Maybe they didn’t get enough sleep. Maybe the airline lost their luggage. Maybe someone forgot to clear the backstage area of brown M&Ms. Whatever happened, The Cribs arrived at San Francisco’s Popscene in some kind of mood. The Wakefield, England band of brothers–guitar playing twins Ryan and Gary Jarman, 26, and little brother Ross, 22, on drums–quickly blasted through the highlights from last year’s fantastic Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever album, pausing only to snarl at the crowd through indecipherable accents.
The greasy trio’s third release and major label debut was produced by Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos, who managed to give its shouty choruses and spiky punk riffs a sleek pop sheen that brought on comparisons to everyone from the Buzzcocks to the Strokes. In recent months The Cribs have been recruited to tour with the reunited Sex Pistols and were joined onstage by Sonic Youth’s Lee Renaldo, who also appears on the album, as well as former Smiths/current Modest Mouse guitarist Johnny Marr, who has been collaborating with them on material for their next album.
For a group with such unbelievable ambition, the Popscene set felt like it could have been derailed at any moment by stupid adolescent attitude. “Our Bovine Public” got two half-hearted attempts before it was finally allowed to die under a barrage of hoarse wailing, “Girls Like Mystery” was rendered largely tuneless and “Mirror Kisses” was preceded with some mighty cynical banter.
But as soon as the band finished rolling through a sloppy cover of The Replacements’ “Bastards of Young” they suddenly snapped out of it. Latest single “I’m a Realist” saw the twins brilliantly trading off vocal duties, as the rest of the songs fell back into proper speed and the mood on the stage visibly lightened. The perfunctory high-speed yelps were replaced by actual singing and actual riffs, while Ryan–the one that looks a bit like a chubby Jeremy Piven–victoriously ended the night by launching himself into the crowd.
Growing Up, Going Major, and Playing For Fuzz
Alkaline Trio is playing a free concert presented by Fuzz on Monday, April 7 at San Francisco’s historic Café Du Nord. To whet your appetite, we got the Chicago punk trio’s lead singer and guitarist Matt Skiba to tell us a little bit about what the 60 ticket winners from around the world could expect to see at the show, as well as the details of the group’s new album-in-progress (and Epic debut) due later this year. It’s not too late to enter for a chance to win tickets at www.fuzz.com/alkalinetrio (winners will be selected on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 12PM).
Fuzz: You’ve been doing this more than a decade. Why did it take you so long to sign with a major label?
Alkaline Trio: We’ve been walking the line between indie and major for a while since Interscope bought a share of Vagrant Records. It wasn’t a conscious decision. It just sort of happened by default. We never had any rules set for what kind of label we were going to be on. We always wanted to work with people that we like and trust and are passionate about putting out records, and after V2 crumbled all the people we wanted to work with went to Sony and they brought us along.
So can people expect orchestras and children’s choirs on your new album?
There’s definitely some orchestral stuff happening–not much children’s choirs. Some of the songs are a little more stripped down. Some of the songs are more intricate. I don’t think it’s going to surprise anybody. When we put out our first seven-inch on a Chicago punk label and then signed to Asian Man Records people called us sell-outs. You can’t win. But it’s never bothered us. I’ve never felt like I have to explain myself to anyone. I just hope the fans trust us because we care about the band as much as they do. No matter what label we’re on we would have made the same record we made.
Is this your first live show in a while?
We haven’t played since the Warped Tour last year, so we’re just excited to get out and play. We’re going to play one or two new songs but we want to keep the element of surprise with the new material because you never know when your album is going to leak. If it was up to us we would play the whole record.
How did you pick Café Du Nord?
I really like that place. I lived in San Francisco for a couple of years and I used to go to Café Du Nord often. It’s a beautiful place. It’s small. It’s a really cool place to play. If we’re going to play a smaller show, Du Nord is the place to do it.
What have you learned being in this band over the past 10 years?
You have to learn not to take yourself too seriously. If you do you’re not going to have any fun. I take much better care of myself. I don’t get wasted every night. When you’re young there are all these temptations on the road and it’s easy to let shit get out of control. These days we keep the party to a dull roar. I enjoy playing music so much more and it’s more fun when I actually remember the shows. Beyond that I don’t have any deep wisdom to share.
It’s hard to choose just one summer festival on which to blow your George W. Bush-endorsed tax rebate check, but the decision just got a little easier now that the likes of Beck, Wilco, Broken Social Scene, Devendra Banhart and Cold War Kids have jumped onboard the certifiably eclectic lineup of San Francisco’s first Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival. Set to take place August 22-24 at Golden Gate Park, the three-day concert also boasts previously announced headliners Radiohead, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Jack Johnson, as well as a slew of Bay Area locals such as Matt Nathanson, The Coup, Goapele, Dredg and Two Gallants. Tickets, priced at $225.50 (plus fees) for the three days, will go on sale Sunday, March 30 at 10am PST. Visit www.sfoutsidelands.com for details including ticketing information and the full lineup.