We Are Scientists are a band that have a lot to be proud of. A slew of fairly successful albums, a high demand for their live shows around the world, and an uncompromising ethos to their music (you can tell they create music they want to make). After a long tour in Europe the guys are back in New York, on the eve of a free show the band are set to play in Brooklyns Red Hook Park I got to sit down and talk to bass player/co-founding member Chris Cain about sharks, Russia, Foo Fighters, and what We Are Scientists fans can expect from the next album:
Examiner: I got into you guys during college and I remember chatting with you once before a gig about how Barbara would greatly appeal to the college crowd, what do you feel it is about your music makes it soar with mostly twenty something’s?
Chris: I think our music is fairly often about alcohol and sex, which for many twenty something’s are the center of the universe. So I guess our tunes wouldn’t be for younger children who couldn’t get a hold of alcohol. It’s almost as when you get older and your career troubles come into play…alcohol becomes more important or usually sex just becomes a problem!
Examiner: You can definitely see that happening day by day.
Chris: Yep and it will happen to you too my friend!
Examiner: What is the epic tale of how you and Keith met?
Chris: We kind of just had friends in common at university. Keith transferred to the college I went to as a junior (his third year). The specific circumstances were on Wednesdays I’d host a viewing party of the latest episode of Dawsons Creek in my dorm room. A friend of mine bought Keith over and I met him. We didn’t become immediate best friends but we started hanging out more and more and well it feels like it was yesterday.
Examiner: That really does come out in not only the music but how you guys interact. You guys have a whole Youtube account riddled with comedy videos and in them it really shows you guys have a fondness for one another.
Chris: There aren’t many people who are close in this world and it’s a real treat for people to enjoy the relationship of Keith and me.
Examiner: Is being in a band anything you imagined it was going to be? A lot of people have different ideas and expectations so what were some of yours?
Chris: Personally I didn’t do a lot of fanaticizing when I was younger about being in a band. This was the first band I was ever in and up to that point I never really played an instrument before, I pretty much got onto bass for We Are Scientists. So any fanaticizing that went on were fairly realistic aspirations for the band at the time. I think we were also pretty blind to the possibility of We Are Scientists going anywhere in the first couple of years. We spent about five years without having any appreciable success and then when we got a publishing deal to record a decent sounding record we got signed and it was all fairly unexpected. I don’t feel there was a lot of opportunity or context for daydreaming. With that said I think being in a band, well We Are Scientists, is about what I imagined being in a band with Keith, me, and now Andy Burrows would be like. I bet with other bands it’s different in a variety of ways, there are a lot of crazy and wild bands but than there are also a lot of boring bands too.
Examiner: For the bands most recent album Barabra did you have any of the lyrical credit for some of the songs or was it all Keith?
Chris: In terms of song writing we split it in a legal context but with lyrics Keith is the primary song writer for the band. Though there are a lot of things I do that Keith won’t bother with, but financially we share everything in We Are Scientists straight down the line.
Examiner: Is there a track from the album that really stands out to you?
Chris: Yeah I really love “Foreign Kicks”, especially when it comes to playing it live. I think it’s because of its function that its really different compared to a lot of the other songs we play. I like the challenge of getting all the harmonies right and that mid tempo vibe is a nice change from that massive tempo vibe that dominates the rest of the set.
Examiner: Would you say that when you are recording an album you become inspired by music you’re listening to at the time or does this not play into effect at all?
Chris: I think we’re quite influenced by things we’re listening to. We absolutely feel influenced by things like the way a third party would identify with music. A lot of people hear we’re influenced by something but don’t believe it because they can’t hear it. On With Love and Squalor we were influenced by just enjoying the moment of New York City. Bands like Yeah,Yeah,Yeahs, Les Savy Fav, and Liars really inspired that sort of thing, along with The Strokes as well. With Brain Thrust Mastery we were trying to do a conscious effort to reflect things like Fleetwood Mac, Hall & Oates, and to some degree Chicago, from a production stand point we were really influenced by David Bowie.
I think those things are very audible on Brain Thrust. And with Barabra I feel a lot of stuff was touched on but the only real influenced we had with that record was Weezer, specifically the Green Album. I think that is a good way to lightly summarize what happened with Barabra in terms of song writing and production.
Examiner: That’s interesting; I remember a couple months ago you guys covered the Green Album at Bruar Falls in Brooklyn.
Chris: We did and it was mostly an indulgence for us but it was great giving people a reason and chance to come see us perform live.
Examiner: Despite people who wear sweaters during the summer in Brooklyn what is it about New York that’s special to you? If I remember correctly you guys re-located here from California?
