Members of the Australian band Cloud Control speak to Shrabasti Mallik about the weird places they choose for recording their albums. They are also collaborating with some Indian musicians
Has your sound changed since your debut in 2011IJ
We have become better musicians and have understood audio science a lot better. We don’t want to produce the same album twice and repeat the same kind of music — even in variation. We played around a lot with our sound and had taken a few more risks with the second album — things we had censored ourselves from doing on the first album. In terms of electronic elements, we’ve got a few drum machines and have a bigger sound palette. There are lot of different sounds, lot of different vibes going on.
When did the band form and how did the members come togetherIJ
The band formed for a university band competition. We didn’t win the first year but in the second year we won $5000 and made some money to record our first EP. I guess we enjoyed what we were doing and started doing it more seriously.
How did you come up with such a unique nameIJ
It is no magic. Al (a member) just liked the sound of the two words together. It may sound weird but it was a marginally better suggestion than the first name we came up with, Cube Plantation.
What are the crazy things that the band has ever doneIJ
We have released two albums so far and we have recorded both of them in places no would remotely think of recording in. Our first album Bliss Release was recorded at our producer’s house while our second, Dream Cave, was actually recorded in a cave. We believe in embracing the unknown, it helps us discover hidden treasures.
You’re all originally from the Blue Mountains in Australia. What was it like growing up there and has it influenced your musicIJ
It’s a very nice part of Australia with lots of trees and is only an hour drive from Sydney. I guess the environment has a subtle influence on how we work. Our childhood were great. It’s a pretty small community so it has that insular, middle-class vibe. But we didn’t take direct inspiration; we didn’t write an album about the trees. But the main influence were the variety of musical styles that we were exposed to — we had a lot of hip-hop, folk, blues and roots. If you live in a city, you hear the music changing constantly because there’s a new band every second day.
The band has a knack for writing melodic and harmonious songs. What’s a studio session like with Cloud ControlIJ
It’s a pretty organic process. We like to have a big part in how we record. Normally someone starts a song on a laptop and then we try to play it acoustically and get to know the song as a group. This helps us write the harmonies and solidify the melodies. Once we are in the studio, the work we’ve done with the song helps us be spontaneous with the arrangement. It becomes apparent pretty quickly whether we are on the right track or not.
Share your musical influences.
We listen to a lot of music from every styles and genre. Pavement, Beastie Boys, Neil Young and Fleetwood Mac are a few of them.
The band hails from Australia but why did it shift to UKIJ
We were signed to Infectious Records who put out albums from bands like local Natives, The Temper Trap and Alt J. We wanted to make in-roads into the market. We ended up playing about 140 shows in UK/Europe off the back of Bliss Release and it is difficult to do that from Australia. We have a lot of fun living in london and touring across Europe.
Tell us something about your performance in India. What kind of music are you going to playIJ
It will be a classic hits set. The songs sound a lot bigger live and we love to bring the party vibes for the audience. We once had a stampede of about 2,000 people at a festival back home. They were running up and down a hill — it was crazy.
Is this the band’s first performance in IndiaIJ
Yes. We were very excited to play in India. Al had travelled here in 2010 but the rest of us hadn’t even seen the country, leave alone performing here. So it’s been great to explore the places here. Please have us back.
When can we expect your next albumIJ Will it also be recorded in a place people will remotely imagineIJ
We hope to have an album out in 2015. We have been doing some songwriting with some local Indian writers including Vasuda Sharma and they have been really cool tracks. They may even end up on the album. Hopefully we can come back and tour it in India again then.