The Clamour - the interview
The Clamour are at the centre of the modernist beat revolution in southern California. With a clutch of tight, blues influenced tunes, they are leading the field of the hip young movers and shakers. What seems certain is that, with the quality of recordings made already, the world is destined to hear more of the band. You can hear them now at www.myspace.com/theclamour
Rob Massey caught up with them and asked a few questions.
For our British audience, who’s who in The Clamour?
There consists of Chris on guitar, Michael on vocals, Ryan on bass guitar, Collin on guitar, and Jon on drums.
How long have you been together?
The band has been together for roughly a good year .
Whereabouts in California are the band based? Is that where you all hail from?
We are all based out of Orange County California. All of us hail from Southern California except Chris which is from Utah.
Who are you particularly influenced by?
We are influenced by a medley of different things but I believe that most of us are influenced by all of that great British take on blues. You know, the 60's Rolling Stones, the early Who, The Kinks, The Animals, John's Children, The Yardbirds, etc.....
Sum up the Clamour sound in a nutshell!!
Well its definitely 60's influenced rhythm and blues/ rock with what we believe is a new take on music, post-the punk rock era and living in this weird music scene.
You seem to have played extensively live. Which gigs have a special place in Clamour history?
The gigs that I think hold the greatest place in Clamour history would have to be probably playing at crazy parties or massive gigs where our equipment ends up getting destroyed... Theres too many to name.. haha
Your sound and image have a pretty strong 60s - and particular mod - feel. Is that how you see the band?
Yes of course. That was the main goal of this band from day one..Except this time we wanted to go about it a different way and have a different take on 60's music. Punk or mod revival was just one take on all those great 60's grooves.. I thinkwe tried to start from square one though...
Which of the crop of new bands out do you particularly rate?
Out of the new bands that are out and about, I've been listening to the Redwalls and The Blue Van lately. Recent great releases include that Weller album and the Oasis album.
Is there anyone who you would like to support, or you would like to support you?
We want to support anyone that prides themselves upon making jivin records and playing great live shows. We hope everyone that likes good music will support us and we especially know that Europeans know where its at.
Tell me about your plans for the future. When can we expect the first Clamour release in the UK?
The plans of the future are really simple. We can definitely say we will record our full length and probably release it on some different labels depending on the country. Then we plan on waiting a few months until the record gets out and about to tour Europe and definitely make ourselves known. To do that, we are going to play as many free shows as humanly possible and watch everything fall into place..
As for the UK release, our first EP is already for sale on vinyl. Its just a matter of people asking for it at their local record store because as you all know, vinyl doesn't sell as well as it used to anymore. However, we do need European labels to put our full length CD once we finish it..