CHEATAHS interview; playing The Basement on April 2
Meet your new favorite band. CHEATAH’S sound like they hopped into the wayback machine, landed in my off-campus college apartment sometime around 1995, snagged a handful of CDs (Swervedriver, Hum, Ride, The Meat Puppets, Triple Fast Action) to take into the future for inspiration, and set forth on creating my favorite music of 2013.
Well done, CHEATAHS, well done.
These guys (members from UK, Canada, the U.S.) are a ‘90s alt-rock fan’s wet dream and roll into Columbus on April 2 opening for Wavves and FIDLAR at The Basement.
Guitarist James Wignall answered questions I sent him last week.
You find a VHS tape and throw it in your VCR to find that it’s full of music videos that somebody taped off MTV back when they showed rock videos. It’s these videos that inspire you, as a band, and influence your sound. Can you name the first three videos that are on this tape?
Well, we aren't necessarily influenced by these bands, but three videos that we love are “100%” by Sonic Youth, as not only is it a great song (Wavves have been covering it on this tour actually), but it features Jason Lee and Guy Mariano (still one of the greatest skaters around today) skating around NY just having fun. I'm not sure but I guess it must be Spike Jonze-directed.
”Sugar Cube” by Yo La Tengo is probably one if my favourite videos of all time as it's basically one long hilarious Mr. Show sketch. It's self-referential commercial suicide and all the better for it
”Some Velvet Morning” by Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra. Lee on a horse, Nancy playing a goddess.
You’ve got two EPs under your belt. In 2013, releasing EPs seems to be a better idea –and a better use of money – (put out fewer songs quicker) than trying to fill up a full length every two or three years. What are your thoughts about releasing music – the frequency, the quality vs quantity, and the methods by which you release?
We're very lucky that in Wichita we have a label that's still in love with vinyl. As for frequency of releases, we're always writing, so when you're not on tour you try and get in the studio and see what happens. The album will be out in June or July and then we'll start thinking about the next one; it's a never-ending process. And regarding quality, we only release something when all of the band are proud of it.
I’ve been interviewing bands long enough that I don’t really care how you came up with your band name, but I have seen it most places as spelled out with capital letters. Is that the proper way to write CHEATAHS and, if so, is there a reason for that?
Oh no, there's no proper way. Aesthetically it looks good in capitals, but it doesn't really matter
Where is your “local” scene? How – if at all – do you fit into that scene? Columbus is a fertile college town where new bands form hourly. Within the scene, there’s competition for a local audience (radio-station sponsored “Battle of the Bands”-type events where fan participation/voting helps land local bands on radio-station multi-band, high-profile shows) that, to some, feels a bit exploitative and may hurt the scene more than help the scene. Too many bands want to be local heroes and not enough want to make this a career (ie – play shows out of town, out of state, out of country).
If you're having fun just playing your area, and are happy doing that, why not? But I would strongly advise any new band to avoid a battle of a bands type thing -music (and art in general) isn't a competition, and i think if you turn it into that it cheapens the whole thing.
A follow-up to the last question – Is CHEATAHS something you hope to make a career out of? Seeing how the music landscape has changed so much in the last 20 years, bands blowing up the way Nirvana did is much less common. How do you find that happy medium where you attain certain levels of success (and meet band goals) but still are able to pay the rent and not have to worry about whether or not you’ll be able to pay your heating bill in the winter?
As soon as you start measuring success by record sales etc you're in trouble. And money-wise, we all still have to work occasionally, and that's fine by us.
What have been the secrets of the success you’ve achieved so far? Have you found any one thing (or a combination of things) that have resulted is more sales, better turnouts, more social media buzz?
I really have no idea, but making good records helps
I read all sorts of magazines and online content about music. When reading CD reviews, I tend to look for comparisons to other bands. I know bands sometimes consider this lazy journalism but it provides context for me as a reader. As I writer, I like to make comparisons to other bands as well. What band(s) do you get compared to that make you wonder if the writer even listened to your music because it’s so far off?
Not really, if people have heard something in us, it would be arrogant to tell them they're wrong, however weird it may be to us
The obligatory, “So, what comes next?” question. I think I read somewhere that you’ve got a full length coming out later this year. Does it include material from the EPs or is that why you released Extended Plays (so you can clear out the old material and get people better acquainted with your music before giving us something new)? Would you say the newer material is an extension of what we’ve already heard or are you trying new things out as you mature as a band? Any touring plans and, if so, do you prefer these opening slots or would you prefer headlining clubs?
Yeah, the album comes out June or July and it's all brand new stuff. There's definitely a bit more experimentation on there. When we get back from the US it will be mainly UK and European festivals, and touring again later in the year, although I don't know exactly where yet. Headlining or supporting, it's really all the same to us if we like the bands we're playing with.
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