Crocodiles Interview
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010Crocodiles Interview via Stroll On
1. You guys have finished recording your new record now? When can we expect to hear some of the new material?
Brandon: We’ve finished tracking everything, but it all still needs to be mixed. We’ll have the first single ready soon and that should be out hopefully by mid June or something like that. As for the actual album – due to touring commitments, we won’t be able to mix it properly until probably July, so hopefully the album will be out by the fall.
Charles: Either on tour- there are 5 new songs in the set and we’ll be touring the uk beginning next week- or when our album comes out in August!
2. I’ve heard you being compared to bands like the Velvet Underground and Jesus & Mary Chain – but who do you think of as your influences and who are you currently listening to?
Brandon: Both those bands we would consider influences, particularly Velvet Underground. We listen to a lot of stuff but I think our actual songwriting, when you strip it down and just play it on guitar and sing, is mostly influenced by 60′s pop music and garage rock. We write those kinds of songs and then try to put it through a weirdo filter of all the other stuff we like; krautrock, suicide, dub, spacemen 3, early punk – all that stuff.
Charles: I think our influences change all the time, Brandon and I are always getting each other into cool stuff. German prog rock like Neu, Harmonia, and Cluster are always around, so is Frankie Valli and Bo Diddley and the Mamas and Papas and the Sex Pistols (of course)!
3. Does the recording process just involve the two of you? If so, how do you make the transition from studio to live show?
Brandon: Our friend Jon Greene has always been an integral part of recording. He’s produced everything we’ve done so far with us. James Ford produced the newest album, but Jon was with us engineering everything and we’ll be mixing the record ourselves with Jon. As far as instrumentation and tracking stuff, it’s 90% Charles and I but James Ford, Jon Greene and our touring organ player, Robin Eisenberg, have all contributed bits here and there. When we record we don’t really worry too much about how we’ll be able to replicate something live, we just try and get it too sound as interesting to us as it can. When we assemble a live band we try our best to match what we’ve recorded but part of the fun of it is changing it around so that it’s do-able live. It doesn’t always sound 100% the same as the recordings, but to us that makes it a lot more interesting.
Charles: It is mainly the two of us but we get by with a little help from our friends! Jon Greene is the “3rd Crocodile” and he produces most of our recordings and helps us attain a lot of great sounds- this process we call “screaming chrome”. When it comes time to work the songs into the live set, he helps us with that too- seeing as he is a very capable sound engineer as well. As of late, Robin Eisenberg, our touring keyboardist, has been playing on all of our recordings. She is an incredible talent and can nail whatever style of playing were looking for, plus she is one of the most enthusiastic people you’ll ever meet. While the writing will always remain Brandon and I’s thing, we are always happy to have great people around us helping to make something wicked.
4. There seems to be a very special scene in the US at the moment including bands like you guys, Best Coast, Woven Bones and Dum Dum Girls – there is a very communal feeling about it, how do you think this has come about?
Brandon: Over the past few years we’ve all just met each other through touring and playing shows. Me and Dee Dee from Dum Dum Girls have been married since before either of our bands have been around, so I’m not counting that obviously. But as far as Best Coast or Woven Bones go, we’ve just met them through playing together and mutual appreciation of what the other are doing. Same as everywhere else, there is an overwhelming amount of crappy music here. So when we find kindred spirits we try our best to make friends and engender a coalition.
Charles: It’s wicked! All of these bands, I’m sure get posed with this question a lot, can remember the early stages of their friend’s bands and now for instance a lot of us are playing Primavera this year. In 2008 when Crocs started touring and having 7″s released we played with our friends a lot, as we were all starting out. I’m sure there was a feeling that came across, I know I felt it when I saw them, (this includes Cold Cave and Reading Rainbow and Beaters) that we were all excited to be out of our towns, playing and having fun with likeminded people. I can’t really explain it. But its cool. And completely unforseen.
5. A recurring theme amongst a lot of the bands on the scene over the past couple of years is the DIY ethos. You yourselves tend to release a lot of one off singles with different indie labels. Is this independent / DIY ethos something you believe in?
Brandon: We’ve both been involved in punk since we were teenagers. It’s the culture we feel most a part of and at home in. Small labels and self releases are things that we are used to and comfortable with and it means a lot to us to be able to keep some semblance of control over what we are doing. Obviously there is a point where you need the money and assistance that only a bigger label can offer but we would never divorce ourselves from the culture that we feel a part of. And even when we’re working with bigger labels, I have a small label with Dee Dee so that we can release our friends bands and solo stuff.
Charles: Absolutely, no one’s gonna do you any favors especially when you’re brand new and no one knows who you are. Reverting back to your last question, all of these bands just started booking tours and releasing singles however means possible and eventually they worked hard enough and got somewhere and now they can steer the path a little more and give themselves more freedom to create whatever it is they see their music being.
6. Where do you see the band in 5 years?
Brandon: I don’t even know where we’ll be in 5 months
Charles: Hopefully releasing singles and albums and touring just like we are now!
