The Cribs: ‘People need new music in their lives now more than ever’

First of all, it’s great to have you back. Secondly, how are you all feeling at the moment?

Ross: Thanks, not feeling too bad today. For obvious reasons, it’s been a very unusual year for us like many others, as we’ve all been separated for the longest period ever in our lives due to travel restrictions, Gary and Ryan have living in the US. This has been tough not only as band mates, but also as brothers. I know many others are experiencing their own issues due to the current pandemic, and that’s one of the reasons we decided to release new music in the midst of it, as people need new music in their lives now more than ever to help us all get through it.

Gary: Scattered. Physically and mentally.

Ryan: Obviously, NYC was not the most pleasant place to be these last few months, but I managed to get out of the city for the first time last week and spent two days in Montauk, so that’s helped.
Given the back office dramas you’ve endured since the last album, (splitting from the Sony record label and management), it would be easy to slip into an album of anger and music industry tirades, but in typical Cribs fashion, you’ve risen above it and written an album that musically is very upbeat. The album opens with a track called Goodbye. Starting on an ending, did that feel like a goodbye to the past and recent issues and starting a clean slate? Was this always the concept going into this new material?

Gary: We didn’t want the industry bulls**t to poison the well. We had an extremely difficult time of things in 2019, mentally. But if you allow those sort of experiences to become your primary source of inspiration, you may have won the battle, but lost the war basically. Should we ever decide to write a book though, I’m sure there will be a lot of people losing sleep ahead of it’s publication.

The new album, Night Network, seems to have at least promotional wise, a grand concept of an old school TV broadcast and even had you manning a fan phone line. It’s all very typical of your ‘lo-fi’ roots. Again, was this pre-planned during the creation of the album and is this a concurrent theme going forward for any new videos?

Ryan: It was pre-planned, after we came up with the title we were discussing artwork themes and it originally came from my idea that for this record, I wanted our longtime artwork collaborator to design us a corporate logo, but inspired by a 70s/80s British TV aesthetic. Once we had that concept, Nick our designer, did a great job of expanding on it. He is really into that look too, and I feel like it fits this record.
Under The Bus Station Clock is a real highlight of the album. It’s got a real Motown or even Northern Soul sound which I think fans will be pleasantly surprised by. What were you influences going into making this song and the album as whole?

Gary: We were aiming for a Motown vibe on that song, for sure. People would be surprised at the complexity of the song-writing craft that goes into the Motown sound – as it is so hooky and vibe oriented, it naturally tricks you into believing the song-writing is very simple and straightforward. The forms may be basic and stripped back, but the chord sequences and melodic/harmonic counterpoints are very sophisticated. It was definitely an interesting challenge, as if you over intellectualise these things, you edit out the soul. A super delicate balance.

Setting up in Dave Grohl’s studio for you as musicians but also as fans of Nirvana, must have been both an incredible experience but maybe also rather daunting. Did you feel the history and the presence of the studio and what was that like to work in?

Ross: I know everyone says this, but Dave Grohl really is one of the nicest guys in the industry. We’ve hung out with Dave a few times throughout the years, and he actually came to the studio when we recorded our 6th Album For All My Sisters in New York. After playing together at the Etihad Stadium a few years ago, we got to spend more time together, which is why we ended up going out to LA and using his studio to make the new album. It was a really great experience to see behind the curtain of one of the biggest bands in the world, and be invited into their world. It was never daunting, as all of the Foo Fighters are really down to earth, and would be around in the studio most days.

Gary: When you first walk into these places, you can be sort of overwhelmed with the sensory overload of how much there is to take in – “wow, it’s the board Nevermind was recorded on!” “There’s the Nirvana Unplugged drum kit!” etc etc, but after an hour or two of work, it just becomes a workspace, and you can’t focus on anything else really.

You brought back Lee Ranaldo for I Don’t Know Who I Am. Fans may have expected another Be Safe, but typically you subverted expectations and went in a completely different direction. Was the track written with Lee in mind or was he brought in during the recording?

Gary: The song was fully formed and finished, from a jam session in Ross’ garage in Wakefield – but we always thought it would be cool to have a fog of noise and chaos blanketing the song, so that the melodies and Ryan’s riffs could emerge out of the static – and of course Lee is perfect for that. The tie-in with his past work with us was a cool thing for us too – we have wanted to work with him again for ages, and it seemed like a perfect time to revisit that, moving into this new era.

Ryan: Like Gary says, it wasn’t originally written with him in mind, it was just a jam we recorded and liked so much we learned the form of the jam and decided to turn into a song. It was then we thought a free form noise track would compliment it really well and so naturally we thought of Lee.

Once we’d recorded it for the album in LA, I took it to Sonic Youth’s studio in Hoboken before mixing and we literally spent maybe 3 hours on it with Lee. He threw down a couple of guitar parts and then came up with the vocal harmonies and that was it. Really simple.
Will you be releasing more physical singles this album? Fans do enjoy collecting your discography and it seems on recent albums, the physical single format has been less of a concern for the band.

Ryan: It’s not that it’s been less of a concern for the band as such, it’s less of a concern in today’s music industry full stop.

We insisted on a 7in for this single as part of the album bundles, but outside that there’s nowhere to really sell 7in singles. Plus they need to go for pressing months before the singles are released, so doing a vinyl for later singles is really difficult.

The other thing is we have always cared massively about our B-sides, as in the past they have become some of our more popular songs. We still feel that way and the B-side on the Running into You 7in, Talk Radio we all really like, but it will literally only be available on the 7in so it kind of limits the exposure of a track you would otherwise release digitally.

Given the state of the live music industry and the lack of live shows that bands can perform, have you been thinking of any innovative ideas to be able to showcase the album in the current climate?

Ross: I think as the music industry is receiving little support from the Government right now, it’s important to try and be innovative and adapt to the current climate, so we are open to ideas, and discussing any ideas we have with the label. Unfortunately though, anything less than a full room with loud music and an atmosphere is hard to get on board with.

Finally, if each individual brother voted their favourite track from the new album which would they be and why?

Ross: Screaming in Suburbia – I just love the vocal trade off between Gary and Ryan, and also the fact that the song is kind of upbeat, but sad. A lot of my favourite songs of all time are like that.

Gary: Earl & Duke is the song that means the most to me. I agree with Ross that Screaming in Suburbia is another good one though.

Ryan: Yeah, Screaming in Suburbia for sure is a standout, but I think my favourite is She’s My Style.

The Cribs’ Night Network is released on Friday November 20. thecribs.com