Cat On The Wall: What have you been up to since we last spoke to you, what is it, four years ago now?

Scott Rinning: Yeah it’s been a long time! Well, we toured around the world playing our amazing music to folks that we could get to. Our guitarist Ramsay Miller got married, happily! We went along to the wedding in Glasgow, it was a bit of a mad one. I nearly fainted!

COTW: Too much emotion?

SR: [laughs] No, unfortunately it had nothing to do with emotions at all! We’d been on tour in America for about 3 months and the second day that I came back he got married so the first day we came home we went out with all our mates and got really really drunk so I woke up for his wedding next day at one of my friends’ house... I went to his wedding in the clothes I was wearing out the night before... it’s not really nice but I was dressed very well on the night I went out so I still looked good. Then over the last year and a half Larry’s joined the band and we’ve been settling in and writing music and completing our new album which we recorded over Christmas and springtime.

COTW: Did you know Larry before?

SR: Not really. Divination, that’s how we found him. We kind of walked around Glasgow with rods.

Larry Reid: I was in the band for about 3 weeks before they actually found out I could play guitar! They liked my shoes and me playing guitar was a real bonus.

COTW: So your first album was recorded in Bath, in Peter Gabriel’s studio. How did the recording for this new album compare with your previous experience?

SR: This time around we got a new record company, our previous label was bought out and from the take-over, we seized the opportunity to gain more control over how we wanted to do things, like where and how we wanted to record our music, the album artwork, all aspects of the band. We recorded this album partly in studios, partly at home, around Glasgow, trying to keep control of it. Every single noise, whistle, bang, pop, it’s down to The Cinematics.

LR: I produced the album, there’s no external producer.

COTW: Did you prefer producing yourselves?

LR: (to Scott) Did you prefer that?

SR: Yes, I think so. Working with a producer can be great. When I started making music, I was using basic equipment, recording on one tape machine, then recording on another tape machine, playing along to the first tape machine. It was fine for a while but it got a little bit ridiculous eventually. So when you’re in a band, you had to go into a studio and pay the money and pay for a producer. Whereas now, you can pull up some pretty decent recordings yourself, with the right equipment. There are some extremely talented producers out there, that you can put your own ideas to, a producer can come handy at times. This time around I don’t think we were really lacking inspiration, I don’t think we really needed a producer, whether I enjoyed it more or less... I think Larry would have said it was extremely stressful.

LR: It was stressful, I mean we may use another producer for the next album, it depends how this goes down, how well this one is received.

After a brief detour in the interview we reached the subject of promoting your band and how tools like Twitter and Facebook can be very rewarding for your own use, but ultimately would drive anyone insane if they had to treat this type of advertisement as a job for a third party. And then, swine flu gets mentioned...

SR: It’s nice to hear of fans around the world. We get messages from people in Tokyo, South Africa, Mexico, Chile, it’s kind of cool.

LR: Although we had to cancel a tour in Mexico, didn’t we?

SR: Er, what... yes! (starts coughing with Larry in tow) The swine flu... (more over-exaggerated coughing from the pair) We think Ross has definitely got it.

LR: He’s in quarantine at the back of the tour van.

SR: He’s stuck there at the back with all the equipment. He started coughing after Manchester so I think he’s got it.

LR: He’d eaten some blackberries and it said “packaged in Mexico” on it...

SR: Really?! (general laughter from Larry and COTW) Oh shi... I started washing my hands with TCP. (it turns out Scott is quite the worrier)

LR: He comes into my room to do it. He’s got my hotel room stinking of TCP!

SR: It’s a good smell, it makes you feel safe.

LR: It’s reassuring. Much laughter was had by all and we decided to rein Scott and Larry into seriousness...

COTW: The first single ‘Love and Terror’ is download only.

LR: Yes, but we’re thinking of releasing it on vinyl, a limited edition type thing, for super fans. Now, the album will definitely be physically in the shops.

SR: The vinyl is kind of a memento for super fans, something to mark the single release so we’d like to make it special.

LR: The good thing about downloads is that it is a lot quicker to distribute your music. With physical CDs it can take six months between the moment of recording to the moment the music reaches the shop shelves. We’re quite into the idea of writing some songs and get them out really quickly.

