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The Cape Race is a great band out of Manchester UK and I am so glad I found them. Their newest album Home, Truths was just released this month. TCR formed in 2009 and after their first mini EP Now, Voyager their full length album is one of the rarities for me where I can listen the entire way through. I am a huge Jimmy Eat World fan and they have parts in this album that reminds me of J.E.W. which for me can mean only one thing - they must play a stellar live show as well.
I am super excited to follow this band and see where Home, Truths takes them. With recent successes of the1975 and other popular UK imports, I have no reason to believe that TCR can't garner that same popularity over here in the US.
TCR is made up of David Moloney (vocals), Matt Sayward (guitar), Adam Lewis (bass, vocals), Scott Perkins (guitar), Jonny Davys (drums).
Matt was super cool to answer some questions for me and I am happy to post them here. I am going to post one of my favorite tracks from Home, Truths but you can stream the entire album on Spotify - it's sooo great!
WMB: You guys have been recording some quality tunes ever since the beginning (2009). With everyone coming from different bands, do you think that previous experience made it easier to have a solid creative vision for TCR?
MS: Yeah I think so; having that experience of playing in different bands and with a multitude of different people really helps you discover what you can bring to the table in a creative sense. Directly before The Cape Race, 4 out of the 5 of us were in the same band together for a few years (albeit in a different genre), and there's definitely an intuition you build up after playing music with the same guys for an extended period of time; and that's a real advantage both in the studio and on stage - that kind of unspoken communication that keeps everyone on the same page for where to take a song when you're writing it, or to play the bridge for double the length of time live to create a bit of suspense when you can sense the audience getting into it. God knows if it's body language, something in the playing style, a tic of some sort or genuine telepathy, but it's definitely there!
WMB: Now that you guys have a proper album release with Home, Truths - what else is in store for TCR in the coming year?
MS: We really just want as many people to hear it as possible, honestly. We'll be shooting some music videos, probably do a little run of dates in the UK before we see 2014 out. We sat on the record for a bit before it came out, and when you have something you want to get out but the timing isn't right and it's only a small set of people who've heard it, you start having all kinds of doubts over the quality of the songs, wanting to go back to the studio and revisit... it's really easy to take a perfectionists approach with something like releasing a record and having a load of ducks lined up in a row but you can't be too precious about it. A friend of mine is an app developer who gets the same when they're releasing the 1.0 version of something new but it doesn't have all the features they want yet... theoretically you can keep polishing till the end of time. To quote him: "Ship or get off the pot". So we shipped, and we've been really pleased with the result. It's still the first week and we don't have sales figures or anything yet, but it went into the Top 30 iTunes Alt chart, and I didn't expect anything even close to that so that was really great to see.
WMB: Just by listening to your songs I have a feeling you put on a pretty great live set. Since I am thousands of miles away in Texas, how would you describe your live show? (I can only hope one year you guys will make it over to SXSW).
MS: I hope we make it over to Austin soon! I haven't been over in a little while; my last SXSW was 2010. Our live show is pretty in your face; David, our singer, tends to treat the stage like hot lava and spends a pretty decent chunk of time getting in amongst it with the crowd. I hope we make it over there soon to hang out.
WMB: The sound/production quality on the album is really great - did you guys work with a producer on the album?
MS: Yeah, we recorded the record with a guy from Devon called Peter Miles. He's worked on some of our favourite records sonically so it was great when he wanted to work with us. We recorded the album in two fairly long sessions over the course of two years. The first session was in a 300 year-old converted hop kiln which looked like it had been dropped in from another planet called Earth Terminal, which was just outside an Air Force base. We did 6 tracks there, 2 of which became bonus tracks. When we came to do the second one Pete had created his own studio on a farm in the middle of nowhere. We did the other 7 there. Pete's a blast to work with. Outside of being a twisted audio genius he has an awesome Alsatian who follows him everywhere, and he cooks up a mean vegan pancake.
WMB: If you could go on a dream tour or festival, who would be playing with you?
MS: Y'know, that's a funny one. My favourite groups are bands like Brand New, Taking Back Sunday and The National, and it'd be great to go out with any or all of them. But on the flip side of that, at a show like Brand New there's a very clearly defined 'main event' and most people are in the bar for the support, so I guess that may be the equivalent of wasting a wish from the genie. Let's put those three bands into a festival with us... a one-stage festival somewhere where the weather is going to be pretty great but not sweltering... maybe somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Let's say Seattle. Add Manchester Orchestra, Copeland, Hrvrd, Rilo Kiley, Death Cab For Cutie and Jimmy Eat World to the lineup. I'm currently addicted to a podcast called Roderick On The Line, so whilst the bands are changing over I'm inclined to take the hosts, Merlin Mann and John Roderick, and sit them on stage to have a conversation for 20 minutes at a time. That'd be much better than a compere. Oh, and instead of corporate sponsorship meaning you get a stage named after your brand, it subsidizes the food trucks for everyone in attendance. Free tacos for all.
