night”, not ‘only by the night’.
I had it memorised, but it was great. [Poe’s ‘Eleonora’ reads: “They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night”.]
It was talking about something like all these people that live in the daytime and they miss certain things that you can only find by the night.
Jared: It took us forever to come up with the album title.
We had probably five or six that ended up in the shortlist, and we thought about it throughout the entire writing of the record, throughout the entire recording, and it was just something about our record…
I mean, we kinda like night feeling stuff, you know, even stuff like vampires and The Lost Boys and cool stuff like that; we’re all into that, so there was just something about ‘Only By The Night’ that just felt edgy and what we thought this record felt like.
*So its full of nocturnal themes?
CALEB: Theres very nocturnal themes on this album. Lyrically...Alot of the songs and everything like that. The vibe of them. It feels like the kind of record you want to listen to at night, even if its the one you listen to before you go out, as opposed to while you're out.
But you know, alot of the lyrics and stuff that im writing on this record, its emotions that you have only at night time. Only when you're drunk and stuff. Its things like, in the daytime, you dont really think about these things. You dont pick out the things that are sad about your life. When lifes going great, its great, but at night, after you've had some drinks, you can really pick out the things about it that you dont enjoy that much and things that you miss about the old lifestyle. I think thats really why I just stuck with it.
*Its claimed that 'Crawl' is your "political" song.
CALEB: No that just got taken the wrong way. That song is more about relationships. Its more about things that we're going through than it is political. I mean the chorus touches on politics a tiny bit, but most of it is about fightin' with a woman and all that stuff. So I just took this fight and I took it to a bigger level. And its like this fight could be anything, any kind of fight you know?
*In it you sing, ‘the crucified USA’. Do you think america still has a bad name across the world?
CALEB: Absolutely.
*Do you feel like you have to excuse your country while travelling?
CALEB: Well thats what its about. I mean, we as a band, we grew up in Europe. Europe accepted us first, and so early on to where we spent the majority of our time there, But we learned pretty quickly that we couldnt walk around and be like “hey, hows it goin?” It was kinda like, you’d have your head down... we would say we were Canadian. We dodnt want people to know we were american, because we immediately felt like we were gonna get spit in our food, and everyone talked to us like we had something to do with what happened. People think its a political thing, but the whole song is about this big fight and then in the chorus its just like... all these people say they support this and they support that, its a bunch of cowards that never leave America. Its like “Why dont you go fuckin’ go to France and wear your George Bush T-shirt. Go there instead of of calling me and leaving me emails saying ‘Look what they said about this’. Fuck you. Leave your house, go somewhere, go to a different country and see what its like. See if you really feel that way.
JARED: What I interpret it as, its not so much about current politics as it is metaphorical and prophetic about America in general. Any great power, any superpower in the world, any power that has ruled the world or been the most powerful in the world has come to an end. And so, whatever, even if its a big deal or if its not. Everyone knows the dollar is falling, and gas prices...
*Its like the last days of Rome..
JARED: yeah, totally. It’s a little wierd right now. So even if its the most powerful country in the world, lets hope it doesnt come to a complete halt, like with the great depression.
NATHAN: This is about as bad as it can get right now.
*You’re all in serious relationships now. How does that survive life on the road?
JARED: I think it makes it better. It gives us a different outlet, so we’re not always here, we have somewhere else to go.
NATHAN: It makes being together (as a band) alot more fun. In the beginning we’d get together on the tour bus and then you would leave that tour bus and go to the dressing room, where you’re all together. Then you would go soundcheck together and then you would go eat the catering together, then go to the dressing room before the show starts together. Play the show together, afterparty together, back on the bus... And then it eventually just builds and builds and builds until you just blow up and end up fighting over stupid shit - not because you’re fighting over anything relevant, its just that its alot more fun to fight than to keep it the same.
CALEB: Now we get to fight with women instead of eachother (Laughs)
NATHAN: See at least with women you get the make up sex aspect. To us, make up sex was never an option.
*Do people listen intently to your lyrics and take things personally like, ‘Is this about me?’