COTW: Can you talk to us about the new album?

SR: It’s called ‘Love and Terror’ and it was approached differently from the previous one. It’s a little bit more raw, a little bit more emotive rather than it being so clean-slick-and-polished like it was the first time. I think we’ve been more experimental, structurally, not trying to stick to any formulated pop structure.

LR: This time around The Cinematics aren’t expected to become ‘The Biggest Band In The World’, however with the next album we expect to be ‘The Biggest Band In The World’! We wrote 17 songs which we thought were amazing and we picked the best 10 and put them on an album. There are some bum notes – the current trend right now is to use a ‘beat detector’ so everything is completely in time, there’s none of that happening on this album because people see through that, people hear that, if it’s too perfect it’s a turn-off for them. We wanted to make an album that sounded like the bands we really liked, one of my favourite bands is Jesus and Mary Chain, so there’s a lot of that type of guitar sound.

SR: It’s a pure honest album and it’s been recorded in a pure honest way. There’s a song on it called ‘Hard for Young Lovers’ which I think really sums up what the album is all about. ‘Wish (when the banks collapse)‘, it was written before the banks started collapsing though it’s not really about banks collapsing but more about rich people turning around to you and telling you what you should be giving money to... Not that I don’t think you should give money, I'm not against charity but it’s that kind of standing up and going “you should do this”...

LR: We’re talking about bands who protest against the music industry, people making money from the music industry... people that lend their weight to all sorts of causes and that’s quite easy for you to do that when you have a hundred million in the bank or twenty million in the bank... I don’t have twenty million, I don’t have much money in the bank, I'm not sure whether that’s £20 or £30 but I don’t have enough money to give away my record for free. This album sounds quite dark because when we were recording it the record company was going out of business and we thought we might never make an album, we might be writing these songs as an end to nothing, it might go nowhere. I think the album is very honest as a result of that, the songs are about hard times, about the hard times we faced when writing this album.

SR: There is some happier things too...

LR: There’s some comedy on it.

SR: There’s some definite bits that will make you laugh.

LR: My guitar playing will make you laugh...

SR: Yeah, it’s just terrible (trying to contain a laugh) it’s a joke, it’s a joke, his guitar playing is amazing! What else can we say about this album... (thinks) it’s amazing, you should buy it when it comes out!

So there you have it, a darkly comedic album with terrible... we mean, amazing guitar playing that’ll make you laugh and you should all be buying it. Honestly though, this album is a labour of love in a time of depression, it lends realistic optimism to some not-so-happy days and we should all be grateful to The Cinematics for keeping the flame. As COTW set up for a photoshoot, we realised our camera battery had given up on us and we promptly rushed home to grab our spare camera... We later met up with the band in the pub opposite the venue and proceeded to have some burger and beer with the guys. More laughter was had and we eventually managed to grab the fourtet for a quick pose-but-do-not-smile-smiling-is-for-losers (quote Larry) before the support act, Hip Parade, hit the stage. The Cinematics went on to delivering an intense and passionate set to a disappointingly sparse audience. Where was the Cardiff indie scenesters on that night? It didn’t stop the band though and we were glad to be part of the evening in our own little way: we returned home that night with two Cinematics tee-shirts as a way to get Larry on his way to gaining £20 million on his bank account.

The band’s new single release has been delayed and should now be available sometime in June 2009. The album should follow at the end of summer. We’ll keep you informed whenever we get more information.

When The Cinematics are playing in a venue near you, make sure to see them, you will not be disappointed!

Visit The Cinematics on Myspace!

Photography by CB Lux.

Interview by Jo Whitby and CB Lux

Cat On The Wall: Hello Erin. How are you?

Erin Lang: I am great! I just got a banjo for my birthday and I am so excited about that! It is such a strange funny interesting instrument... an exciting combination!

COTW: I discovered you and your music less than two weeks ago and I'm always pleased to find multi-instrumentalist female artists. Can you talk us through your musical background and the number of instruments you enjoy playing?

