“The Cry Baby”
FAULT: What is the story behind “The Cry Baby”?
Well, The Cry Baby came from my childhood, I grew up in a posh bit of London as a carer for my Mum. I had a completely weird existence in a mess with cats everywhere, a gran with severe dementia and a very sick mum. Abnormal was completely normal to me and when you’re young you don’t question this. When I was 18, I moved out. I gradually began to realize by comparing myself with a cross section of people that I met, that I had grown myself up. Everyone’s different but I felt more grown-up emotionally than most people because of all the weight on my shoulders but as far as knowing about everything that parents are meant to teach you, I had picked that up from films and stuff, I had no idea. The Cry Baby is the name for the songs that came out whilst I was realising that I’d had a bad time and when I was trying to work life out for myself. When they were out, I felt like I’d had a massive cry and I felt better. As a band we seem to be able to capture this. I sound like a child when I sing so I sound as if I don’t know how bad everything is but the lyrics that I come out with are slightly disturbed and then my amazing band make sure that everything is a bit unsettling. Creating the right atmosphere is so important to us. We like to think that we can take people away to what we are feeling. The main thing that I want to make the listener feel is not disturbed as you may imagine from the above but more that I would like to share the liberating feeling of making a nice song out of a bad situation.
FAULT: How did you all meet and what are your musical backgrounds?
Well I sang and played Violin and Piano. I would go to Hampstead Heath to be all dramatic, write poetry, chain smoke and stare thoughtfully into the distance. Eventually the music and the poetry merged and songs happened. Poetry was the only way I could get my feelings out, it was weird that I couldn’t say how I felt unless it rhymed, I am better at that now, otherwise this whole interview would be a poem. I played in an orchestra with Lilli at school. We played 1st violin together. She would play the notes and I would mime cause I couldn’t keep up with all the semi quavers , I would come in on the long notes. She now plays violin in the band and does all the artwork she’s very talented. I went to music school with Sam and Anne-Christine. Sam is an amazing drummer and musician and I was on the same course as Anne-Christine at music school and she lives up the road from me. She’s a great musician, she plays guitar and does BVs in the band. Our bass player is new and he also plays for someone on our label.
FAULT: You describe your sound as Alternative. How do you keep your sound so unique?
I think it comes down to the meaning behind my music. I think I go on about different stuff to other artists. I’ve been trying to write a love song but it doesn’t feel very me, it’s a shame cause I love love. Because the subject matter is so different, then the sound that we have developed to surround the songs turned out differently and then no one could really liken it to anything which I am happy about. That and the fact that my voice sounds like I am a 10 year-old.
FAULT: What is it like being musicians based in London?
It’s really good. London contains a load of weirdos who love our stuff. It’s hard too because there are lots of amazing acts out there but I think with music it’s important not to feel competitive but just take inspiration from the things you hear that you like. That’s why I love music, it’s not a competition oh wait but it is a massive competition on prime time TV.
FAULT: Do you have any live shows coming up?
Yes all our shows go on here; www.reverbnation.com/thecrybaby We’ve got lots of gigs, the launch of Dammit Music who we are signed to and we’re playing at a really cool festival called Knee Deep Festival.
FAULT: What is the creative process for you as a group when writing new material?
I write the stuff. Recently the songs have been coming to me in the middle of the night, waking me up and making me record them immediately in case I forget them. At first when I heard people talk of songs as if they were little messages, delivered into your head and you had nothing to do with them, I was like whatever but sometimes it does feel a bit like that. I think I like it when they are more visceral, than when they are thought about too much, then they can communicate to people on that level. That is what people need I think. I then take the little messages to my band and it takes them about 3 minutes to have something really tasteful going on around the songs cause they are such good musicians but we play around and try to find cool counter-melodies and stuff.
FAULT: Do you write from personal experiences?
Always, i have to mean everything I say otherwise there is no point in it for me. I don’t just like the act of getting all emotional in a song with some generic stuff just so I that I have material to play, well actually sometimes it crosses my mind but I don’t let myself go through with it. I talk about what has happened to me but only using the emotions that I have been through, not using specific events as much cause they aren’t very pretty sounding.
FAULT: What are you currently experimenting with?
Well I am trying to learn the Ukelele cause it’s easier than the guitar which I just can’t cope with and I want a Celtic Harp cause we put some on my EP and it sounded amazing. They are surprisingly cheap. We are going to find someone to do some programming/synth live to develop our sound. That is going to make things a bit more dramatic.
FAULT: What do you think of modern day music?
I really love it. Nowadays no one has to go without being understood. It’s great that the public decides who to listen to (myspace etc) and you don’t have to impress some A&R guy who’s mortgage is on the line just to get yourself heard. Some great acts must have fallen by the wayside before the age of the internet. At the moment I like the fact that there are lots of genres that are popular and people don’t seem to have to be into one thing because a good song can come in any genre of music.
FAULT: What can we expect from The Cry Baby in 2011
Well we just released our EP and we are about to start recording our album. We’ve got lots of gigs coming up and we just want to play as much as possible. We’ve got some other really exiting stuff to look forward to but I will reveal that at a later date.
FAULT: What are you currently listening to?
Radiohead, Phillip Selway, Sigur Ros, Laura Marling, Micachu and the Shapes, Sufjan Stevens, Jace Everett, The Temper Trap, Shona Foster, The Sound of Rum, The Boxettes, Bjork, The Postal Service, Magnetic Man, Caribou, Frou Frou, Flaming Lips and Mark Ronson, this is on my i-pod at the moment. I tend to get obsessed with one song and just listen to it over and over again until I beg myself to stop.
FAULT: What is your FAULT?
Apparently I have no idea about the value of money. I just know that there are these pieces of paper with the queens head on them and you can swap them for nice things.
www.reverbnation.com/thecrybaby
www.myspace.com/thecrybabymusic
Label: http://www.dammitmusic.com/
Photos: http://benblossom.com/
Illustrations:http://lillienglish.tumblr.com/