Band of brothers The Cribs are undoubtedly one of Britain’s finest exports at the moment. The band have experienced a steady rise since their self-titled debut album, and things finally came to a head when legendary Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr joined the band in 2008.
New album Ignore the Ignorant sounds distinctly of Marr, and he says it’s the best work he’s done in 25 years. I talk to The Cribs’ drummer Ross Jarman about Marr’s influence, coming to Australia, and which legendary guitarist they’re going to recruit next.
It took about ten minutes of being on hold in order to finally reach Jarman, and I couldn’t help but be reminded of their previous ‘trip’ down under. Last time the band was headed to Australia, for 2009’s Falls Festival, they pulled out and stated that they needed time to work on the new album. Jarman denies any wrongdoing.
“It wasn’t our fault, man!” he insists. “It was a label problem. We all wanted to come down but we had all these difficulties with the label, and for some reason we ended up taking the blame for it. It was a case of, – œOh, better not bad-name the label’, you know? It ended up being us saying we didn’t want to come down, when obviously we did, and it wasn’t out fault. It’s bullshit label politics.
So, no chance of bailing on us again? “Fuck no,” Jarman proclaims, “we’ve got a new label now.” Forgiven…this time.
Having one of the greatest guitarists of all time in your band has got to be at least slightly intimidating, but apparently not so. “Gary met Johnny at one of Modest Mouse’s house at a barbeque, and it was like the two British guys in America, and they started talking. You don’t get many people from the North of England in Portland. They became friends just through talking about music and British stuff.”
Johnny joined in late 2008, and despite the age gap (about 20 years), it’s been nothing but smooth sailing. “Everything seemed to fall into place. We started jamming and becoming friends really naturally. Johnny lives about an hour up the road from us. It was like being in a band back at school – you start off being friends and then make music from there. The first song we ever wrote together was We Were Aborted, which ended up becoming the opening track of the album.”
Jarman also confirms another album is on the way. However, he won’t reveal much about it, apart from the fact that it’s going to “feature Johnny” and will be “a step up from the last one, as each of our albums are.”
UK indie rock bands are a dime a dozen (just ask guitarist/vocalist Ryan Jarman about the Pigeon Detectives, who he calls the – œShit Detectives’), so why The Cribs had such longevity?
“We’ve just been around longer,” the drummer says. “We’ve never been flavour of the month; we just make records. The bubble kind of burst in the UK, there was a lot of rubbish bands out there, and it ended up spoiling things for a few other bands. We were around before them, you know, and that pissed us off. Hopefully people can wade through the shit and get to us.”
The Cribs are quite unique, as they feature twins Ryan and Gary Jarman sharing vocal and lead guitar duties, along with brother Ross on the drums. Family bands are a risky business for anyone – Noel and Liam Gallagher are perhaps the most infamous example, but other bands like The Kinks and The Black Crowes have proven that getting along is hard to do when touring in a band. The Cribs are an exception.
“We get along surprisingly well for brothers. I think we just have enough experience arguing with each other that we know which buttons to avoid pushing and what our boundaries are. Our Dad’s tone deaf, but our Mum used to be in bands when she was younger. She used to put on the Beatles and I’d just assume they were nursery rhymes. It’s funny; we’re all brothers – except for Johnny, of course – but he’s just like one of us. We’re at the stage now where we’re all best friends. I’m enjoying it.”
I ask which legendary guitarist they’ll recruit next – perhaps Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin? Ross laughs. “No, I think Johnny will do us, really. When we started touring we’d always have this picture of Johnny up in our tour bus, and he was our number one guy who we’d ever want in our band. We never thought about it realistically, it was something you’d dream of, you know? Now we’ve got him, I think that’ll do, really.”
The Cribs headline Playground Weekender at Wiseman’s Ferry this month, with four headline shows around the country.
Saturday 13 February – Rosemount Hotel, Perth
Tuesday 16 February – The Zoo, Brisbane
Wednesday 17 February – Billboard, Melbourne
Friday 19 February – Manning Bar, Sydney
Saturday 20 February – Playground Weekender, Del Rio Resort
to listen to their music now on 