CALEB: Oh yeah, That always comes up. The one thing ive learned really early on is that i dont really find my life, or things that are going on in my life that interesting. So from early on ive drawn from a lot of things outside. I can go watch a TV show, a murder mystery, and i’ll wana write a song about this gruesome killing, but in my mind its like “wow, he loved her so much he said ‘shes not gonna be with anyone but me’.” So i can write this song that feels like a love song, but most of my songs are about murder, and all these tales and all these things. People hear something and they think its about them. Its not always about that. I put myself in the song, but usually my part in the song is alot smaller than the rest of whats going on. I write songs about these guys, I write songs about everything.
*Caleb, last time we spoke, you quoted a song by Roger Miller, who was an inspiration on the last album and you’re also a fan of Bob Dylan. Do you think you’re in that school of storytellers?
CALEB: Fuck no. I wish. I mean thats the people I listen to. Roger Miller, Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt; thats what i listen to. And literally as soon as i listen to it I have to drink Whiskey. The whole time im thinking ‘You’re not good enough, you can never do that’. But you know I dont consider myself that person. I wish i was that good. Slowly but surely ... I think the more you take yourself out of the song, the better a storyteller you become. So alot of these songwriters that just write about their lives and themselves, it just turns into the same song over and over and nobody wants to hear that shit. Very few people write about the bad parts of relationships. Its always like ‘im gonna go write this song for my girlfriend, and here it is....’ Thats bullshit. Thats a portion of your relationship.
NATHAN: Everyone thats in a relationship can see that. Its like, okay ‘yeah thats one good day out of twenty bad days’. Of course if you wanted to only write about the gold, thats easy to do, the good times. But you gotta write about the shit every now and then to make you a normal person.
CALEB: At this point, and hopefully at every point in my life, I want to write songs that are relatable to people. If i’d sold a billion records and i wasnt trying to give to shits about what people thought, maybe i would write a record about my relationship and make it sound candy coated and only pull out the best parts. But ive always been in love with the dirty parts of songs and the worst parts. Songs that make you go ‘woah that was very honest of that person’. They made themselves look like they were that big’ Thats why the song ‘Soft’ came about. Like you cant always write about the best sex you ever had - write about when you can’t get it up. Write about the times that everyone experiences but no one ever talks about.
*Do you have a clear idea of who is listening to your music? Do you have anyone in mind? Are you writing for fifteen year old kids that you want to pick up a guitar?
CALEB: Well you know, we dont realise it, but things are getting to a level where things are changing, but fifteen year old kids are the ones commenting (on the internet) ‘That fucking sucks’ or ‘I cant wait to marry him’ - its like all these things. But then you have the older fans, which are just fans of rock and roll, fans of music. They are usually the ones that point out everything good in your music, and when the younger kids dont even realise whats going on, they’re like, ‘well hey, ive been listening to this kind of music for generations. You cant come in here and hear one thing and dismiss the band as a good band because you dont likeb what they’re saying or you cant relate to what they’re saying.
*There are a couple of songs on this album that sound like lost 80s power anthems, one being 'Be Somebody'..
Caleb: That was one that we had been messing around with for a bit. It sounded really dark. i wrote that song about - actually speaking about what you just said - we had a couple of fans that were getting online that were crazy. They were talkin' so much shit about us, but at the same time, but at the same time they were talking about about how we were the love of their lives, and we live together; they had all these weird fucked up fantasies. So I kinda wrote these verses about life as we see it, and then in the chorus I'd switch scenes to them. Its like, [sings] "Given a chance I'm gonna be somebody/If for one day I'm gonna be somebody/ So open the door I'm gonna make you love me/ I'm facing the floor, I'm gonna be somebody". Its about someone really taking it to the next level. I've always said from day one, no matter how many fans we get, if one of us ever died from a fan, it would be a girl. There's no guy that would wanna kill us. There are girls that get so obsessed they would want to kill us. They wanna shoot us, they wanna do whatever, Its always scared me, but i thought if its a fear of mine I should write a song about it, maybe I can stop it from happening"
*Those songs made me think of John Hughes films and their soundtracks.
JARED: Thats such a good thing, man im glad you think that.
*Would you guys like to do a movie soundtrack?
JARED: Absolutely. Thats what i wanted to do before I was in a band, and i still strive to do that. To make soundtracks for movies.
CALEB: Thats wierd. Me and nathan also used to want to do that when we were kids. And we’ve never actually even talked about that. I never knew you wanted to.
