NEWS
EVENTS
The Crookes Interview
Indie | Monday 15th October 2012 | Annalisa
Joe Longhurst caught up with the front man and bassist George Waite from Sheffield indie quartet the Crookes before they embark on their massive European tour.
Hey, how are you?
Alright mate, I’m good cheers.
So you’re about to embark on your European tour how are you feeling? Excited? Nervous?
Yeah, no, not nervous at all really just really looking forward to getting out there. We’re in the van at
the moment so all the sort of memories of being sat in a van for 12 hours have come flooding back
but we are just really raring to go since the festivals have stopped in about September, we’ve had this
date circled in the diary so just looking forward to it. No nerves, just excitement.
In the past you’ve told stories of sleeping in the back of vans and on people’s sofas? Are you
expecting a bit more luxury this time around?
I don’t think so, no, that’s always kind of on the cards. Matt, our tour manager has been explaining
some of the drives we’re doing there’s definitely going to be some times we are sleeping on the side
of the autobahns because you just can’t go any further. We’re doing some ridiculously long drives in
the middle of this European tour so luckily we’ve got kind of hostels and hotels a lot of the time, but
there might be a few Facebook pleas out to anyone with a spare sofa if we get caught short half way
and Matt can’t drive anymore.
So I know your first gig was in a friend’s living room in Sheffield, how does it feel to have
progressed so far?
Sometimes it’s a bit surreal really when you put it like that. I don’t think I have ever been more
nervous than when we did that show. It was about fifteen of our friends and since then we’ve played
lots of bigger shows obviously and I think that’s still the most nervous I’ve ever been for a Crookes
show. I mean if you had of told us then we’d be where we are now I definitely wouldn’t have believed
you. It’s pretty surreal but we’re extremely grateful for it all.
You recently tweeted the disastrous news that Aldi had recalled their stubbies. What will you
be taking as supplies on tour?
(laughter) What supplies have we got? Well luckily we’ve got quite a lot of beer left over from festival
riders so we’ve got a real mixed bag of stuff. We’ve got a black bin liner full of kind of odds and ends
of European larger and cider and bottles of whisky and stuff. We’ve got a black bin liner on the parcel
shelf which might get tucked into later tonight. Apart from that, as long as we have strange European
larger then we are happy. But it was a devastating thing for me for Aldi to recall their stubbies. That
was a blow for the Crookes.
Earlier on Facebook you asked for set list advice, do you think it is important to involve fans
in this way?
Oh yes, I mean as like part of the show we can kind of do our bit in rehearsals and play well but I
mean if the people that have paid to come see us aren’t into what we’re playing it kind of defeats
the object of driving all the way across Europe to go and play. It’s a big deal for us really to know
we’re engaging with the people who like our music. We’re not one of those self-indulgent bands
who have their heads down for the whole show and try to pretend they’re the only ones in the room.
It’s a massive part of our show to engage with the crowd and get people moving and singing along.
So if we can, we play the songs that they want to hear. Luckily we’ve got quite a lot of songs now.
Unfortunately there will be people a bit gutted every night that we don’t play their favourite song but as
far as possible we will try and play the songs that people want to hear.
That’s unavoidable though I guess the more successful you become?
Well yeah, we work quite quickly as well even though we’re still quite a young band. We’ve got pretty
much 2 albums and a 7 song EP and no one wants to hear us play all of those songs in one show, I’m
pretty sure of that. I don’t think physically we could do it so you’re always going to disappoint some
people but we’re playing hour long sets in Europe and the UK tour so we will be able to get quite a lot
of songs in there, so hopefully there won’t be too many unhappy people.
Where’s your favourite place to play?
Oh Ummm I don’t know if we’ve even got one. There’s not really one place where I can go and
separate. I mean the ironic thing is the best gig we’ve ever done was probably in Slovenia and we’re
not going back there this time which is pretty gutting.
How come?
I don’t know. We enjoyed it, maybe the Slovenian people didn’t. They haven’t invited us back. I think
we went overboard in the club afterwards as well because we were in high spirits maybe we drank
too much of their bar. We’re not going back there but to be honest any kind of show can surprise you.
We’ve been burned too many times to go anywhere to think this night is guaranteed to be amazing
because it will always fall back in and just end up being crap. On the other hand you can play places
and think this is always shit and you’ll go there and it’ll surprise you, it’s kind of a lottery, which can be
frightening at times but it’s a good way of doing it. It keeps you on your toes.
I know you said singing the stories that Daniel writes as lyrics makes you feel like an actor, do
you get that feeling even more so when on stage?
Yeah, I suppose so. I suppose it’s a bit easier for me because they’re not like my lyrics. It kind of
takes away that element of singing things that are personal necessarily to me so I can kind of put on
a bit of a front. It’s a bit like reading lines. It’s not like I’m revealing anything about myself so I’ve got
it quite easy in that sense but then obviously there’s a certain responsibility to Daniel to do his lyrics
justice. So yeah I guess in some ways it’s a bit like playing a part and I think whenever you step on
stage you always have to take on a different sort of persona. It’s not like we’re all walking around the
streets nodding our heads around and dancing about all the time. We’re not exactly like that when
we’re offstage. Obviously there’s something about going onstage in front of people that turns you into
a more extreme version of yourself though I suppose it’s always like playing a part when you’re on
stage. I think we all do it a bit.
What’s your best story from the road?
