My Old Kentucky Blog Interviews Charles Cave of White Lies

by My Old Kentucky Blog on Mon, 2009/03/02 - 3:25am Post to Twitter

My Old Kentucky Blog had the opportunity to get a few minutes on the phone with Charles Cave, bassist of the hot London band White Lies.

We learned right away that this band is busy. So busy, in fact, that on the day we talked to Cave, the members of White Lies were fielding questions from the press all the way up until the last moments before the band hit the stage.

The trio’s debut album, To Lose My Life, hits shelves in the States on March 17th.

Indianapolis locals, you can check out White Lies on April 2nd with Friendly Fires and The Soft Pack at Radio Radio - brought to you by NME, NUVO and My Old Kentucky Blog. Tickets are on sale online, so get them NOW!

If you aren’t local and will be at SXSW, make sure you check them there. The band will also perform on Letterman on March 24th.

MOKB : You only had a few months to put your debut album together. What was that process like?

Cave : We had written five songs when we signed our record deal, and then our label decided that it would be a good idea to record the album straight away. So we basically had to go into the studio and write five more songs—well, more than that—while we were there, and we only had eight weeks booked for the studio, anyway. It was quite an intense process, and we locked ourselves away in Brussels for five of those weeks in the studio and just kind of wrote and recorded, and it did get pretty intense, but I think it has been reflected on the album in a really positive way. I think it gives the record a certain feel that it wouldn’t have if we did it in another method and took much longer to write it.
MOKB : What, collectively, was your inspiration for the album—from personal experiences or other music?

Cave : We don’t really get influenced by other music when we’re writing our own music. That can be a bit distracting. I mean there are some artists, some musicians, that inspire us to be musicians. But when we were making the record, we were so locked away and so enclosed, and we didn’t have much contact for the outside world for five weeks. So especially when we were writing those later songs—whatever happens when you’re locked in a room, that’s when creativity really comes into its own. You find out if you’ve got what it takes to make something out of nothing. The inspiration came from the kind of emotion that we were feeling at the time and intensity of the situation that we were put under.

MOKB : Your album made it to #1 in the U.K. How does it feel for your debut album to be so well received? That doesn’t happen for many bands, so that must be really exciting for you guys.

Cave : It’s amazing. Unfortunately, I just don’t feel like I’ve had time to really consider it or think about it yet. I probably won’t until I’m, like, 45, and then finally realize the significance of it. For me, it just shows that we have people supporting us and people behind us, and that’s really important for us to be able to continue to be musicians and for us to continue writing songs, and it’s just amazing.

On the downside, unfortunately in the U.K., I think this is much more of a problem than in the U.S., but us getting to #1, unfortunately, instantly means a lot of people won’t even bother listening to us because, I don’t know, they assume we’re mainstream, they assume we’re—I don’t know. There’s a lot of snobbery in the U.K. with music, so unfortunately, there’s two sides of it: One, it’s brilliant, and we’re getting to more people and to the public eye, but it also closes a few doors for us with some music fans, but that’s the way it will always be. Music is such a personal thing, and people do like to be very protective and snobby over it, and that’s just how it works.

MOKB : So you haven’t had time to throw some sort of party or have a celebration or bake a cake and get excited about your #1 yet?

Cave : I’d love to bake a cake in celebration. That’s a really good idea. I wish I had time, but we were in Russia, actually, in the Arctic Circle filming our latest music video when we got the news that the record had made it to #1, but it was nothing. We were in a tiny, tiny mining town. It was, like, 10 in the morning, so the only thing there was to do was to drink vodka—really cheap vodka—all day, which is a kind of celebration, but it was also a bit depressing.

READ THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW…AFTER THE JUMP…

MOKB : Was that the Farewell to the Fairground video?

Cave : Yeah.

MOKB : I wanted to hear a bit about that. I watched it, and all I could keep thinking was that it looked cold.

Cave : It was about minus 20 (degrees). It was the coldest ever. I’ll never, ever complain about anything being cold again. That was the coldest place in the world, I think. [laughs]

MOKB : How many videos had you done before this one? Is making music videos something that’s still fresh and exciting to you?

Cave : We’d done three videos with the same director, a guy called Andreas Nilsson. He’s a Swedish director, and he’s an extremely inspiring person to be around, and he’s a very creative guy—very visionary in his ideas. He just kind of does his own thing. He makes filming very interesting. It’s hard work because it’s a very, very long day, and sometimes you’re sitting around for hours doing nothing.

I mean, seriously, the journey we had to go on to get to this place in Russia was something out of Indiana Jones. It was insane. We had a plane flying inches away from snowy mountains, landing on ice, trying to get over the Russian border with people with guns everywhere—it was certainly not boring. It was really intense. So when you do music videos like that, you definitely get kept on your toes.

MOKB : Yeah, sounds like an adventure. So how old are the three of you in the band?

Cave : Well, one of us is 21, and the others are 20.

MOKB : You have some shows coming up with Snow Patrol and The Cure. What other bands would you like to share the stage with?

Cave : We’d love to play with Arcade Fire. That would be great.