JARED: Totally, I used to play songs in my room and like watch TV with it, but mute the television like watch cartoons and listen to the pixies, or listen to Mozart and watch COPS. Its fuckin crazy, its fuckin awesome.
*What kind of movie would you like to score?
CALEB: whats the movie with Ryan Gosling in and they use so many Broken Social scene songs? [Half nelson] If you could get a good movie and put all these dark songs on there, it would just be beautiful. For me my favourite thing would be if there was a gruesome murder goin on. I would put the happiest country song you ever heard where its just fucked up. Wow. One day we will do it though. Didnt one of the guys from Radiohead do a soundtrack?
*Yeah Johnny Greenwood did ‘There will be blood’. You must have all mingled with your fair share of Actors and actresses in your time. Has anyone tried to persuade you to try your hand at acting?
CALEB: I had an offer. It was weird. I think it was for a Sofia Coppola movie. Our publicist called and was like, “Hey, we just got a call today and she would like you to be in her movie, and she wants you to read the script tonight” And we were drunk. I was like, ‘what?’ She was like “tonight”. So we went downstairs to my room...
NATHAN: We had to do a screen test! We had to send a tape of him in character!
CALEB: We went to my room, we made a fire, and Nathan asked the questions - he was the girl. He’d be like, “So do you love me?” And I’d be like, [flatly] “Why yes, I love you” (Laughs) It was the worst, I never got a call back.
NATHAN: There was partial nudity, but no penetration.
CALEB: Just the tip of the penis came into view, then it went out (Laughs)
*Talking of Radiohead, Ed from the band said that he was a big fan of Nathans drumming. He actually said that if he could join any band it would be Kings of Leon. Would you let him in?
NATHAN: He’s too tall. And too handsome. He would pull all the women.
*So what would one need to be in the Kings Of Leon?
NATHAN: At least two STD’s, a drinking problem and a love of animals. Nah, we would let him in anytime, he’s a great guy.
*If you could be in any other band what would it be?
JARED: I’d probably be in an Electric band. I dont know if id be in bands like that, but when im making music myself, i would strive for it to be something like Crystal Castles or MGMT, stuff like that.
Do you think you are a forward-thinking band or are you more traditional?
Jared: We’re definitely not forward as far as technology and stuff like that…
Caleb: We’re still trying to catch up. I mean, we were so far behind the times as far as…you know, a lot of people, they start a band after they’ve been listening to Radiohead for ten years. We’ve only just listened to Radiohead for the last two or three years, and we’ve been working our way up the whole time, so I don’t think we’re forward at all. But due to the fact that we haven’t had the influences that everyone else has, there’s something about our music that people will feel is fresh; not fresh, it’s just that every trend that comes back around, we’re just slower than everyone else, so by the time we get somewhere it’s like, ‘oh shit, that’s cool!’
Enjoy
*It's a little over a year ago since 'Because of the times'. Was it always the plan to follow it up so quickly?
CALEB: I dont think we ever really have a schedule in mind. I think usually we just come off the road and it'll come
really quickly because we dont really feel like ... Y'know, we're in Nashville where the scene isnt so exciting to
where you get lost in whats going on and you forget to make music, so we always try to make music.
But i think on this one we had a little bit of pressure because of the success of the last one. We had a lot of festivals
and big concerts and things calling to where we knew that if we were gonna go back and play these places we would wanna
have some new songs and some new material to play. It ended up we finished the record - we didnt realise we were gonna do it so quickly, but it came pretty quickly to us.
*How have you spent your downtime since then?
CALEB: I didnt really have that much time off because I had to get surgery and stuff. There was a couple of weeks where we didnt have any shows booked or anything...
NATHAN: I actually woke up the other day and thought - and i was in my own bed at home - i was like, i would love to be able to go downstairs to the bar and drink, talk to the concierge, find a good resturant to eat at that night and just not have to worry about it, because when you're on tour...
JARED: Yeah its crazy. When i'm at home i think like, God I would love to not have to feel a little bit depressed thinking that we're about to have to go out again already. I would love to have no forseeable future, have nothing planned, and justsee what that felt like.
CALEB: well be careful what you wish for. Really, if we woke up tomorrow and there was nothing planned for the rest of our lives, I would give you five weeks before you literally have shaved your head, fuckin' grew a moustache and took up some wierd religion...It wouldnt take long since we've been moving since day one.
