This interview first appeared on Delusions of Adequacy in January 2006. All live photos by Moe Castro.
In all my years of listening to music I’ve never heard a band quite like Aereogramme. Blending elements of shoegazer pop, slow-core, folk and electronica with muscular hard rock and furious post-punk, the Scottish quartet manages to traverse the entire modern rock spectrum without leaving many musical touchstones unearthed. As a result, listening to Aerogramme can be a difficult, oftentimes bi-polar experience. The payoff, however, is nothing short of breathtaking. With their expansive rock template and creative arrangements, the band can slip seamlessly from majestic, brooding, harrowing reverie into something utterly brutal, menacing and cathartic. The title of their spectacular new record—Sleep and Release—suggests that this extraordinary duality is no mere coincidence.
But despite the group’s collective talent as musicians and songwriters, it is difficult to imagine their songs maintaining the same emotional power and raw sense of urgency without the alternately beautiful and bruising vocals of singer/guitarist Craig B. As an artist, Craig B is incredibly complex and focused, with passionate ideas about hope and hopelessness, love and hate, strength and weakness. A true believer in his work, he doesn’t care much for fame or fortune. His brass ring sits atop a more rarefied stratosphere and requires a much longer ladder to reach. What Craig B craves is power. Specifically, he desires the power to affect and transform people through his art. As such, he is not the type to hold anything back. Not with his music. Not with his lyrics. And not with his opinions, which he expresses with a fierce devotion devoid of fear or hesitation. He does not mince words and he does not pull any punches.
I caught up with Craig B before Aereogramme’s performance at the Social in Orlando, FL opening for fellow Scots, the Delgados. Looking slightly haggard from the 11 hour van ride from New Orleans where the two bands had played the night before, Craig B nonetheless graciously agreed to answer some of my questions. Thoughtful, articulate, and, above all, candid, he spoke about a great many things including the reality of life on the road, the method to Aereogramme’s mad music, and the perils of playing king.
Moe Castro: I want to start with the new album. Your debut, A Story in White, was, in terms of its general feeling, a very somber and serene record. Sleep and Release is a bit more aggressive and perhaps even angrier. I wanted to know if that is a reflection of what is going on in your life or if that is that is the way it just happened to turn out?
Craig B: I think there is certainly more hope on the new album. On the first one I don’t think there was any hope whatsoever. It was a very dark album. I think there is more hope on this one, but at the same time I think “Wood” is the angriest song we’ve ever written, and I needed that song to be as brutal as possible. We’re not heavy metal, but, whatever, we play a lot of heavy metal. That song, for me, I needed it to be brutal. I needed it to be so, so angry and I’m really glad with the way it turned out. We certainly have a level of angriness, but I don’t think that is an indication of what is going on in my life because I’ve always been angry. I also think there are some pretty big extremes on the album. “Gratitude” is just a total love song, but “A Winter’s Discord” is really angry as well, yet it is the quietest song on the album. Whenever I’m writing, I’m working these things out for myself as well. Now that you mention it, yeah, I think it is an angrier album.
MC: It’s funny that you say that you’ve always been an angry person. I’ve met you before and you’ve always been very cordial and nice. For someone who has never really met you and only sees the outside, you seem to be a very down to earth person…
CB: Yeah, but when I meet you… well, I always worry because I don’t give a shit about the rock star thing. I’ve always hated that. I like bands like Aerosmith and AC/DC and all that, but I have absolutely no aspirations of becoming anything like a rock star. That’s not my intention. That’s not anyone’s intention in the band, because I think that—in terms of a rock star—you have to have a huge ego and you just got to be such a selfish bastard to actually get there. I’ve got no aspirations in that, whatsoever. The thing is, when I’m on tour and I meet people such as yourself… I mean, I do go about without worrying about the way that I am sounding, so I never have to hope that it’s going to hit me back. When I’m playing, music gives me meaning. That’s when I feel really good, that’s when I feel great. That’s like an exorcism and you get to earn your name. It’s when you’re at home and you sit in your room that you feel the weight of the world. That’s when it gets really bad.