EL: Sure! It’s a bit long, prepare yourself with some water and food to sustain you! My first instrument was the Trumpet, we had to pick an instrument for school and it seemed bold and brassy and the opposite of my personality at the time (I was 10 and a bit shy) but more like what I wanted to be. I fell absolutely in love and learned every trumpet part on every record that my parents had, latin jazz, classical, it didn't matter; as I learned to read music I worked my way through every song in the 'Big Beatles Songbook' I had taken out of the library. I am from a musical background, my Grandmother is an incredible pianist and my Dad a bass player for a big Canadian rock band so when I turned 13 a couple of my friends where starting a band. I picked up my Dad's bass and asked him to teach me. He taught me how to pick out the bass part on records and a blues scale and I took it from there, it was easy since I had already done this with trumpet.

Being in the band with the guys was great, it was how I started writing parts and this became a new passion. I then wanted to learn guitar so I could write songs and not just bass parts but I hated my voice to this went on the back burner as I worked my way through glam and punk bands on the Toronto music scene after high school. I continued learning guitar and singing in little bits and then finally decided that I wanted to start my own band and record my own music. I met Roger (O’Donnell) and he had a nice little studio so we started working on songs together and it was so much fun exploring different sounds and being in Europe a bit more opened me up to a lot more musical influences. As I started recording my album in Germany and putting the live show together I realised I wanted more instruments, more sounds and I would need someone to play them. I had a song that I thought would sound great on ukulele and that began that love affair and a friend had an accordion she had bought at a pawn shop on a whim but she couldn't play so I inherited it. I just start tinkering around with them and I love their voices they say so much to me that songs come out.

The strangest instrument I 'play' is the theremin, you play it by just moving your hands in the air around it and it is very tricky but great ear training! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremin

COTW: You were born in Montréal and currently split your time between Toronto and the UK. Does this regular migration impact on your music, on the way you work?

EL: Well I work best with a deadline. The studio is in the UK so if I am working on songs I always want to get them down before I am too far from the studio, so in the last weeks before going to Canada I squeeze in a lot of recording which is great, otherwise I might never get them down! Then Canada is great for writing, I spend time at my parents’ cottage or on my aunt and uncle's farm and always have a guitar and ukulele with me so I strum a lot and I always think of lyrics in cars on planes or trains (I think a lot of people are like this) so the more travelling the better! Also moving around allows you to see everything again with fresh eyes. I think this helps when writing music.

COTW: You’ve recently organised a charity event in the shape of an Afternoon Tea Party, Hibiscus and Rosehips. What brought you to set up the event? Is there a way we can still donate to the charity?

EL: I had the idea sometime last year wandering around in Toronto that it would be nice to open a tea shop one day, I had been to a friend in London's birthday tea party in the afternoon in her sunny flat and thought what a sweet thing it was. Also last year I had the chance to play a couple of unusual shows in parks and places that kids could come and they loved it! Teenagers I meet complain to me all the time that they want to see me play but shows are always at night in bars. Then I got to know about this charity since I actually had Lymphoma last year and my nurse (and friend and avid music fan) talked to me about organizing musical events and asked if I would play. Before we got a chance to talk any further about it all these ideas came together and Hibiscus & Rosehips was born! I hoped she would think it was a good idea and she did of course. It was a lot of work but turned out really amazingly well. As far as donating to the charity we released a compilation CD also called Hibiscus & Rosehips and it is a wonderful album. It is available for $10 and all the money goes to the charity. Through the website there are other ways to donate as well. http://www.hibiscusandrosehips.com/

COTW: At the Hibiscus and Rosehips Tea Party regulars of the Toronto/Montréal and London music scenes such as The Youngest, Luxury Pond, Snowblink and Jesse Smith all performed titles. How did you choose the performers? Was it easy to convince them to participate?

EL: It was too easy! That was how the CD idea came about: I was approaching bands I love from all over the place asking if they wanted to play this show and they all did but because of touring schedules or distance it wasn't possible but they still wanted to contribute so of course this turned into donating songs, wanting to be a part of the collective. Everyone I asked that was available to play on the day immediately said yes. The line-up was set in a day or two! Six bands was all that we would have time for through the afternoon so everyone I approached after that I just asked for songs and all the musicians were so generous and willing and excited!