*It's amazing that you sold out Londons O2 arena in less than an hour..
CALEB: i think it was actually an hour and fifteen minutes. I think our PR people put that out. (Laughs)
*But still its a huge venue, and one thats recently hosted Prince, the Stones, Springsteen...
CALEB: I think its ridiculous. Whenever they [record label] said, "the next move is the O2 Arena", we all said, "No. Theres no way, we'll never sell those tickets". And even if you do sell the tickets, you are always thinking.. considering our success in the UK, there have been kids that have been waiting for six years to see us play, and because things sell so quickly nowadays, they havent had the opportunity. So its like, "the first time they are gonna watch us will be in the O2 Arena and its gonna be half empty?
And then when it sells its great, but at the same time we know that people talk about the band and think that you don't deserve this and you don't deserve that. In all honesty, we feel like we've put alot of time in the UK, but we don't necessarily feel like we deserve to sell out the O2. Thats pretty big. I mean i find that with whats going on with this band.. Ive always heard that when a band gets big they change. And really in all honesty i feel like everyone else changes. You don't really change that much. And as opposed to us getting cocky over the matter, personally i feel like its been really humbling. I mean, I havent been walking around strutting since all this happened...
JARED: You've got a lot more on your fuckin' plate. You worry more than ever.
CALEB: Im scratching my head just like the kids are that are saying "why do they deserve..." Im like, "why do we deserve to be here?"
*Where does the album title 'Only By The Night' come from?
Jared: Edgar Allen Poe. We asked him what it should be…
Caleb: Actually, in his poem it says “only by night”, not ‘only by the night’.
I had it memorised, but it was great. [Poe’s ‘Eleonora’ reads: “They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night”.]
It was talking about something like all these people that live in the daytime and they miss certain things that you can only find by the night.
Jared: It took us forever to come up with the album title.
We had probably five or six that ended up in the shortlist, and we thought about it throughout the entire writing of the record, throughout the entire recording, and it was just something about our record…
I mean, we kinda like night feeling stuff, you know, even stuff like vampires and The Lost Boys and cool stuff like that; we’re all into that, so there was just something about ‘Only By The Night’ that just felt edgy and what we thought this record felt like.
*So its full of nocturnal themes?
CALEB: Theres very nocturnal themes on this album. Lyrically...Alot of the songs and everything like that. The vibe of them. It feels like the kind of record you want to listen to at night, even if its the one you listen to before you go out, as opposed to while you're out.
But you know, alot of the lyrics and stuff that im writing on this record, its emotions that you have only at night time. Only when you're drunk and stuff. Its things like, in the daytime, you dont really think about these things. You dont pick out the things that are sad about your life. When lifes going great, its great, but at night, after you've had some drinks, you can really pick out the things about it that you dont enjoy that much and things that you miss about the old lifestyle. I think thats really why I just stuck with it.
*Its claimed that 'Crawl' is your "political" song.
CALEB: No that just got taken the wrong way. That song is more about relationships. Its more about things that we're going through than it is political. I mean the chorus touches on politics a tiny bit, but most of it is about fightin' with a woman and all that stuff. So I just took this fight and I took it to a bigger level. And its like this fight could be anything, any kind of fight you know?
*In it you sing, ‘the crucified USA’. Do you think america still has a bad name across the world?
CALEB: Absolutely.
*Do you feel like you have to excuse your country while travelling?
CALEB: Well thats what its about. I mean, we as a band, we grew up in Europe. Europe accepted us first, and so early on to where we spent the majority of our time there, But we learned pretty quickly that we couldnt walk around and be like “hey, hows it goin?” It was kinda like, you’d have your head down... we would say we were Canadian. We dodnt want people to know we were american, because we immediately felt like we were gonna get spit in our food, and everyone talked to us like we had something to do with what happened. People think its a political thing, but the whole song is about this big fight and then in the chorus its just like... all these people say they support this and they support that, its a bunch of cowards that never leave America. Its like “Why dont you go fuckin’ go to France and wear your George Bush T-shirt. Go there instead of of calling me and leaving me emails saying ‘Look what they said about this’. Fuck you. Leave your house, go somewhere, go to a different country and see what its like. See if you really feel that way.
