Los Campesinos' Gareth Campesinos: The New Gay Interview

Gareth Campesinos (2nd from left) appears to be waiting for his luggage. (photo from MySpace.)

What a difference one album makes. When I last interviewed a member of hyper-energetic Welsh pop/punk septet Los Campesinos, they were still coasting through the general good cheer and assumed twee-ness of their debut album, "Hold On Now Youngster." Released in March of '08, "Youngster" was the product of a group of kids in their early '20s who met in college and seemed to haphazardly toss off a bevy of caffeinated tunes like Homo/Sonic mainstay "You! Me! Dancing!"

Though that albums' internal darkness was overlookable for its moments of caucophanous sunshine, their October follow-up "We are Beautiful, We are Doomed" displayed unhappiness and neuroticism as prominently as its to-the-rafters choruses of "We kid ourselves there's future in the fucking/ but there is not fucking future." The band's frontman and mastermind Gareth Campesinos (not his real name) recently spent some time with me on the phone explaining his mental state, the nature of the relationship that inspired the newest album and the band's plans for the future. The full interview and Los Campesinos mixtape are below the fold.

Los Campesinos play tonight at Baltimore's Ottabar with Titus Andronicus. $12.

The New Gay Zack: I think I speak for a lot of people when I ask you this: Are are you doing alright?

Gareth Campesinos: Personally? I’m doing great. Is this a reaction to me writing about things in songs?

TNG: Or that your last album is so much darker than your debut.

GC: Yeah, I am doing OK. When I was writing the lyrics for it I was quite emotional, I suppose. We were on tour in the US and I wasn’t particularly enjoying it for whatever reason. I was in a rubbish relationship.

In the moment now I’m concerned that, in writing the new songs, I’ll have nothing to write about. There is is literally nothing going on. There is nothing for me to complain about. There’s nothing. It’s not good for the process. I’m waiting for the heartbreak or anything overblown or dramatic to happen to inspire me.

TNG: What if nothing overblown happens? Will you have a happy record?

GC: That’s what I’m worried about. I can imagine myself orchestrating some sort of negative event. When I listen to music I don’t care about how happy someone is or what great fun they're having. I want to hear something that I myself can wallow in. One thing I like about “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed” is that everything is a true story, everything is factual. So it might just come that I have to invent some turmoil or make up stories about other people.

TNG: Your earlier songs, like “You! Me! Dancing!” were really happy songs, which is a sharp contrast to your more recent catalog. What happened?

GC: Something like “Death to Los Campesinos,” which is nonsense, is a song that I’ve come not to dislike but that I can’t connect with anymore. They were songs that were written at the very beginning of being in a band. At that time I was very excited, it’s the first time I was in a proper band. I was in my second year of uni, having no responsibility, just having a good time and being excited about being in a band.

Maybe its more a conscious reaction to the fact that I get a little frustrated by people tagging us as this happy, clappy band, and then I meet people and I’m not the life and soul of the party, I’m not being this over excitable young kid and I’m being quite miserable. People get surprised about it. I wanted to be more honest in my songwriting after that. I do feel like “You! Me! Dancing!” is the best song to play live, it gets a a happy reaction. , But a lot of people expect to hear “You! Me! Dancing!” and get surprised when I wind up on the floor of the stage.

TNG: Did anything else change in your life life between the two records to explain the tone shift?

GC: The first record was written while we were all students. “We Are Beautiful...” was written after we all graduated, after being a proper touring band for a year or so. The last three to be written from the first album were “My Year in Lists,” “We Are All Accelerated Readers,” and “This is How You Spell...” Those three hint at taking it in darker directions, they’re less happy than some of the others. I feel bad when I’m moody or a miserable person. I feel awful, it doesn’t reflect well on me.

Obviously we’re in a band, touring the world and having the time of our life, but that doesn’t stop me from getting bothered about things or worrying about relationships. All the lyrics for “We are Beautiful” were written over two weeks, on tour in the east coast, not having a great time. I was in a relationship that was quite rubbish. As I get older I’m becoming more world weary. It sounds ridiculous because I’m 23, but it happened over two albums...

TNG: Tell me more about the relationship, it really comes through over the course of “We are Beautiful...” Who is this person that makes you so miserable?

GC: It was a relationship I never should have gotten into in the first place. I don’t want to be harsh, they’re a lovely person. I have no real hard feelings toward them despite what the record might suggest. They showed an interest in me, I was incredibly flattered. They were very attractive and intelligent and good fun. And then as a result, because I’m pretty emotionally retarded, I entered quickly and it got reasonably intense a lot quicker than any sensible human would let a relationship get. Then I went to America for two months and the way it went when I was away was barely worth existing.

I’m just thinking about how honest I should be —I want to be honest in what I do—basically there was another person I should have gone out with, but if I had gone out with them would have been very serious. The girl I went out with, she should have been with another guy. I don’t know why we were together, when I discuss it it really does seem pathetic. But that’s the gist of it, the record was just me complaining about her. She’s a little younger than me, and despite her being really intelligent it shows at times. I have to reiterate she’s a lovely and nice person, but not a good girlfriend for me.

TNG: Do you think she recognized herself in your songs?

