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Interview with Craig from
The
Sunshine Underground
by Adrian
Brown
Love the new single, spell it out. Has anyone told you
it sounds a bit Musey?
Ha ha,
yes, I get that.
Is
that a good thing or a bad thing?
No,
that’s cool. I think it does as well, ha ha. Yeah,
it’s quite big and has similar components I think but
that’s a good thing for us. I think they’re a great
band.
The
vocals remind me of Public Image Limited and even more
so on ‘Coming to save you’. Are you a fan?
I
definitely am and I think it is a bit of a coincidence
as well but a lot of people have said that. Even from
our first album, a lot of people have kind of put that
comparison out there but I think he’s got a good vocal
style and lyrically he’s pretty spot on as well and
they’re a great band
The
album’s got a much bigger, highly polished sound than
your earlier songs and sounds almost like you’ve gone up
a gear. Is this the producer’s influence and was this a
conscious effort to move the band into the mainstream?
We toured the first album for so long and we were really
into the first record but by the end of it we kind of
wanted it to sound different to how it did so with this
album we were quite conscious of how we wanted it to
sound so we kind of co-produced it. The idea was to get
something that reflects how we sound live; a bigger,
fuller more guitar heavy kind of sound, which wasn’t
shown off to its full potential on the first record I
don’t think.
It’s
certainly got more of an arena kind of sound to it…
I think
we’ve always had like big, anthemic kind of songs that
are quite immediate but the idea was to make them as big
as they could possibly be, especially, as you said, the
new single which is quite Musey. As a production thing
it’s quite similar in a way.
For
anyone new to The Sunshine Underground and from your own
point of view, how would does this album compare to your
earlier stuff?
With
this one we’ve tried to make more of a guitar record
really. We have dance influences which are quite
apparent when you see us live more so than what’s
represented on the records. This album is more of a
collection of two years worth of the best songs that we
thought that we could write really and put over in an
organic, live sort of style. Consciously we try and
change. There is always a progression and a purpose for
every album. This one was a song writing album.
By the way, did you know that Amazon is charging over
£20 for your first album Raise the Alarm?
Ha, ha.
I know it’s still cheap on iTunes!, it’s only seven
quid, ha, ha.
I
don’t know if you’re like me but I still prefer to buy
the CD and I’d still buy vinyl if I had the space.
I think
vinyl’s in a different league now but I’d have always
bought vinyl as well. You’ve always got the artwork as
well which can’t quite be replicated when you get the
CD.
You’re originally from the Telford area but are known
as a Leeds band and your live dates in Leeds are often
described as home coming gigs. Where do you call home?
It’s
difficult. Leeds is where I live and I have done for
like ten years or something now but obviously we all
grew up together in Telford and Shrewsbury. That’s
where we went to school and formed the band and all that
kind of stuff and that’s where all family connections
are but the band didn’t really kind of get going until
we moved up to Leeds. We did it on kind of a group
mission so as a band and a project it come from Leeds
really but as far as people, the Midlands is always
home.
You’ve played lots of festival dates over the past
three years. Do you prefer festivals to other venues?
As a
band we love to play live and I think that’s where we’ve
built our reputation over the past few years so where
ever that takes us really, I mean, we like doing the big
gigs but we also like doing the small more intimate gigs
and festivals are such a cool thing to do ‘cause you get
to see all your mates that are in bands as well and hang
out so I think festivals are the best things about a
tour which all bands look forward to when they come
around again. They take you out of that general,
generic kind of gigging scenario which makes it more
interesting and you don’t know what bands you’ll get put
with. I found out yesterday that we’re doing a gig with
Doves and I love Doves ha, ha! Festivals are really
brilliant. They map out your summer for you in a way.
Well,
I think I’ve over run my time slot with you so one last
quick question. In an ideal world, how do you see the
future for The Sunshine Underground.
Erm yeah, ha, ha! We just want to keep making good
records. That’s our priority really. Every album’s
going to evolve and have a purpose and the live thing
will stay as good as we think it is so yeah, we’re
committed to making good music and not thinking to much
about all the rubbish that comes along with making it,
ha, ha!
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