JARED: What I interpret it as, its not so much about current politics as it is metaphorical and prophetic about America in general. Any great power, any superpower in the world, any power that has ruled the world or been the most powerful in the world has come to an end. And so, whatever, even if its a big deal or if its not. Everyone knows the dollar is falling, and gas prices...
*Its like the last days of Rome..
JARED: yeah, totally. It’s a little wierd right now. So even if its the most powerful country in the world, lets hope it doesnt come to a complete halt, like with the great depression.
NATHAN: This is about as bad as it can get right now.
*You’re all in serious relationships now. How does that survive life on the road?
JARED: I think it makes it better. It gives us a different outlet, so we’re not always here, we have somewhere else to go.
NATHAN: It makes being together (as a band) alot more fun. In the beginning we’d get together on the tour bus and then you would leave that tour bus and go to the dressing room, where you’re all together. Then you would go soundcheck together and then you would go eat the catering together, then go to the dressing room before the show starts together. Play the show together, afterparty together, back on the bus... And then it eventually just builds and builds and builds until you just blow up and end up fighting over stupid shit - not because you’re fighting over anything relevant, its just that its alot more fun to fight than to keep it the same.
CALEB: Now we get to fight with women instead of eachother (Laughs)
NATHAN: See at least with women you get the make up sex aspect. To us, make up sex was never an option.
*Do people listen intently to your lyrics and take things personally like, ‘Is this about me?’
CALEB: Oh yeah, That always comes up. The one thing ive learned really early on is that i dont really find my life, or things that are going on in my life that interesting. So from early on ive drawn from a lot of things outside. I can go watch a TV show, a murder mystery, and i’ll wana write a song about this gruesome killing, but in my mind its like “wow, he loved her so much he said ‘shes not gonna be with anyone but me’.” So i can write this song that feels like a love song, but most of my songs are about murder, and all these tales and all these things. People hear something and they think its about them. Its not always about that. I put myself in the song, but usually my part in the song is alot smaller than the rest of whats going on. I write songs about these guys, I write songs about everything.
*Caleb, last time we spoke, you quoted a song by Roger Miller, who was an inspiration on the last album and you’re also a fan of Bob Dylan. Do you think you’re in that school of storytellers?
CALEB: Fuck no. I wish. I mean thats the people I listen to. Roger Miller, Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt; thats what i listen to. And literally as soon as i listen to it I have to drink Whiskey. The whole time im thinking ‘You’re not good enough, you can never do that’. But you know I dont consider myself that person. I wish i was that good. Slowly but surely ... I think the more you take yourself out of the song, the better a storyteller you become. So alot of these songwriters that just write about their lives and themselves, it just turns into the same song over and over and nobody wants to hear that shit. Very few people write about the bad parts of relationships. Its always like ‘im gonna go write this song for my girlfriend, and here it is....’ Thats bullshit. Thats a portion of your relationship.
NATHAN: Everyone thats in a relationship can see that. Its like, okay ‘yeah thats one good day out of twenty bad days’. Of course if you wanted to only write about the gold, thats easy to do, the good times. But you gotta write about the shit every now and then to make you a normal person.
CALEB: At this point, and hopefully at every point in my life, I want to write songs that are relatable to people. If i’d sold a billion records and i wasnt trying to give to shits about what people thought, maybe i would write a record about my relationship and make it sound candy coated and only pull out the best parts. But ive always been in love with the dirty parts of songs and the worst parts. Songs that make you go ‘woah that was very honest of that person’. They made themselves look like they were that big’ Thats why the song ‘Soft’ came about. Like you cant always write about the best sex you ever had - write about when you can’t get it up. Write about the times that everyone experiences but no one ever talks about.
*Do you have a clear idea of who is listening to your music? Do you have anyone in mind? Are you writing for fifteen year old kids that you want to pick up a guitar?
CALEB: Well you know, we dont realise it, but things are getting to a level where things are changing, but fifteen year old kids are the ones commenting (on the internet) ‘That fucking sucks’ or ‘I cant wait to marry him’ - its like all these things. But then you have the older fans, which are just fans of rock and roll, fans of music. They are usually the ones that point out everything good in your music, and when the younger kids dont even realise whats going on, they’re like, ‘well hey, ive been listening to this kind of music for generations. You cant come in here and hear one thing and dismiss the band as a good band because you dont likeb what they’re saying or you cant relate to what they’re saying.