GC: Yeah, which is why I don’t understand why she hasn’t spoken to me about it. They they were written before we broke up, partly because I knew we had to break up. I knew that I was a pussy and I wouldn’t have the guts to do it. I knew that by writing these songs it would have to end before the record was released. It was just inevitable. If she has heard it she must appreciate that there’s no malicious intent.

TNG: A little earlier you mentioned your song “This is how you spell HAHAHA we destroyed the hopes and dreams of a generation of faux romantics,” which is one of my favorites. What are the hopes and dreams you’re destroying?

GC: That song is aimed at a lot of people my age. My generation affect this very faux persona. They have done this deliberately in an attempt to portray themselves as being particularly artistic or sensitive about something, which is a guise used for seduction or to impress people. I spend a lot of time, too much time, on the internet and witness a lot of examples of this. It’s a very fake persona that some people adopt and that was why I was claiming to have destroyed their hopes and aspirations by showing them up for what they are.

TNG: How do you relate to age group? How would you feel about being called the voice of a generation?

GC: It’s odd. I find it very hard to expect the things that I’m saying or writing in songs will match up or be heard by anyone at all. I’m becoming aware that perhaps some people do listen to what I say, but I’m just writing things that are good lyrics. When people say they relate to a certain song I find it really, really odd. I’m not trying to put myself on some sort of mantle, or say I’m speaking on behalf of these people or people like me, that's never the intent. It’s a mixture of extreme flattery that anyone might suggest that, but I don’t want people to think that I have the ego to agree with them.

TNG: As you get more successful will it change your honesty or your songwriting?

GC: As I become more conscious of what I’m writing, there are some earlier songs I really dislike like “We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives. ” I wrote the lyrics to that song when nobody cared about the band. I didn’t expect anyone to write them on a lyrics website. There’s a couple other songs like that. They affect me a little bit, there are things I know I have to steer clear of. With regards to honesty song writing: that is something that won’t be affected. My favorite author is B.S. Johnson. He wrote and lived by the mantra that telling stories is telling lies and and one can only write about truth and should be honest. I don’t want to lie to anyone. For example, some of my early songs had a ridiculous amount of pop culture references that I tried to shoehorn in. It was fake of myself to do that, to attract certain people. I realize that’s it’s a lazy way of writing. I’m basically turning songwriting into a diary. That will only increase. That is why I need something exciting to happen.

TNG: What will your next album be like?

GC: I think we will carry on in the vein of “We are Beautiful..,” I want to keep on the theme of honesty. I think lyrically it will only get more scathing, that’s my mindset at the moment. Musically, [band member] Tom has sent me 16 demos for new songs. I’m so excited. I think Tom is an incredibly talented songwriter. I think now more than ever he is finding what he wants to do in his songwriting. His ability to make loops and make songs atmospheric is really exciting. Hopefully, whatever the next album is will find us exactly where we want to be. We are really discovering what we want to be as a band.

TNG: A while ago you covered Heavenly's “C is the Heavenly Option” and you switched the genders so boys were singing about boys and girls about girls. Why was this?

GC: Two reasons. One because I really wanted to do the rap that Amelia Fletcher did in the middle, that's one reason. It was also an attempt to incite people to an extent. I get a lot of flack for being gay, which I'm not, but I do still get a lot of abuse from some parties on message boards or youtube comment who say that I’m gay. I find it upsetting or disgusting that people use hate like that. In swapping gender roles, it was a “fuck you” to anyone that would let something like that bother them and to distance them from our band. We wouldn’t want fans like that.

TNG: Does Los Campesinos have any gay members?

GC: No, which is incredibly disappointing to a lot of people. Our male members get a lot more attention from boys than girls.

TNG: Because they’re really cute!

GC: Yeah. It would make some people happy, but no sadly no. Not as of yet.

TNG: I understand you’re moving to New York after your current tour?

GC: Yeah, we’re recording in New York at the end of February and we’ll be there for a month.

TNG: Are you ready for that? Will it change you?

GC: I don’t know, I find it quite intimidating. I’ve never lived in a big city before. I’m from a small place. I’ve spent more time on the [American] West coast than the East coast, I don’t know why that is. I have more friends on the West Coast, I’m more excited about touring with their bands and stuff. Whenever I’ve been in New York before its a mad rush and I’ve never had the chance to go out to the bars and clubs. Being that we’ll be there for a month I hope we're be able to go to bars and clubs and experience living there properly.

TNG: As an avowed vegan, are you looking forward to access to a lot more vegan restaurants?

GC: In my experience I eat a lot better in the US than I do in Europe, apart from truck stops which aren’t particularly hospitable. But whenever we go to restaurant in the US and I tell the waitress I’m vegan, the chef is always really keen to impress with what they can come up with. In the US people take a lot more pride in their work than in the UK. If you go to mainland Europe, France or Italy, being vegan is considered to be really dirty. It’s not a good thing. I’m excited to eat well in the US.

TNG: This is my last question for you: Between “future in the fucking” or “no fucking future” which way are we headed?

CG: The lyrics to “We are Beautiful, We Are Doomed” were only intended to apply to one relationship. But I hope that there is fucking in the future. I think despite all my insistence that I’m incredibly moody and downbeat I hold a hope. I hope everything will be OK. I certainly hope so. TNG

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