COTW: You use the accordion (amongst other instruments); does it bear a direct relation to your Canadian roots and the fact you were born in city predominantly influenced by the French? Have you ever wanted to sing in French?

EL: I think it probably does have to do with being French Canadian and is deep in my subconscious! I have always loved the sound of the accordion but didn't really think I could play one until it was given to me. I still don't play it well (or easily, it is a hard one!) but the voice of this instrument does sing to me! I really want to do an EP of old French Canadian songs that I have come across over the years that I love but first I want to record 'Mon Cœur est un Violon' with my mother and my Grandmother... I think it would be so cute and powerful, and a lot of fun to do, those two are hilarious, whenever we are together I just laugh and laugh!

I have done a version of one of Roger O'Donnell's songs in French, it might see the light of day at some point! I still have some work to do on it.

COTW: I find the mix between organic instruments and electronic beats quite striking yet complementary; they remind me a little of the music Matmos, Matthew Herbert and Rob Ellis are capable of. What are your influences between both types of sounds?

EL: I have always been a big fan of Björk and a few other bands who have electronic elements but it wasn't until I met Roger that it started being incorporated into my music. When we met he introduced me to some more underground electronic artists that I found exciting like Tortoise and Plaid and with him producing and playing on my songs, that element began to surface in his drum programming and synth playing. The more time I spent in the UK in the early 2000s and playing with other artists like Ecce (Nick Lisher who played in my band and introduced me to a lot of music) the more I got excited about this sound. Then Roger and I discovered (with the help of Ecce) The Notwist and Lali Puna and Console all coming from this small scene in Germany and realized they had all worked with the same producer Mario Thaler. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to make my album with him in Weilheim and for Martin Gretschmann (The Notwist, Console) and Christoph Brandner (Lali Puna) to play on it. It was an amazing experience and with Mario, and Roger as musical director, I was really happy with how these different elements came together. My love of a bare, paired down, really intimate sound, the instruments like accordion and classical guitar and piano and the quirky electronics.

COTW: Next I’d like to understand the frame of mind behind your lyrics. They sound very personal, yet contain a degree of mystery, they sometimes tend to the dream world. How do you write them? What can trigger the writing process? Is it internal or external or both?

EL: I really like to keep things a bit mysterious, I think it allows people to relate to it more than drawing out an exact scenario. Also I tend to write about other people or how I see them than actually writing about myself and I am just intrigued with the mystery of people and relationships and perspectives. The dream world is real. I can look at my life and things around me and find such magic there it seems like a fantasy! Even the dark times become deep black forests and waning moons but they exist. My Mum was a puppeteer and encouraged so much imagination and creativity as I was growing up and I have met incredible people who share or open up this magical real life perspective more.

In that way I guess it is both internal and external in that something in real life will trigger the process but how I see it becomes the lyrics. I think of lyrics all the time, while driving or talking to someone and my mind wanders but I have to write them down and I am not that good at doing that. There are a lot of lost lyrics floating around out there as I pick up that cup of coffee and decide I should try and focus on what my friend is saying. Trains are the best butterfly nets for lyrics, I do a lot of scribbling on trains.

COTW: Finally, are you planning on touring mainland Europe in the near future as well as the UK?

EL: I would love to tour in Europe, I have the idea that it would be really nice (and environmentally friendly and good for lyric writing) to do a train tour. Hopefully this summer or fall.

You can buy Erin Lang’s album from her website http://www.erinlang.com (in the News section).

Visit Erin's myspace: http://www.myspace.com/erinlang

To donate for Lymphoma Charity in Canada please visit http://www.hibiscusandrosehips.com/

Erin will be playing at The Queen Of Hoxton, London, with Gregory & The Hawk on 24th June 2009. If you’re in the London area, make sure you go see her play.

Interview by CB Lux

Berlin is a pool of talent brimming with cultures, young people, artists and musicians from all over the world. One of the reasons they converge on Berlin is because, unlike London, New York and Tokyo, this metropolis is actually very affordable to live in. If you are somewhat poor, though like partying and want to see the more exciting parts of life, I totally recommend you visit or even relocate to Berlin.