Umm let me think. Well it didn’t happen to me but our sound engineer Olli. This was in Slovenia last
time. We were all booked into hostel rooms and we checked in at the hostel, set everything down
then we went to play the show and the show went really well. We got back at about 3 in the morning
and Olli went into his room and I think he was a bit pissed so he just like fell into bed without turning
the lights on and fell on top of a homeless Slovenian man who had just wondered into the hostel and
tried all of the doors and Olli has forgotten to closed the door properly. So he basically jumped into
bed with this stinking homeless Slovenian bloke and had to wrestle him out of his room at like 4 in the
morning under the influence of quite a lot of Slovenian lager. I’m quite glad that one didn’t happen to
me but that’s the first one that popped into my head. There’s a few more but that one was quite funny,
we laughed about that one.
Did he manage to get him out then?
Yeah he got him out. I know I wouldn’t have liked it to be me but he said he went into automatic
survival mode and wrestled him out the bed, shoved him out the door and just locked him outside. I
don’t know what happened to him; I felt a bit sorry for him really it was freezing outside.
I know Richard Hawley’s your hero from Sheffield and you state him as an influence but what
about his music influences you?
His music. I don’t know really. I think it’s just the echoes of that sort of song Scott Walker really that
kind of thing that we’ve always been into and for him to have the bravery to stick to his guns and
continue with that even though it’s not a widely fashionable type of music is something that’s always
stuck with us as well. The way he can write songs. I don’t know, it’s difficult to put it into words to be
honest. Like you say, he’s sort of the godfather of the Sheffield music scene and we have the good
fortune of playing with him in Amsterdam tomorrow night so we will have to be on top form for that
one if he’s waiting in the wings.
So you named yourself after a suburb from Sheffield and Sheffield has created quite a music
scene over recent years and I know you took your new guitarist from another Sheffield band;
from your experience what do you think it is about the place that creates so many talented
musicians and bands?
I don’t know really. Everyone who comes there or is from there has this sort of work ethic embedded
into them. None of us are from there but it kind of rubs off on you a bit and there’s a sense unlike a lot
of cities in England. With the creative people in Sheffield it’s never art for art’s sake, you never look
at someone from Sheffield’s art work and say well what is this supposed to mean? There’s always
a purpose, it always has some meaning behind it and I think that comes from the industrious past of
the city. The first piece of advice Richard Hawley ever gave us was never stop writing songs and it is
something we’ve taken on board. I think you can see from the output of Sheffield bands like the Arctic
Monkeys that they never stop working and it’s a lesson we’ve tried to learn, never stop writing songs,
never stop playing shows and the hard work will pay off. When you can see the fruits of the Arctic
Monkeys and Richard Hawley’s labour, Slow Cloth as well it’s the main lesson we tried to learn and
it’s something quite unique to Sheffield the work ethic.
So I know you all met at your student union in University, what made you decide to write
music together?
Well initially because Alex (who’s left now) and Dan started a band just to get with the girls. That was
genuinely the one thought behind starting the Crookes. There was a club night at the Students Union
called Fuzz Club and we all used to go there independently. I didn’t know them that well and one night
they just came up to me and said we’re starting a band we haven’t got any songs and we haven’t
really got any intention of writing any proper songs but do you want to join us so we can go round
Fuzz Club telling girls we’re a band. So that’s kind of how it started, so after a while we told all these
girls were in a band we thought we should probably come up with some sort of proof. I mean it took a
while because Daniel had never played guitar before and I’d never played bass or sung before so it
took a while to get some songs together and then once we started writing and playing we just thought
it hasn’t really worked out with the girls, they don’t seem that impressed, so we may as well carry on
now we’ve started and write some songs and here we are. That’s the germ of it really.
So you’ve made a career out of a chat up line really?
Yeah it’s pretty elaborate. It’s the world’s longest chat up line definitely. It’s about 6 years now and it’s
still not a very good one. We must be going wrong somewhere but basically the Crookes are one big
chat up line.
I think that should be the next album.
(laughter) Well yeah, we need all the ideas we can get for it so yeah it’s in the running.
So talking of albums you recently released your new album ‘Hold Fast’ what’s your favourite
song off the new album and why?
Umm well I think it’s changed since it’s been released. I think we all really enjoy playing Sal Paradise
at the moment because, I don’t know why really. A lot of our songs are really, really energetic and
when played live are pretty loud and intense and there’s no meat on the bones so it’s quite nice to
play Sal Paradise, even if it’s just for a breather. So I don’t know whether it’s just because it allows me
to catch my breath half way through the set. It just feels like a bit of an antidote to the brasher songs.
Just from the really early stages of trying to write songs for the third album it looks more like we’re
heading in that kind of direction, more songs like Sal Paradise, but it’s at early stages.
So, you think that’s the way you’ll go?
At the moment the first few songs we’ve written are more in that vein but yeah you can never tell.
If you could fill a swimming pool with anything what would it be?
Oh goodness me. I’ll ask Tom, he’s just coming back (muffled conversation). Tom says plectrums. But
they’re sharp though, what if you dived into them? (laughter) Tom says plectrums. We’ll go with that.
We’re always losing them so it’s quite a good idea that one.
Finally, if you were invisible for the day what would you do?
I’d go into the Leeds United changing room and see what Neil Warnock is like at half time. I’m a
Leeds fan.
Cheers for that mate. Enjoy the tour.
Thanks. No worries.