Chris: Yeah we’ve been here for about eleven years now. It’s hard to put your finger on that. It’s a really pretty city, especially Manhattan, and during the time we’ve been here there’s been an uprising of young, artistic, and ambitious people who want to be around similar likeminded people, so I feel that gives the place a good energy. Another interesting thing is that I feel that artistic people in New York are always hustling a bit so that energy can make you feel lazy if you’re not doing anything. It’s a nice encouragement to make you get off your ass.
The dining is unparalleled to anywhere else in the world. I’ve been to many of the worlds cities but eating in this city is as good as it gets.
Examiner: Do communist cows exist and are they welcome to attend your gigs?
Chris: Mmmm Communist Cows you say? Mmmm that’s tough because I don’t know if cows could be communist I mean could they make those sacrifices.
Examiner: It’s long believed that the Soviets inserted cows here with spies believe it or not.
Chris: Mmm but how long do cows live? Maybe the ideology is genetic in cows. Well I won’t rule out the possibility so if there are any communist cows out there they’re as welcome as any cow to our shows.
Examiner: I remember reading a couple months ago recording about how relaxing and easy going recording Barbara was, do you feel a lax attitude best suits you and the band when recording music?
Chris: I think it’s definitely what suits us best as enjoyable. I don’t know if it creates a specific atmosphere but it does allow for very little disagreement and anguish. It was all just a team of us making sure what we were doing made sense and for a significant part of it, Andy as well; we were getting the work done at our own pace.
On previous albums things were a bit murkier on intentions and a lot of disagreement on what we were aiming for and how we were going to get there. Luckily there wasn’t any recording related anguish when it came to recording Barbara.
Examiner: So it seems that communication is key in a way?
Chris: Yeah but I think some beautiful things can come out of bad communication or misunderstanding but I don’t think it was ever enjoyable for those involved. I think good communication is needed for good clean living! I wouldn’t say it’s the only route to interesting art but as artists who are also very self-serving human beings we always try to avoid the anguish route to artistic realization. I mean I don’t think there’s any proof out there that you need to be a tormented soul or terrible communicator to make art.
Examiner: It’s weird how that stigmatism on being a “tortured artist” is still around uh?
Chris: It is but I think interesting examples of things like that can come from anywhere whether it’d be F. Scott Fitzgerald or a million other artists, I don’t think the tormented artist is necessarily the average for example Vladimir Nabokov was incredibly balanced and had a happy marriage, all the things that don’t really spark our expectations of a romantic or tragic artist. He created some of the most lasting literary works that we’ve seen so far. I would say torment is not necessary to create art but we as audiences love the story of a tragic artist, particularly in rock music it’s a very altercative “look”. It also seems like something a lot of musicians feel compelled to portray even if it’s not genuine.
I think some musicians are driven to even deliberately have shitty lives just so they can project that image because it’s so attractive…it really is a fucking shame.
Examiner: Hahaha it really does seem quite stupid to deliberately cause your life to be shitty. How was the European tour you guys just finished?
Chris: We started with three shows in Russia with Muse. It was a lot of fun and we got to play in front of thousands of people and watch a couple of Muse shows which is never a bad thing. After that we did a handful of festivals and headlined a couple of shows along the way. It was a lot of fun. We did festivals we’ve never done before like the Isle of Wight and the Heineken Jammin Festival which is…probably the worst festival name ever but it was quite enjoyable.
Examiner: You guys also did the Rock Am Ring in Germany as well right?
Chris: Yes we did which is one of the biggest festivals in Germany, definitely one of the biggest in the world I think.
Examiner: Any interesting tales from Russia? Was it your first time there?
Chris: Funnily enough we were in St. Petersburg three months ago on our own for three dates and than we went to Barcelona for a festival in April I believe. That was the first time we’ve gone to Russia.
Examiner: The fans must be really grateful for that.
Chris: The fans are fucking loving it and are flipping out over there.
Examiner: It has to be a relief because now they can stop asking you guys to come there constantly.
Chris: Its funny you mention that because whenever we go on tour to some global capacity we’ll inevitably have messages on Facebook or Twitter after we come back from the tour asking “Hey when are you guys going to come to X city” and its like X city we played like a week ago. It’s like us coming through their town got their friends talking and made them go “Oh! I like that band! What’s going on with them?” and than they don’t even realize we were just there. I think we get more messages of that than people saying “Hey great show in St. Petersburg! It was awesome!” we’re more likely to get “When are you guys coming to Moscow? Omg I can’t believe I missed your show!” and we’d then have to reply “well…it’s probably going to be a while” hahaha.
Examiner: Hahaha that’s got to be tough. Do you think you guys won over some Muse fans while you were in Russia?
Chris: Yeah the Moscow show was over twenty thousand people so I’m pretty confident over ninety percent of the people there have never heard of us…actually I’m pretty sure its more than that. But that’s why you do those support slots so you can get in front of new people. Hopefully our next trip to Russia will be even better.