So if Matt ever gets this amazing line up and festival put together - I'm there haha ;) If you are digging The Cape Race as much as I am, please follow them on twitter, like them on Facebook, buy their album and more importantly, tell a friend.
I am super excited to follow this band and see where Home, Truths takes them. With recent successes of the1975 and other popular UK imports, I have no reason to believe that TCR can't garner that same popularity over here in the US.
TCR is made up of David Moloney (vocals), Matt Sayward (guitar), Adam Lewis (bass, vocals), Scott Perkins (guitar), Jonny Davys (drums).
Matt was super cool to answer some questions for me and I am happy to post them here. I am going to post one of my favorite tracks from Home, Truths but you can stream the entire album on Spotify - it's sooo great!
WMB: You guys have been recording some quality tunes ever since the beginning (2009). With everyone coming from different bands, do you think that previous experience made it easier to have a solid creative vision for TCR?
MS: Yeah I think so; having that experience of playing in different bands and with a multitude of different people really helps you discover what you can bring to the table in a creative sense. Directly before The Cape Race, 4 out of the 5 of us were in the same band together for a few years (albeit in a different genre), and there's definitely an intuition you build up after playing music with the same guys for an extended period of time; and that's a real advantage both in the studio and on stage - that kind of unspoken communication that keeps everyone on the same page for where to take a song when you're writing it, or to play the bridge for double the length of time live to create a bit of suspense when you can sense the audience getting into it. God knows if it's body language, something in the playing style, a tic of some sort or genuine telepathy, but it's definitely there!
WMB: Now that you guys have a proper album release with Home, Truths - what else is in store for TCR in the coming year?
MS: We really just want as many people to hear it as possible, honestly. We'll be shooting some music videos, probably do a little run of dates in the UK before we see 2014 out. We sat on the record for a bit before it came out, and when you have something you want to get out but the timing isn't right and it's only a small set of people who've heard it, you start having all kinds of doubts over the quality of the songs, wanting to go back to the studio and revisit... it's really easy to take a perfectionists approach with something like releasing a record and having a load of ducks lined up in a row but you can't be too precious about it. A friend of mine is an app developer who gets the same when they're releasing the 1.0 version of something new but it doesn't have all the features they want yet... theoretically you can keep polishing till the end of time. To quote him: "Ship or get off the pot". So we shipped, and we've been really pleased with the result. It's still the first week and we don't have sales figures or anything yet, but it went into the Top 30 iTunes Alt chart, and I didn't expect anything even close to that so that was really great to see.
WMB: Just by listening to your songs I have a feeling you put on a pretty great live set. Since I am thousands of miles away in Texas, how would you describe your live show? (I can only hope one year you guys will make it over to SXSW).
MS: I hope we make it over to Austin soon! I haven't been over in a little while; my last SXSW was 2010. Our live show is pretty in your face; David, our singer, tends to treat the stage like hot lava and spends a pretty decent chunk of time getting in amongst it with the crowd. I hope we make it over there soon to hang out.
WMB: The sound/production quality on the album is really great - did you guys work with a producer on the album?
MS: Yeah, we recorded the record with a guy from Devon called Peter Miles. He's worked on some of our favourite records sonically so it was great when he wanted to work with us. We recorded the album in two fairly long sessions over the course of two years. The first session was in a 300 year-old converted hop kiln which looked like it had been dropped in from another planet called Earth Terminal, which was just outside an Air Force base. We did 6 tracks there, 2 of which became bonus tracks. When we came to do the second one Pete had created his own studio on a farm in the middle of nowhere. We did the other 7 there. Pete's a blast to work with. Outside of being a twisted audio genius he has an awesome Alsatian who follows him everywhere, and he cooks up a mean vegan pancake.
WMB: If you could go on a dream tour or festival, who would be playing with you?
MS: Y'know, that's a funny one. My favourite groups are bands like Brand New, Taking Back Sunday and The National, and it'd be great to go out with any or all of them. But on the flip side of that, at a show like Brand New there's a very clearly defined 'main event' and most people are in the bar for the support, so I guess that may be the equivalent of wasting a wish from the genie. Let's put those three bands into a festival with us... a one-stage festival somewhere where the weather is going to be pretty great but not sweltering... maybe somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Let's say Seattle. Add Manchester Orchestra, Copeland, Hrvrd, Rilo Kiley, Death Cab For Cutie and Jimmy Eat World to the lineup. I'm currently addicted to a podcast called Roderick On The Line, so whilst the bands are changing over I'm inclined to take the hosts, Merlin Mann and John Roderick, and sit them on stage to have a conversation for 20 minutes at a time. That'd be much better than a compere. Oh, and instead of corporate sponsorship meaning you get a stage named after your brand, it subsidizes the food trucks for everyone in attendance. Free tacos for all.
So if Matt ever gets this amazing line up and festival put together - I'm there haha ;) If you are digging The Cape Race as much as I am, please follow them on twitter, like them on Facebook, buy their album and more importantly, tell a friend.
You can connect with The Cape Race here:
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