Regarding the fact that I was about to undertake my first professional interview- there wasn’t a second I felt nervous about chatting to the four piece, alternative rock band Cloud Control. Summing up my research, I quickly realised that they were, very simply, a laidback group of friends who enjoyed making and performing music.
Led into a tiny room with boring white walls and nothing other than a sofa, chair and table squeezed into the middle of it- it reminded me of a school teacher’s staff room, rather than a sex, drugs and rock and roll, dressing room hang out.
Greeted by friendly smiles and handshakes, Heidi, Ulrich and Alistair all introduced themselves with their strong Aussie accents. Heidi, wearing no make-up, untamed hair and dressed in a huge, woolly jumper, (bearing in mind they’d be on stage in less than an hour), Ulrich slouched in a chair, playing with his stereotypical, long, scruffy ‘drummer boy’ hair and Alistair; the band’s front man, minding his own buisiness, fiddling on his Apple Mac. My expectations were exactly as I imagined.
I was determined to find out what differentiated this band from the rest of the thousands out there. Did they have that star quality, or were they missing that extra something that is so important in music today?
Bliss Release, the band’s first and only album, released last year, scooped up the awards; ‘Best Independent Album’ and ‘Breakthrough Independent Artist’. As bizarre as it may sound, growing up in the Blue Mountains seems to have heavily imprinted their work as you can’t help but feel each melody and lyric was created around a campfire, adding a real sense of honesty to the music, with strange and dark- yet peaceful implications.
The foursome take to the stage and instantly grasp the audience’s attention with Alistair’s playful humour. He tosses a coin into the crowd for ‘good luck’ but then jokes at their expense by saying, ‘look at all of them scrambling for money’, before coolly adding, ‘yeah...moneys alright’.
As soon as they begin, the audience begin to critically assess and analyse them as they listen hard and bob their heads to the fiery beats. Only then did I realise that it is the band’s vocals that set them apart from other pop contemporys. Alistair’s trippy, pitch- bending synths is matched flawlessly and beautifully to Heidi’s gentle, jingly and day-dreamy sounds. They are effortlessly cool as they loose themselves in their own music, feeding off the audience’s subtle yet positive energy.
Needless to say, there is unquestionably something magical about Cloud Control. Their humble and relaxed approach, ironically, makes them exciting. It’s pretty evident this band isn’t even close in showing us what their really made of, and when they do- I’m sure it will blow us all away.
Interview below
How are you and how are you enjoying your tour with The Drums?
All together: Good thanks, yeah it’s been great
How would you say the audience responses in England in comparison to Australia because I can imagine people know your music more in Australia?
Heidi: Yeah they do, I mean they analyse us a lot more. You won’t get a lot of hype but that’s fine because you know their enjoying it when their just listening
Ulrich: The worst a crowd can do is talk over you, so yeah, listening is real good
You formed through a band competition you won and it seems it all went from there. Can you tell me a little more about that? It seems like a massive step winning a small competition to becoming the recording artists you are today.
H: Well it was a five year step, so it took friggin ages. I don’t think we even knew we wanted to be a band for about three of those years, we all had different career interests so it took a long time to evolve into a full time pursue. We’ve been a slow developing band but I think that’s advantaged us in a lot of ways
You were all friends a long time before you became a band. Was it difficult adjusting from being just friends to sitting down together for hours recording music or was it an advantage?
U: Well you know what’s funny, Al had never met Jeremy before
Alistair: They made me just pick him up off the highway and i was like...who is this guy. I had no idea...but he was alright! (All laugh)
H: We definitely weren’t a unit of four friends. We all knew each other in different ways but not everyone was connected. Like Ulrich and Jeremy knew of each other but they weren’t friends. I didn’t really know Al...
U: He was just a little turd from school...
A: A little turd...(All laugh)
H: But yeah it took us a while to develop a friendship
The music on your album, Bliss Release sounds a lot like other Australian bands such as Little Red and The Holidays. It that something you were consciously going for?
A: Yeah totally. It’s just like anything, like if you see something and you really enjoy it and you like what it does to you, you try and re-create that in your own way
H: Mimicry is a great tool for song writing. It was really funny, when we all started writing we were all listening to Interpol and the first songs we wrote were a sounds cape to Interpol at the time. (laughs) but we’ve moved on from there...although Interpol is still a really great band
You’re playing at Field day in January and the NME awards in February. Any more shows or tours in the New Year?
A: Were doing some HMV show in February sometime.
H: In Birmingham!
A: Oh is it?
H: Yeah at the Electric Ballroom
U: Oh that will be awesome
A: Yeah that will be sweet, but other than that we haven’t got any tours planned because we’ll be writing our new album
So there will be a new album next year?
H: Yeah definitely. We’ll be spend the first three months writing and then really kill off the second album. Thats the goal right? Shoot for the stars!
And finally, what are your Christmas plans?
H: Awww, well Ulrich and I are going to Frankford! To spend some time at the Christmas markets with our parents
U: But Al’s leaving just before Christmas to go back to Australia and Jez is as well right.
H: Yeah Jez is leaving straight after this tour
U: Yeah so we’ll all meet up in Australia
Find out more about Cloud Control at http://www.cloudcontrolband.com/
