Capes - Interview

  by Olga Sladeckova

published: 16 / 1 / 2003

intro

Rising London indie guitar/keyboard group the Capes' debut EP 'I Write the Wrongs' has been receiving much acclaim from boih critics and music fans alike. The band chats to Olga Sladeckova about its release

'I Write The Wrongs' claim the London based group the Capes on their debut EP. Maybe that's not quite true. They must be doing something right. The 5 piece band released 'I Write the Wrongs' in December on Outafocus Records, which has also released CDs and EPs by Freeheat and Medium 21, and have already been attracting the attention of both the music press and music fans. The Capes are Kris Barratt (vocals, guitar), Rupert Cresswell (bass, vocals), Nick Cresswell(guitar, keys, vocals), Richie Gladman (synthesizers, organ, guitar) and Rupert Phelps (drums, percussion). The band emerged out of the ashes of another band Cape Carnival, which just featured Chris and Rupert and Richie. In 2001 they were joined by Rupert Helps and Nick, shortened their name to the Capes and set off to conquer the music world. Pennyblackmusic talked to Kris and Richie at one of their gigs at the Dublin Castle in London. The band were touring England to coincide with the release of 'I Write The Wrongs EP'. PB: How were the Capes formed? KB: At the beginning it was just the three of us. It was myself and the two Ruperts. We played under the name Cape Carnival then. PB: Under the name Cape Carnival did you release anything? KB: We released a 7" Cape Carnival single on September 10th 2001. We made about 500 copies of which 400 are still probably under somebody's bed. (laughs) PB: I'm sure they will be very expensive one day. RG: Yeah, that's what we are thinking! (laughs) PB: Do you all come from London? KB: They all do. They are all from Richmond. I'm from the country. So, they all know each other since they were kids, is that right? (He looks at Richie) And then I joined them. PB : Do you play a lot of gigs ? KB : We tour a lot. We will be going to Sheffield and lots of other places we have never played before on this tour. It's a good way to see the country. RG: Yeah, because we would never go out otherwise (Laughs). PB: Do you enjoy touring? KB: Yeah! It's quite expensive actually. Especially long journeys in buses, but it's worth while I think. I think it will pay off. PB: How did you first get in touch with Danny Corr who runs Outafocus records ? KB: We played a gig with Medium 21 at the Dublin Castle (Medium 21 have just signed to a new major label Temptation) and they thought that Danny would like us. They gave him our demo and he came down to see our gig. It was on September the 11th 2002, so it was quite depressing. Everyone was standing in the front room and watching the news on telly. PB: Why did you name the EP 'I write the Wrongs'? KB: There is a song by on of the Beach Boys Bruce Johnston. It's a song he wrote for Barry Manilow. It's one of his biggest hits. It's called 'I Write the Songs'. PB: I was listening to the lyrics, but it doesn't actually include a line saying 'I Write the Wrongs'. Am I right? KB: Yes! I don't really like naming songs that way. I don't think any of our songs are like that actually. PB: Do you base your songs on reality a lot? KB: Yeah… some of it. The second and 3rd song on 'I Write The Wrongs' ('Chromeless' and 'Boy In A Hood') were kind of invented when I was in a spleen about things I didn't like. RG: He probably writes the lyrics 5 minutes before he has to record them (Laughs) PB: Which song by the Capes is your favourite and why? RG: I think 'First Base'( the last track on the EP) is one of our favourite recordings as we didn't expect it to turn out as good as it is. I'm especially happy with the end bit which Kris and I recorded a while ago one hungover morning and in which we tried to do a weird Syd Barrett style mantra with the sound of horses galloping in the background!! I think 'Chromeless' is another favourite just because its fucking excellent and easy to play! PB: What about favourite songs by other bands? KB: My favourite would be the Beach Boys song, 'Caroline No', which is sublimely brilliant. RG: Probably 'Till I Die' by the Beach Boys from 'Surfs Up'. There is a whole gamut of emotions in that one! Other than that we could go on and on and on, so I'll stop there. PB: Other than the band do you do anything else relating to music? RG: We run a club with our friends, the Stained Glass Heroes and the Koreans, who we share rehearsal space with in Camberwell. Its called the South London Club and is held at the Windmill in Brixton, South London. PB: What kind of music do you and play and what bands you put on? RG: We either play ourselves or put on bands who we've met playing gigs over the last few years. We should be playing with Vic Godard and the Subway Sect in February but that's not confirmed yet. We DJ too as well and ask in other DJs we know. Our favourite is DJ Schinkenfaust from Berlin who plays lots of old punk, new wave and lo-fi American stuff - which pretty much sums up the music policy. PB: When do you get the time to work on your music as you all probably have day jobs? KB: We all work. We almost wasted all our holidays on gigs and recording so we are trying to do as much as we can at the weekends and stuff. PB: Are you planning to do more recording in the near future? RG: Yeah, we are kind of playing around with some ideas for the next EP. Hopefully we should be doing some more of our own production but that's more of a cutting cost exercise (Laughs), but it's not really though. We want to get involved in producing anyway don't we? KB: Yeah. RG: I think we enjoy being in a studio. KB: We would like to put the next record out in March or April. We have a lot of songs so we just have to work out what we want to put record. PB: Thank you KB and RG: Thank you.

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