Berlin is often tagged alongside the word, ‘cool’. Sometimes the place is too, ‘cool’, especially when it is -10 degrees Celsius and snowing. But when the suns out and it’s topping 35 degrees Celsius, you can taste the hotness. If you’re dehydrated it’s not a good idea to lick your own sweat for fluids. But Berliners like to linger in the shade. Floods of smelly bodily fluids are rarely a problem as Berlin does have many places to linger and hide. You can head under a tree in the Tiergarten but if you are a more typical Brit, you can seek the sun at the Badeschiff with the hot sand under your feet. It would be unfair to say that all of Berlin is completely chilled, but my experience in Berlin was comparatively very relaxed. Rush hour doesn’t really exist, except if you count the night, when Berliners are travelling party to party.

I was fortunate enough to live in Berlin, during the time that the then Senator (now El Presidente) Barack Obama delivered an address to the citizens of Berlin, Europe and the world. It was July 27th 2008, and it turned out to be a lovely summer’s day. In my typical fashion I was running a bit late. But when I got on the U-bahn, relaxed for ten minutes, woke up, got off and walked towards the Siegessäule, I found a carpet of beings, listening eagerly to one person. I found that amazing: a few hundred thousand people is a sight to behold. That day Berlin’s youth and energy shone through. It was Barack Obama’s largest attendance, up until his inaugural address. All this happened in a city that he will never govern, but among a culture which can recognize a person as a fellow human and a good man.

USA: Land of the free. Berlin: Free to be truly free. Social constraints seem less visible in Berlin. The street art is for me what makes Berlin a visual bomb. For a nation without nukes, you could say Berlin is Germany's biggest WMD (in a good way of course).

Well there is always many ways to see anything and Berlin left an imprint on me, which is beyond just tangible things. An imprint to personal to discuss, but an imprint filled with positive energy. I truly wish a similar imprint finds its way to you in Berlin or else where.

What vocalist Frances Noon and her partner in crime Lazlo Legezer actually sound like is, well, it's hard to describe and that's what makes the music so fantastic. The nearest comparison would possibly be Moloko meets Tricky but that's just skimming the surface to be honest. Our advice, if you're after new, innovotive and refreshing music is to go and have a listen on their myspace page then buy the album 'Where We Are' because it's worth every penny. As a treat you can download two free remixes of the new single Superpowers by Space DJs and Angry Wasp. You can find the links at the end of the interview!

We caught up with Lazlo Legezer for a quick chat about the new album and total world domination...

Cat On The Wall: We've had your album Where We Are on constant rotation here at Cat On The Wall HQ. We love the freshness of the sound and we were wondering where you drew that sound from.

Lazlo Legezer: Thank you!

COTW: What are your inspirations?

LL: Musically it’s about forgetting everything and just following your instincts, everything I have ever liked is an influence musically, but I don't want to make conscious decisions about wanting to sound like this or that. Early raves obviously made a big impression on me... and though it might sound naff hippy NATURE - perfect imperfection.

COTW: How was the album put together in terms of composing, recording and mixing?

LL: One song at a time, each approached differently from the last but generally no real separation between the processes – composing, recording and mixing just one all encompassing, evolving process. Lots of improvising and messing about followed by obsessive sculpting of the finished article, but mixing was happening at the first stage, and occasionally composing at the last superpowers was the last written, and the most structured process...and it did have to be mixed at the end, rather than just somehow being finished. It was all done in my spare bedroom!

COTW: Where did the idea to use the toy elephant as your mascot come from?

LL: He was just sitting there looking cute.

COTW: Do you enjoy performing live? Any memorable experiences?

LL: Slightly. One of our faves was a warehouse party where at about the time we were supposed to play a barefooted apparent madman was building the walls to the party. Then he set up the PA and plugged us in. Everything kept cutting out and I ended up singing a verse when I
got the mic to work... It was a crack! Supporting CSS when we were just starting out as a 2 piece was scary!

COTW: What are your plans for the near future?

LL: I need a frigging holiday! Better start making a new album soon though.... and, erm, world domination?

Visit the band on myspace: www.myspace.com/mytoyslikeme

Interview by Jo Whitby