(((o))): So, first and foremost, who are Cleft and what are your musical backgrounds?
Cleft are Dan on Guitar and bendy legs, and John on Drums and flailing.
John: We’ve both been playing in bands for years, I think this is band number 37 for me which makes me look like I have ADHD. I started learning keys a long time ago, but found drums at the age of 14 and decided that being noisy was lots more fun than playing a bossanova consistently at 92bpm.
Dan: I first started playing guitar obsessively when I was about 14 too. I used to sit and learn whole albums by bands I was a huge fan of at the time like Deftones, RATM and Tool – driving my parents mental with my little 10w practice amp cranked up, windmilling my hair around my bedroom. God I was cool! I was initially a bass player in my first band which probably explains my love for massive sub octave laden riffs.
(((o))): How did the band come together?
John: We moved to Manchester at exactly the same time, and ended up finding each other on the internet, but without the romance (well, maybe a little) and awkward dating.
(((o))): Please describe your sound in poetic form. (Haiku, rhyming couplets, acrostic, etc - take your pick)
Dan:
There once was a band called Clef(t)
Who tried to make people deaf
The guitars went SHOOOOWWWAAAAANNNG!
And the drums went BAAAANNGGG BAAAANNGGG!
That ludicrous duo called Cleft
(((o))): How has your local scene impacted you as a band?
John: Because the amount of bands playing the math/progressive circuit is quite low compared to mainstream rock for example, we've got to know a lot of them on our travels which is really nice. I've found that there's a great community feeling as a result, and bands will do a lot to help each other out. We've been bringing bands to Manchester for our own gigs recently, to try and help buoy the scene for those that are interested in this kind of music. I've started running my own nights in Manchester under The Drum Tamer (www.facebook.com/drumtamer) banner with the aim of creating high-quality gigs at good venues that people want to come to.
Dan: Yeh, oddly enough the best gigs we've played have been out of town (we recently did a Scottish tour with Vasquez and Alpha Male Tea Party which was easily my best gigging experience to date). Manchester has a really thriving indie scene (perhaps due to the city's musical heritage), but there doesn't seem to be that many people into the instrumental, proggy, mathy guff that we make. We have chummed up with a few local bands that are making music in a similar vein to us like Trojan Horse and Halfling's leaf who are both awesome and good chums of ours.
(((o))): You've had a couple of EPs out so far. What can you tell us about them?
Dan: Well, our first EP was ‘Utter’ which we released digitally for free in April last year. We were only just starting to work out what we were trying to do as a band when making this as we'd only been playing a few months before hand. Like all of our material, we recorded it ourselves in our rehearsal room.
Our second EP is ‘Whale Bone’ which we released for free download and super cheap on CD (with ludicrous artwork by my girlfriend Jessica based on a Stewart Lee reference). We both feel this EP is far stronger than the previous, mainly as we had played a lot more gigs between the two recordings so we were a lot tighter and road hardened. As we track everything live (with a few overdubs in post production) the recordings really are reflections of what we sounded like at the time, which is something I have always liked about listening to classic recordings of the 50s and 60s, they are sonic snapshots of us two sweaty idiots making a right racket above a garage in south Manchester.
(((o))): As just a two-piece do you feel like it’s an extra challenge to create the epic sounds you do or does it just come naturally?
John: You do feel the need to fill the space a bit more without extra members, but at the same time we try to avoid over-playing stuff. Being a two piece gives you more freedom to think about how you approach songs, and it's also a lot easier to learn our stupid tunes when there’s only two of you.
Dan: For me as a guitar player, I have had to approach my instrument in a fairly unusual way to try to keep the overall sound we produce not sound too thin like something is missing, but also varied enough tonally so that after listening to just drums and guitar for half an hour the listener isn't bored witless. John is really REALLY good at filling all the little gaps with little tricky fills and his array of cymbals. We have loads of fun experimenting with different sounds. Our main aim is to entertain ourselves really, it's all highly self-indulgent!
(((o))): What do you think is the most difficult challenge facing new bands starting out in the music industry today?
John: Not getting bogged down in thinking they have to appeal to massive audiences all the time. It's music, it's meant to be enjoyable and not a chore. Write stuff that you like and have a shit-ton of fun doing it, and there's likely to be a few others out that share your brain juices.
Dan: Yeah exactly, the budding musicians that seem to be the most stressed out or dejected by what remains of the music industry seem to be obsessed with success. The concept of “making it” is really an outdated idea. Very few of the general music consuming public pay for music anymore, therefore there is very little money for artist development from labels and/or publishers. I think if you are breaking even as working musician (i.e. the money you spend on gigging and recording etc is eventually coming back to you), you have “made it” already! Music is awesome; it should be the most fun ever. So there.
(((o))): Every band has different aims. What would have to happen for Cleft to make you feel that you’d “made it”, so to speak?
John: Already there in my book. We're playing gigs that we love, making music that we love and have met so many nice people over the last year or so. We're always trying to move things on though, so playing more supports with bands that we want to see and releasing new music in interesting ways is something we're always looking forward to.
Dan: Oh, I've already answered this one! What John said! We'd love to get over to Europe and tour places where people can't understand a word we're saying but still allow us to flail about and deafen them.
(((o))): You’re given the opportunity to create your own All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival. What would be the first five bands on your list?
John: Tough choice as there's loads I'd pick. Off the top of my head today I'd go with Vasco Da Gama, BATS, Vasquez, Mutemath & Laura Marling.
Dan: That is TOUGH. As this is a fantasy, alternative universe type situation mine would be: Nick Drake, Miles Davis, Slayer, Pantera and Deftones (with Chi Cheng). Although choosing an entirely dead line up does seem quite morbid now I think about it.
(((o))): We’re looking forward to seeing you at ArcTanGent Festival in August. Who else on the bill should we check out?
John: My top five are Fat Goth, Axes, The Physics House Band, Future of the Left and You Slut!
Dan: I can't bloody wait for this!! My most excitable moments will be watching Three Trapped Tigers, That Fucking Tank, Future of the Left, Zun Zun Egui, and And So I Watch You From Afar. That being said, I am a fan of more or less every band on the line up. I am beside myself about this festival, it is such a privilege to be playing it.
(((o))): What are the band’s plans for the near future?
John: Finish recording this album we’ve got simmering away and then release that little blighter. We keep being asked to do gigs though, so we really need to knuckle down soon.
Dan: Yeh the album is definitely our main priority at the moment. It is probably about 80% written. We are of course super excited to be playing ArcTanGent festival in Bristol in August and Carefully Planned festival in Manchester in October.
(((o))): Thanks!
No, thank you. Big sloppy love to Echoes & Dust.
