Now. A cagoule is a kind of an anorak. What does that conjure up in your mind, musically? Limp folk? Some sort of twee indie? Well, you surely have it wrong with this band, who spell their name with a kickin’ K. Kagoule make intriguing rock with twinges of Jane’s Addiction thrown in with some sweet ass feedback and scratchy guitars. Tey play Norwich Arts Centre this month and I chatted with guitarist Cai Burns about supporting Johnny Marr and the Nottingham music scene.
How come you’re called Kagoule? Your guess is as good as mine. Sometimes I ask myself that same question. You’re quite a new band in the grand scheme of things. How did Kagoule begin? Kagoule is the first band any of us have been in. We met in school at 14. I'd hit broken instruments with Lawrence until it sounded kinda like music. Soon we needed a bassist to do a school show. I asked Lucy; she had cool hair and shoes. What’s the music scene like in Nottingham where you hail from? Either there is no scene or the scene is so big that everyone in Nottingham is somehow involved in it. I can't tell. It's a big family where everybody knows and helps each other out. Tere isn't this sense of competition like you can get in other cities. Because of that it’s a good place to grow as a band but also can trap you in a bubble, kind of like a zoo for music. Your debut album Urth came out in August. Which bands were your main influences for it? Tat album was written over quite a long period of time. It started when we were about 15 and we recorded at 19. Each song was never intended to be on an album or even be recorded. Te latest single Made Of Concrete was the second song we wrote as a band, whereas Mike was pretty much written in the studio. Each track has its own time in our teenage lives and its own influences. Urth
22 / November 2015/
outlineonline.co.uk
is more of a compilation of all the stages Kagoule has been through since its beginning. Fugazi forever though, right? You’ve toured with Johnny Marr and Metz, and soon you’re playing a run of headline shows. What was it like playing with as legendary a musician as Johnny Marr? It was such an honour! You soon realise they are just people and they are all loads smaller in real life then they are made out to be. Tere was a moment when talking to Johnny where I started going on about computer voices that talk in the melody of the funeral song, and had a panic because he was clearly just smiling and nodding at me. I exited swiftly and no harm was done. By the end of the few shows we could've chatted for days. “Back in my day when I was in Te Smiths....”. Also when someone that has seen so many bands in their life tells you what songs of yours they like the most, it feels quite special. If you could support anyone, dead or alive, who would it be? C’mon now. Nirvana of course! You’ve had trouble doing what you do e.g. your van breaking down on tour. Is it difficult being in a band at such a young age and dealing with these issues? Yes, we are so nervous and young and have no skills and we die very easily. Ha! Nah it’s alright really. People are more
“Fugaziforever though, right?”
Alex Cabre
willing to help out the young uns and we can look after ourselves just fine. Have there been points when you’ve felt like giving up and packing it in? Yep, for sure. We’ve never made a single penny from this thing, and after a while it can really get to you. We've stuck with it so far and plan to do it for much longer. Do you write songs together or do you have different responsibilities when coming up with material? I write the songs at home at 3am with an acoustic guitar. I’ll make a demo and bring it to practise. We have a bash at it for a while and you can tell pretty quickly if it's a goer or not; the best ones happen the fastest. Lawrence writes all the drums and we'll all try and work out an arrangement, possibly the hardest part, together. Glue is one of my favourite songs from the record. What’s the story behind it? Glue was written on New Year’s Eve 2014 and I have very little memory of writing it. When I picture it I see a blonde man with long, dangling lips holding a frog. Te song is about anxiety and what not to do when you feel that way. Which at the time is exactly what I was doing. Are you working on any new material? All the time. We've got loads of new songs that we can't wait to record and we’re working on the second album now.
I’m very excited for it all. I can hear it in my head and boy does it sound good.
INFORMATION Kagoule play Norwich Arts Centre on 24th November. Tickets from
ueaticketbookings.co.uk
Read this interview in full over at
outlineonline.co.uk
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