*There are a couple of songs on this album that sound like lost 80s power anthems, one being 'Be Somebody'..
Caleb: That was one that we had been messing around with for a bit. It sounded really dark. i wrote that song about - actually speaking about what you just said - we had a couple of fans that were getting online that were crazy. They were talkin' so much shit about us, but at the same time, but at the same time they were talking about about how we were the love of their lives, and we live together; they had all these weird fucked up fantasies. So I kinda wrote these verses about life as we see it, and then in the chorus I'd switch scenes to them. Its like, [sings] "Given a chance I'm gonna be somebody/If for one day I'm gonna be somebody/ So open the door I'm gonna make you love me/ I'm facing the floor, I'm gonna be somebody". Its about someone really taking it to the next level. I've always said from day one, no matter how many fans we get, if one of us ever died from a fan, it would be a girl. There's no guy that would wanna kill us. There are girls that get so obsessed they would want to kill us. They wanna shoot us, they wanna do whatever, Its always scared me, but i thought if its a fear of mine I should write a song about it, maybe I can stop it from happening"
*Those songs made me think of John Hughes films and their soundtracks.
JARED: Thats such a good thing, man im glad you think that.
*Would you guys like to do a movie soundtrack?
JARED: Absolutely. Thats what i wanted to do before I was in a band, and i still strive to do that. To make soundtracks for movies.
CALEB: Thats wierd. Me and nathan also used to want to do that when we were kids. And we’ve never actually even talked about that. I never knew you wanted to.
JARED: Totally, I used to play songs in my room and like watch TV with it, but mute the television like watch cartoons and listen to the pixies, or listen to Mozart and watch COPS. Its fuckin crazy, its fuckin awesome.
*What kind of movie would you like to score?
CALEB: whats the movie with Ryan Gosling in and they use so many Broken Social scene songs? [Half nelson] If you could get a good movie and put all these dark songs on there, it would just be beautiful. For me my favourite thing would be if there was a gruesome murder goin on. I would put the happiest country song you ever heard where its just fucked up. Wow. One day we will do it though. Didnt one of the guys from Radiohead do a soundtrack?
*Yeah Johnny Greenwood did ‘There will be blood’. You must have all mingled with your fair share of Actors and actresses in your time. Has anyone tried to persuade you to try your hand at acting?
CALEB: I had an offer. It was weird. I think it was for a Sofia Coppola movie. Our publicist called and was like, “Hey, we just got a call today and she would like you to be in her movie, and she wants you to read the script tonight” And we were drunk. I was like, ‘what?’ She was like “tonight”. So we went downstairs to my room...
NATHAN: We had to do a screen test! We had to send a tape of him in character!
CALEB: We went to my room, we made a fire, and Nathan asked the questions - he was the girl. He’d be like, “So do you love me?” And I’d be like, [flatly] “Why yes, I love you” (Laughs) It was the worst, I never got a call back.
NATHAN: There was partial nudity, but no penetration.
CALEB: Just the tip of the penis came into view, then it went out (Laughs)
*Talking of Radiohead, Ed from the band said that he was a big fan of Nathans drumming. He actually said that if he could join any band it would be Kings of Leon. Would you let him in?
NATHAN: He’s too tall. And too handsome. He would pull all the women.
*So what would one need to be in the Kings Of Leon?
NATHAN: At least two STD’s, a drinking problem and a love of animals. Nah, we would let him in anytime, he’s a great guy.
*If you could be in any other band what would it be?
JARED: I’d probably be in an Electric band. I dont know if id be in bands like that, but when im making music myself, i would strive for it to be something like Crystal Castles or MGMT, stuff like that.
Do you think you are a forward-thinking band or are you more traditional?
Jared: We’re definitely not forward as far as technology and stuff like that…
Caleb: We’re still trying to catch up. I mean, we were so far behind the times as far as…you know, a lot of people, they start a band after they’ve been listening to Radiohead for ten years. We’ve only just listened to Radiohead for the last two or three years, and we’ve been working our way up the whole time, so I don’t think we’re forward at all. But due to the fact that we haven’t had the influences that everyone else has, there’s something about our music that people will feel is fresh; not fresh, it’s just that every trend that comes back around, we’re just slower than everyone else, so by the time we get somewhere it’s like, ‘oh shit, that’s cool!’
