With the release of their second album, Cave Rave, Crystal Fighters has set out on an extensive international tour that will go through the end of November, stopping in at venues across Europe, the US, Canada, and more. Their bouncy jumble of folk, electronic, and dance music has gained much traction in alternative music scenes in both the States and the UK, and their infectious energy is sure to get crowds up and moving throughout their summer shows.
Recently, I got to speak with lead singer and guitarist Sebastian Pringle over the phone, and he was able to provide some insights about life on the road, their upcoming tour, and CF’s songwriting process and transformation with regards to their newest album.
What’s the current music scene like in London? How much has it changed since the release of your first album in 2010?
Yeah, the music scene in London is great. It’s got an amazing history, of course. And, you know, when we were first doing our album, the whole night life situation in the capital was definitely really important to us. We were going out and doing a lot electro and techno and even dubstep back in, what was it, around 2007? It was still popping off, and it was really inspirational for us. It was definitely the first time in a long time where there were so many different genres, you know, active at one time, all being hot in their own right. That was all really exciting, and we could go and see many different things. I think that’s still the case, and maybe even more so these days, that there’s every different type of music you can imagine going on pretty much every night of the week. I suppose taste amongst us and amongst the people has gotten a bit more sophisticated over time, and genres are becoming even more subdivided, which makes for really interesting stuff. But we as a band are increasingly interested in world music nights as much as we are into whatever techno thing or label evening is going on. So, yeah, it’s definitely advanced a little bit, and maybe there’s less of those big headbanger raves going. But things are definitely still alive and well in London.
There was almost two years between your UK release and your US release. How did Crystal Fighters evolve during that time?
Well, when we first released the record, we just got a drummer involved in our live gig, and I think we just got Ellie, our female singer, involved, and, you know, it was the very beginning of our sort of live experience, as it were, that we began building on from that point. As a live band, we were still improving all of the time and discovering, I suppose, new ways to play the songs. That became sort of part of our way of looking at music, live music, you know, cause as I was saying with the night life thing, we got really used to seeing great DJs playing amazing sets, with a sort of journey like nature to them. But at the same time, watching them was kind of boring in some ways, apart from all of the lights and stuff. But, then, you go and see a band, and they look great on stage, but everyone is kind of standing still and there’s not much coherence between the songs, so that’s funny. In our live set, we wanted to definitely bring that kind of feeling of being on a journey, on like a path towards some higher place, which is something, I suppose, we learned to do a little bit in the time between the English release and the US release. So that kept us busy, as well as touring.
You have toured extensively worldwide. What have been some of the most memorable shows or festivals on the road? How have audiences differed from country to country?
It’s amazing these days to see how many festivals there are, around Europe particularly, and to see the different local crowds. In Germany there’s big metal concerts for some reason we get to play at. And then in Poland there’s massive brand sponsored events with every huge band you can think of. And playing in massive big tops you don’t really see anywhere else. It does definitely differ. Glastonbury, obviously, has got an amazing sort of sense of history and spirituality about it. For some reason, the place it is on the landscape, and the way the sun sets on the main stage is quite incredible. Yeah, that’s probably the festival to begin and end all festivals, for sure. But every show has its memorable thing about it. A small crowd can be just as intense as a massive one. It just depends on how the vibe is in the room.
Are there any destinations, either new or familiar, in your upcoming tour that you are most looking forward to?
We’re heading to Warsaw to play, in Poland – I keep mentioning Poland for some reason. But I don’t think we’ve played in the capital there, though it’s part of the European tour right now. And we’ll love playing in Berlin. And then we’ve got an awesome US tour coming up. Quite a few cities we haven’t played, like Salt Lake City, so that should be fun. So come out and find us in the next couples of weeks, or next month, or whenever we head out.
Props and theatrics have been a large part of your live show. Are these elements still a priority in your upcoming tour?
Definitely, yeah. We try and create a scene of sorts on stage, kind of like you would probably have seen in cave 10,000 years ago. Bits of animal hide, and fabrics, maybe crude fabrics, and bits of wood to beat upon and make rhythms with, as well as all of the modern synths and that sort of stuff. Our band kind of comes from that mixture of two: old and new, and crude and very advanced. We try to have all of those things involved, and they help us to get in the mindset of taking the audience on this journey through time and hopefully into the future in a pleasant state of mind.
CF has an intricate backstory and origin, one that I have noticed is mentioned in a number of reviews of your first album, Star of Love. How, if at all, do you think this frames the way in which fans and critics receive your music?
We hope that in a hundred years’ time or so, if someone comes across the CD or vinyl or whatever they will use in the future, that they will still be able to understand the music and appreciate it on its own terms. I think it does help, in some ways, to know how the music came to be and how the band came together, cause it sort of makes you understand better why we have all of these strange genres together, but I don’t think it’s essential. I don’t know, the reviewers just came to like writing about that, I suppose.
What do you want people to walk away with after listening to a CF album?
Hopefully, they’ve had an enjoyable and uplifting time. I think there’s a lot of beautiful, relaxing music out there. Maybe ours isn’t that necessarily, but yeah, we want to excite and possibly make you consider things a little more. I’m not sure. Hopefully positive feelings when you finish the record.
When did CF begin working on Cave Rave, and how did the songwriting and recording process differ from your first album? Do you write music while on tour?
It began in late 2011 just before Christmas. We went out to the Basque Country to write and revisit our spiritual home and see if our passion for the place still existed. Yeah, it differed quite a lot cause this time we decided to write songs purely on guitar and vocals and worry about all the beats and stuff later once we had the song we were happy with. Just to make things more clear in our minds. Whereas last time we messed around with computers and beats a lot in the early stages. So it was quite different in that regard. And for sure we write while on tour. When you finish an album or something like that, your perspective has already change quite a bit from when you first wrote the songs, and ideas are coming all the time, whether it’s something you overhear from people playing on tour or conversations or jokes you have with your friends or bandmates, everything definitely contributes to the songs.
Cave Rave feels like a departure, in some ways, from the electronic layering and tones of Star of Love. It is equally as lush and compelling as your first release, but it feels noticeably stripped down, simpler. Was there an intention to see how CF could deviate from their previous sound in their sophomore efforts, or did these sonic changes occur naturally?
I think just because we started with the simpler ideas, you know, musically, and clarity is definitely a thing that we wanted to have on this record, so it seemed like at the time the record didn’t need to have necessarily a bunch of stuff and tricks like we wanted to in the last one. But it was just a kind of natural process of working with the producer, Justin Johnson, and just recording stuff well and the details, the essentials, so the song has a chance to breathe on its own. Yeah, that’s what happened.
Do you anticipate releasing another remix CD? What future endeavors are in store for CF after Cave Rave?
I don’t know whether we are doing a full remix CD, but we are certainly, definitely getting a lot of good and interesting remixes through the door at the moment and it would be a shame not to compile them when they’re all done, cause there are some really great ones and I think people enjoy hearing it in that format. But yeah we will. On the horizon is a long sort of tour which we have coming up all over the world and we hope to start writing on our new record as soon as we can, and ideas for that are already sort of gradually coming out, and it’s going to be probably as different like this one was from the last one, so we can’t wait.
Article by Justin Davis
Photos provided by Atlantic Records
