Somebody, Somewhere out May 5
Cazals Myspace
Cazals’ “What Of Our Future” is out on the 26th of May.I was able to speak with Daniel, guitarist of the Cazals to find out what their past few months have been like, opening for Daft Punk and recording their first full length album.
1. How does it feel to be done with your first album? Any exciting rock and roll studio stories?
Sometimes I worry I sound a bit arrogant when I say it but our album is really fucking great. It was a long process to get to making it but I couldn’t be any happier with the results, it made the many rough times worthwhile. I had to edit a little mini mix of the album the other day with Martin (bass player and producer), like a 5 minute ‘best of’ sort of thing and we spent ages deliberating over what went in the mix, which I think is a good sign.
As for stories from the studio, we managed to convince The Plasticines (a French, all girl group) to come down to the studio and let us record them screaming for 5 minutes. Also a big regret is that when we were mixing the album, some of Phoenix turned up to say hello and hear what we were doing but we had gone out to lunch!
2. Who are some of your influences, music or otherwise? Jon Brion once said “He can’t escape the Beatles”, what musicians can you not escape and always look towards to for inspiration?
All the different members of Cazals have varied tastes and therefore influences so I can’t really speak for the band. Personally, I just play a lot of guitar and that’s how I come up with songs, ideas just come to you when you play. There are loads of people I love listening to and some like the Strokes, Daft Punk, John Frusciante, Radiohead conciously influence ideas and sounds I go for and I’ll learn how to play their material. Then there are other artists like Beck and Hot Chip where its not such a conscious thing but because I listen to them so often their influence seeps into ideas.
3. What are some albums/aritsts/songs you are listening to these days?
Some pretty obvious ones like Radiohead – In Rainbows, Chromeo – Fancy Footwork, Hot Chip – Made In The Dark and Justice. Also I’ve been listening to a fair bit of Weezer and late 70’s David Bowie recently.
4. How was it opening for Daft Punk in Japan? How does it feel to be part of this new electronic music scene even though you are not really “electronic”? What do you guys think about this cross genre collaborations? I think it is great that there is the spirit of rock is coming out in all genres lately.
After making our album I think supporting Daft Punk was the coolest thing I’ve ever been part of. They made us feel very welcome and to be part of what was the coolest show on earth for a few days was amazing.
We’ve always hated the idea of scenes, people say we were in the East London scene or in the electro scene or the new-wave guitar band scene, its all bollocks really. We are a band that play guitars and synths and we’re influenced by all types of music. I think two things Martin, who produced the album, listened to most when we were out in Paris were Slipknots ‘Get This’ and Krzysztof Penderecki’s ‘Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima’, not very East London electro scene, we just dont purposely try to be a certain genre.
I really like the (heavy) rock sound thats coming through in dance music, I was lucky enough to be hanging out with SebastiAn when he was playing in London and he absolutely ruined my ears for about 3 days but it was worth it, I went a bit too mental when he dropped ‘Killing In The Name Of’ but luckily so did everyone else.
5. Why are your lives boring?
They’re not at all…we’ve supported Daft Punk!
Cazals – Somebody, Somewhere (Lifelike Remix)
1. What is your name, how old are you, where are you from? How did you get into music?