Examiner: What can you tell us about the upcoming record? At Isle of Wightyou guys dropped hint that it’ll be recording in the fall?
Chris: Yeah that’s the plan. We have begun writing and playing around with tunes in rehearsal space. Andy is in New York right now for the show we’re going to do at Red Hook and he’s going to be staying for a week for an intensive writing session. After all the songs are written we’re planning to record in October. I think it’s definitely going to be a rock record and not possibly an indie record in any sense. I think these songs will be more straight ahead hard rock.
In terms of inspiration we’ve been listening to a lot of nineties stuff like The Lemonheads (especially the album It’s A Shame About Ray), a lot of Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins. I think it was when we saw the Foo Fighters at the NME Awards in February and we were just blown away by their live dynamic and the variation their songs have, how they’re tunes can drop in and drop out, and how tight the band members sound together live. There are moments where they’d start, stop, stick together and overall have just really rhythmic moments and I think we want to get a lot of that in there in terms of recording and playing live.
We’ve actually been playing a lot of our songs live differently to reflect that a little, I think it’s most notable with “Dinosaurs”.
Examiner: Wow, well getting influence by Foo Fighters can’t be a bad thing. The new album is pretty wicked.
Chris: Yeah it’s a real heavy mofo.
Examiner: That nineties influence makes sense because I remember when you guys were in Australia last year you did an encore of Weezer’s “Only In Dreams” and Mudhoneys “Touch Me I’m Sick” with the members of Ash. I remember seeing the video of you guys and especially during the Mudhoneys track you guys all had smiles on your faces.
Chris: Definitely, well those are the songs we grew up with and when we were all in High School those songs were primarily there. Our fans tend to be into those songs, which when I mentioned the average We Are Scientists fan is usually from an age when music resonates best with people, especially rock and hard rock. That’s the type of music we were really influenced by during our formative years. It’s going to be a lot of fun to write.
Examiner: That sounds like a lot of fun. Do you guys know if you’ll record the album here in New York or in the UK perhaps?
Chris: We haven’t decided for sure but I think we’ll most likely record in either New York or LA. Where the album will be recorded will have a lot to do with who ends up producing it. We’re talking to a really awesome producer who we haven’t settled on yet, he hasn’t settled on us either so I can’t give his name but hopefully soon we’ll have that finalized.
Examiner: Can we have any hints as to who he is?
Chris: Umm…no I can’t. hahaha. I don’t want him to read this and be like “What? I’m producing you?” but he’s definitely a rock producer.
Examiner: A couple months ago I got to interview Tim Wheeler of Ash a couple months ago (Read here: http://randomville.com/wordpress/?p=10311) and I asked him about the possibilities of Ash and We Are Scientists (AKA WASH) to record or tour a track. He said it’s very likely the next thing Ash will release is a WASH track so any word on that?
Chris: We actually recorded a single which is going to come out soon. It won’t be too long until it’s out and it’s for a charity in England called the Multiple Sclerosis Society. It’s a cover of a song called “Washington Parks” by I think Happy Monster but its pretty sweet. The concept of the song is that if you listen to it on headphones or stereo the musicians of Ash are on the left channel and all the We Are Scientists guys are playing it in the right channel. We’re playing the same song essentially but in different ways.
I’m not playing the same bass line as Mark and Rick isn’t playing the same drum pattern as Andy. I think Keith and Tim sing the same thing but in a different sort of harmony. What’s interesting especially is that not only do we have a unison feel going on but you can also take off one headphone and hear one band and vice versa.
Examiner: That really is an interesting concept and a big treat to people who love listening to music on headphones.
Chris: Yeah I can’t wait for it to come out. I’ve heard it and it sounds really good.
Examiner: Definitely can’t wait to hear it. Well I have one more question for you but before I ask you thanks for being a part of this, it’s been a pleasure to talk to you.
Chris: Thanks man, it’s been a real pleasure on this side of things as well.
Examiner: My question is would a shark with a laser beam embedded to its head stand a chance against a flying dinosaur (a triceratops who eats meat to be exact)?
Chris: Mmmm. I think the shark would stand a very great chance because he could just take pot shots at the triceratops with his laser, and whenever the triceratops dives and tries to claw him the shark can go into the water where the triceratops can’t follow. There really isn’t anywhere else for the triceratops to go so I think the shark wins, especially with that laser.
My review of the bands show at Red Hook Park will be posted soon. In the meantime enjoy the photos I captured from the bands incredible performance here http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenami/sets/72157627035738522/
Also be sure to visit We Are Scientists official facebook for updates on tour dates, fan interaction, and of course hilarious banter from the band members themselves http://www.facebook.com/wearescientists
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