INTERVIEW: Crobot

Standing in between the stairwell and the backstage area of Manchester Sound Control, the guys of CROBOT kindly talked to Distorted Sound’s Laura. The set up was a little strange, but oddly comfortable, with the likes of BUFFALO SUMMER popping through for hugs, and the guys from SCORPION CHILD coming and going.

So how are you guys feeling?

All: yeah good, thank you, all good.

Jake: A little hung over.

Brandon: Maybe a little foggy.

You were out in Wales [for Hard Rock Hell] yesterday right, was that good fun?

Jake: Yeah we got pretty wasted… and wet.

Yeah, if there’s one place that’s going to be wet, then Wales might be the capital of that.

Bishop: They were talking about flooding, I thought they’d be all up about that kind of issue but…

People here seem to get used to that, we just sort of wade through it. But you guys have been on the road for like a year, are you exhausted yet?

Brandon: we’re always exhausted, up until like an hour before the show. Well, until we hit the stage, and then you get back into it.

Jake: when you viciously abuse your body as much as we do on a daily basis, there’s only a couple of hours when you really need to feel it.

Bishop: you start to feel it, but you know, then you get drunk! And then you don’t feel anything.

That sounds both positive and negative at the same time there!

Bishop: you’re gonna read this interview back in like a year, when we’re all checking into rehab (everyone laughs). Yeah checking into rehabs, that’s how we’ll take our Crobot breaks. People will say “they never came off fucking tour until they checked into fucking rehab!”

Its go hard or go home I guess?!

Bishop: yeah, go hard or go to rehab. And then we’ll probably go on tour after that!

Brandon: the back from rehab tour!

Jake: we’ll just do a rehab tour, just go around the country doing-

Bishop: the not-so-drunk-as-shit tour-

All: THE SOBER AS FUCK TOUR!!! (Everyone falls about laughing)

I’m going to be really disappointed if this doesn’t happen now

Brandon: This is marketing genius going on here.

Bishop: and then we can come back with the drunk as shit tour, it’ll be like, “man they’re off the wagon again!” (More cracking up).

Jake: we’ll just have two names for tours from now on, the drunk as shit tour and the rehab tour. Both, pretty much the same tour really.

Bishop: we’re going to get a call from Max after this saying (puts on over exenterated, official sounding voice), “guys this is marketing genius, you can’t talk about this anymore in interviews!”

So I got an exclusive! But looking back, the album has been out for just over a year, I’m guessing for you guys it’s been relentless, with the amount of momentum and attention the album got online over that time. Is that a good feeling even this far in, that support?

Brandon: definitely, definitely a cool thing. It’s gonna be cool to get in the studio again and start getting the new tracks out there, we’re really excited about that.

Bishop: The fact that this album is still going so strong is a really cool thing. People are still coming out, it’s been a good run over hear so far.

Have you been working on any new stuff while you’ve been out?

Jake: we’ve wrote a bunch, we’ve got like a lot. I think the most we’ve played on this tour are like seven or eight new ones, but we have others that we just didn’t practise for on the road.

Bishop: I forgot most of them.

We’ve seen you out playing with people like MOTORHEAD and THE VIRGIN MARYS, and the energy you’ve got is amazing, how do you keep going?

Jake: Crystal Meth amphetamines (everyone laughs)

Brandon: how do you think we got that tour with Lemmy! We were obviously like dude, we will supply all the Meth.

At this point Paul arrives, and introduced himself. While Paul is saying hello, a lyric from Jack White’s I Fought Piranhas, which is playing in the background, is misheard.

Bishop: did that guy just say a car of piranhas? Or cock piranha? That’s pretty bad ass.

Paul: that might inspire some artwork there Bishop

Bishop: A flock of cock piranha. Hmmm…

I’d wear that t-shirt. (The band find that pretty funny)

Brandon: Would you enjoy a flock of cock piranha?

Haha, I’m going to reserve my answer to that question I think guys! But talking about album artwork, while it’s been a while since this album came out, it’s got a great 70’s, trippy kind of vibe to it. Do you all get involved in this, how did that art come about?