But to be honest, we’d love to play with smaller bands. We’re taking a band called School of Seven Bells with us on tour in the U.K. They’re from New York, and they’re one of our favorite bands, so we really can’t wait to play with them. Same with a band called Violens, also from New York. We’re huge fans of their music. We actually got to play with them once in New York already, so they’re going to come to the U.K. two London shows, which is hugely exciting.

Hmm … yeah. Who could it be? I don’t know, really. I think Arcade Fire would be a great one. I’d love to meet them. I’d love to play with them. That’d be brilliant, really great.

MOKB : You guys are starting a fairly extensive tour of the U.S.around the time of SXSW and making the rounds. Have the previous shows in the U.S. been any different from your shows in the U.K.?

Cave : The actual shows aren’t too different, but I actually think American audiences are much more open and much less cynical about bands. I think in the U.K., if people are talking about you, other people will think that you’re crap, whereas in the United States, if people are talking about you, people will think that you’re good. It’s just a very different attitude. So we usually go to shows in America feeling like we’ve got a lot more positive vibe in the room, and people are hoping to be impressed and not hoping to see us fail, so we love touring in the U.S. It’s a great place to be.

MOKB : You’ve mentioned several times that getting a lot of press in the U.K. is sort of a double-edged sword. What’s your opinion on that, and how do you deal with it?

Cave : You just kind of go along with it. Press is what it is, and you’ve got to remember when you’re reviewed or whatever anyone writes in the press—it’s just one person, and it doesn’t really matter because we’ve already got a great fanbase that are really into what we do, and that’s the most important thing.

I like the fact that our album, in the U.K. especially, really pissed a lot of people off. We’ve got some five-star reviews and some one-star reviews. That’s really interesting. Most bands don’t get that. You’re either kind of straight down the middle or everyone loves you or whatever. It’s nice to feel like we’re kind of annoying a few people. That’s a good thing. I think the best bands in time have really upset people. With a band like Nirvana, I think when they came out, a lot of people would be really skeptical and say, “They can’t even play” or whatever like that. It was absolutely genius, and I think it’s a good thing to make an impact in the way we’ve been doing so far.

MOKB : Are you guys excited to play the “Late Show with David Letterman”?

Cave : Yeah, really excited. It’s actually such a big thing over in the U.K. as well. I’ve actually been watching it for a really long time. Whenever I’m at home, I’ll always flick it on. I love it. He’s a great guy. I’m just hoping to get some decent celebrities when we’re on, get some good autographs. I’m not sure who I’d like it to be. Tom Cruise would be interesting, but I think he’s been on recently, so we probably won’t get him.

MOKB : Did you guys play on Jools Holland’s show at all?

Cave : Yeah, we did. We did it very early on. It was, like, our tenth show or something like that. Yeah, we did it really early.

MOKB : Being your age, I can’t imagine what it would be like to do what you guys are doing.

Cave : It’s amazing. It really is amazing. All of our friends are at university, and to a certain degree, those people kind of look at us and wonder, ‘Why aren’t you at university?’ But, personally, I feel like we’ve lived so much more than most of my friends have in the last year. That’s really what shapes you in life—traveling, meeting so many people, doing the stuff that we do is so much more valuable. Yeah, it’s been amazing.

MOKB : What music from the U.K. have you been listening to recently?

Cave : You should definitely check out Florence and the Machine. She’s really incredible. She’s still making her album, so there’s not much to listen to at the moment, but live, she’s absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, she’s not coming over to SXSW. She’s exceptional. Also … let me think. I’ve just bought an album by a band called XX Teens. They’re really good. They’ve been around for a long time. I’ve seen them about 20 times just in the last four years. They really just put out an album, and it’s very kind of post-punk. But they’re really good. We listen to quite a lot of American music at the moment. A lot of my favorite bands are American, but those are a good start.

MOKB : Anything else to add?

Cave : We hope we get to see a lot of people out on our tour. We really can’t wait to be over in America. A lot of people are saying to really appreciate White Lies, you’ve got to see it live, so come check it out.

White Lies - Death (Crystal Castles RMX)
White Lies - Death

Related:

The Dumbing Of America interviews The Soft Pack
New Remix : White Lies : Filthy Dukes Remix
Air France remixes Friendly Fires
New Video : White Lies : Farewell To The Fairground
MOKB presents…Friendly Fires, White Lies and The Soft Pack at Radio Radio on April 2nd

Friendly Fires/White Lies Spring 2009 NME Tour Dates:

March 24 - Washington DC - Black Cat *
March 24 - Philadelphia PA - First Unitarian Church %
March 26 - New York NY - Bowery Ballroom *
March 27 - New York NY - Bowery Ballroom %
March 28 - Boston MA - Paradise *
March 30 - Montreal QC - Les Saints %
March 31 - Toronto ON - Lee’s Palace %
April 01 - Ann Arbor MI - The Blind Pig %
April 02 - Indianapolis IN - Radio Radio *
April 03 - Chicago IL - Double Door %
April 04 - Minneapolis MN - Triple Rock *
April 07 - Seattle WA - Neumo’s *
April 08 - Vancouver BC - Richard’s on Richards*
April 09 - Portland OR - Doug Fir %
April 11 - San Francisco CA - Slim’s *
April 19 - Coachella - Indio CA

* Friendly Fires headline
% White Lies headline

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