The Cribs • Interview w/ 24-7
With their fourth album Ignore The Ignorant just released and a nationwide tour ahead of them, The Cribs just keep on getting bigger and better. The band were already well established, even before legendary former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr joined them.
Arasha from 24/7 magazine spoke to Cribs drummer Ross Jarman; I’ve transcribed the best bits here…
“Your recent material is less lo-fi than your previous work. Was that a conscious decision?
It was a natural progression really. The first album was very DIY, the second a lot less and the third album was quite pop. The new album is a lot more cinematic with a lot more depth, especially since having Johnny Marr as another guitarist.
How did Johnny Marr end up joining The Cribs?
Gary originally met him at (former Pavement frontman) Stephen Malkmus’ house in Portland and Johnny told him how much he liked the band. After that, I met him at Glastonbury and we hung out for a bit and got on well. Then I saw him again at the Q Awards and asked him if he wanted to write a song with us. We originally booked a session for five days, expecting to write just one song. It was so productive that we wrote four, demo’d them and carried on writing more for an album. Then Johnny joined us on the NME tour.
So it all just fell into place.
Yeah it wasn’t planned. He wanted to be in the band and we wanted him to be in the band. We’d written all these songs with him and it ended up being a full time thing.
Were there any worries about Johnny’s iconic reputation casting a shadow over the band?
Not really. It kinda swings both ways, because we’re an established band; our fans are very loyal and hardcore and they don’t like any changes in the band. When there was a rumour going round that we were getting a new guitarist, at first they weren’t really into the idea, but when they found out it was Johnny Marr, it was like, fair enough! The fans enjoy the fact that he plays for us.
Are you into The Smiths or any of Johnny’s former work?
Oh yeah, we all listened to The Smiths when we were growing up.
Do you write collectively or individually?
We all get together in a room and just jam and what we like, we record. That’s exactly what we did with this new album, but with Johnny in the room as well. Everybody just bounces off each other and what somebody plays can really set you alight and throw you off in another direction. Gary and Ryan write the lyrics, being the two singers. Sometimes one of them will feel more inspired than the other, and sometimes they both share it.
I like your offer of an exclusive live disc and DVD with your new album, for people who buy it from independent shops in your various hometowns.
Yes, it’s a way of giving the independent shops something they can put on their shelves, to get the people in. There are a lot of independent record shops that are struggling at the moment and it’s a real shame. The album offer isn’t just for Yorkshire or Lancashire; you can go online and order from those shops.
Would you say The Cribs stand out against other bands? If so, in what way?
Well yeah: we’ve been going for a while now and we’re on our fourth album. A lot of these so-called indie bands just come and go. We’ve also played all the small venues and worked our way up, building up an organic fanbase who obsess about the b-sides and every detail of the band. We haven’t got a lot of casual fans, which a lot of other bands seem to have. Another thing is that most people now sell more digital and we’re completely the other way. Our fans are completely about the physical releases.”
The Cribs new album Ignore The Ignorant is out now on Wichita Records
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