Brandon: I basically force Bishop to do it in an unreasonably short amount of time.

Bishop: for no money! But for this album, I’m gonna try and do something completely different, creative. Whereas this last one was a little easier, as you look back to old albums or a general genre or style of music and art and sort of draw towards that and the feel of the songs. Whereas this new one, I’m going for something completely out there you wouldn’t expect.

Jake: he’s going to do it all out of clay

Bishop: a 3D album cover, a sculpture, and the shipping is gonna suck.

Jake: it will be like a onetime thing, like a piggy bank, where you have to smash it open to get the CD out.

Brandon: In the shape of a cock piranha! Haha, sorry, do you talk about cock piranhas with other bands?

This is the first time really, but it might be something I consider as a theme maybe? But thinking on about some crazy stuff, you’ve got some pretty interesting tattoos, it’s fair to say. Do you normally do things that out there and weird, or is it just a spontaneous sort of thing? It’s a hell of a commitment.

Bishop: it’s not that big of a deal when you’ve got bodies like these. Well, not just me, all of us. Aside from Brandon, he’s not done too bad. Aside from the face, it’s ok. But Jake, he’s got scribbles all up his back, he doesn’t give a shit. Paul let Jake scribble on his back, I let Brandon scribble on me!

Jake: I scribbled on myself, I got a pig on my leg that says “mash it”

That’s amazing, I love it!

Bishop: bad decisions are sort of ok in this camp!

You’re not going to run out of stories that’s for sure.

At this point, the sound check drowns us all out, and we are left looking for somewhere quieter to talk. The place? Obviously the backstage bathroom.

Well this is interesting. Certainly not where I thought I’d be spending the evening, in the toilets!

Bishop: yeah, with a bunch of studs!

Jake: party in the bathroom

Bishop: talking about cock piranhas, haha!

Jake: hey, is that a shower there?

Brandon: oh yeah. Is there soap?

Jake: yep, the soaps there (points to the sink). A lot of places don’t have soap in the bathroom.

Brandon: that and garbage cans.

Jake: which is odd, and people wonder why dressing rooms get trashed. It’s because they don’t give you anywhere to put your trash, so you end up with it everywhere.

Bishop: we should have brought a jibber in here and just hot boxed it.

Ha, well that would have been interesting for sure! I don’t know what I’m going to put as the main headline quote for this interview! But before I forget, you guys have some pretty cool merch, like the Something SupernaturAle. If there was anything you could make in the world, aside from cock piranha, what would you like as Crobot merch?

Jake: lunch meat, with our logo on it

Paul: call it Crob-cuts! But Bishop wouldn’t like it thought

Brandon: I think we should have our own breed of dog.

Big ass beardy-dog!

Paul: it would be a really fucked up dog

Bishop: it would have to be a hairless dog. With the back end of a chiwawa and the front legs of a greyhound.

Brandon: just dragging it’s ass-

Paul: na, it’d be really quick!-

Bishop: it would be awesome. I wonder what its bark would sound like?

Jake: it wouldn’t, it wouldn’t bark it would talk. It would just say “duuuuuuude”!

Brandon: I really wish I had a dog that just said “dude”.

Very good answer all round there guys. That would be mental! But I wanted to ask you about the Beardos. How has that support been from such a dedicated community around you?

Bishop: it started with those who are really close to the band, friends and family who were really passionate about it, and they just pushed and pushed it, and it got bigger and bigger and it’s grown from there. And it’s really cool we’re very very appreciative of the work put into it. It’s really cool.

So, after all this is over, are you going to break, or do something else? What’s happening next year for Crobot?

Brandon: We’re hopefully going to get back in the studio and get the new album recorded. We don’t’ have anything scheduled just yet but we’ve got our fingers and toes crossed that hopefully when the new year comes around we’ll have some studio time to get in and lay down some new tasties.

Awesome, can’t wait. Well, thanks for talking guys, lovely to see you, and enjoy the rest of the tour.

Something Supernatural is available via Wind-Up Records