Cloud Control

Mon 19th Sep, 2011 in Features

When we last left ex-Blue Mountains quartet Cloud Control, they were on the cusp of releasing their debut album, Bliss Release, and about to kick off on one of their biggest homeland tours.

What a difference a year and a bit makes.

Cloud Control have now stratospherically risen to become one of this country’s most decorated young bands, supporting the likes of Deerhunter, Arcade Fire and the Foo Fighters while still calling Australia home. That being said, they’ve also permanently moved to the more privileged hemisphere in search of fame and fortune. Before they head back to our shores for Mission To Launch Festival and Pyramid Rock this New Year’s Eve, FasterLouder caught up with bassist Jeremy Kelshaw in the middle of their grand European escapade.

“We’re at some random service station and I’m trying to avoid stepping in mud…the service stations are normally amazing in Europe, this one is really average” Kelshaw replies when I inquire just where the band are at this moment, and then goes on to give me a detailed description of Europe’s coin-operated fast food known as the FEBO. As enthusiastic as he is about the matter, FEBO wasn’t the band’s main reason for relocating to the UK. “It’s so much easier to come out and do tours, we did all the summer festivals and we’re really fortunate with the record label in the UK who brought us out…and you really just can’t do that from Australia, when you’ve got to commit to one big tour as opposed to lots of little stuff that comes up.” Relishing their access to European punters, Cloud Control are able to do “gigs that come up at the last minute that are really important to do, and you can do them because you’re right there in London with so many more opportunities.”

But should their Australasian fans feel hard done by? “I don’t think so, there’s only so many times you can tour an album before people want new stuff. We’ve toured Australia for five years and it’ll be good to come back with some new stuff and be able to play new songs…if we started doing more headline shows it’d just be too much.” Fans shouldn’t be disappointed though, with Cloud Control eager to return to our shores for some short stints before homesickness sets in, “We’ll play some festivals but we won’t play any headline shows until we’ve got a new album ready to go”.

In general, they’re loving every aspect of European life. “All over Europe it is just really a different kind of live music philosophy, they just put it on for you so much more. Every venue has a wicked crew, there’s heaps of people to help out and then everybody sits down and has dinner together. The band and the crew, it’s really funny how they’re just honoured. It’s definitely the food thing, their love of food translates to how well they run a gig – which always involves food at some stage and is just really cool. Nowhere else is like that except in Europe. The rumours about how awesome Europe is? They’re all true”.

Despite this, cabin fever can get the best of bands on the road, so Cloud Control had the noble idea to issue an open Words With Friends challenge to all their fans. It quickly escalated out of hand though with Kelshaw saying that “all of us got filled up with all these games, and it just got so hectic…we really didn’t anticipate how hectic it would be. I would finish all my games up and have to politely decline everybody rematches. It was too hectic, it was too much.”