interviews

" We have always been compared to Belle and Sebastian, "

said Carey Lander, representing rest of Camera Obscura's member. This articles on my short conversation with her, about 8 months ago ...

Hi, carey, how are you? what are you guys doin' right now?
It’s Friday night. I’m staying in. I have interviews to do. In a few weeks we’re off to tour Spain.

How you guys met ?are you came from different bands?
The band has been going for quite a long time with various members. We met through being friends, Glasgow is a small place.

I see that folk has been a discourse in nowadays indiepop bands, what's your reason to pick folk music as you musical way? are there specifically folk bands, musicians that influenced you?
I don’t really see what we do as folk. There is a stong folk scene in Scotland but it’s quite different to what we do. I think we have an old fashioned pop aesthetic.

Many people in Indonesia compares you with Belle and Sebastian, for the songs and videoclip, that has storytelling sense. What do you see this?
We have always been compared to Belle and Sebastian, but so has practically every band that comes out of Glasgow. I think it’s true that we have a lot in common with them musically, we share similar influences but both bands have ambition and it isn’t to sound like each other. In terms of comparing our videos, that is likely to be our unpretentious attitude and, practically speaking, we have used the same local director Blair Young. He has worked with a lot of Scottish bands.

Are you guys have a side project outside Camera Obscura?
I don’t and Tracy doesn’t. She’s pretty busy being the song writer. The other members play with other bands occasionally but this band comes first.

Are you also good friends with Belle and Sebastian? i noticed that stuart also directed one of your video “Eighties Fan”? how close is your relationships?
Stuart helped us out with a few things on the first album and various members of Belle and Sebastian have leant a hand from time to time but we don’t need as much help as we used to. We don’t have that much to do with each other really.

Now about your album 'get out of this country' what's so special about this album rather than your previous album?
Well I guess that’s really up to the listener to decide. We feel it’s our best and most accomplished work and so we are proud of it.

Other previous album, you guys sounds acoustical and minimalist,and lovelorn but in 'get out, ..” there's much electric sounds, as far as i know, belle and sebastian has done this approce when they turning a bit to more rockin'. so are you also doing the same thing ?
I think it’s a natural progression for bands as they develop. Our sound changed with this album because we worked with a producer for the first time but it’s still us playing the same instruments.have been really lucky this year and we’ve visited lots of countries for the first time. I was quite excited by Germany. I’d love to go on holiday to Berlin sometimes

Speaking about the tour, i heard that you guys are going to visit australia, is there any plan to transit to Asia, especially Singapore or Indonesia, maybe? i also heard that “get out” also released by Fruits records, from Singapore ?
We’ll have to see. We are going straight to Australia from America so we’ll have to see whether we can make it to Asia too. We would love to play there but it will be a very long trip.

Have you travel to Asia before? how do you think about Asia?
I’ve never been anywhere in Asia. It would be quite an experience I’m sure. It would be pretty amazing because the cultures are so different in many ways even though we are linked through music

Are there Asian indiepop bands you know?
I’m afraid not. I am not all that knowledgeable about contemporary music

Are there some rituals or something before get on stage?
No exciting rituals, no. Just to all be backstage at the right time. It’s quite important to get a bit of quiet time before we go on so that we can concentrate. And a beer often helps

What usually you doing during the tour? sightseeing? shopping?
We get very little free time when we’re touring. It’s rare that we get time off for shopping or sightseeing. A five minute walk is a treat. It is frustrating to be traveling to so many interesting places and having no time to really see them but we feel very luck anyway.

Glasgow is the city that born many great bands and musicians, from Donovan, Orange Juice to Belle and Sebastian, how do you see yourself as being part of the scene?
We do understand the importance of the Glasgow music scene and it is nice to be a small part of it but we don’t really feel part of a scene in any meaningful way. Bands tend to feel quite isolated when they’re away recording and touring and we’re probably the least knowledgeable about what’s going on at home.

What's the indiepop scene in Glasgow? See, I don’t know.

Are there somekind of annual indiepop gig or something?
Not really. This year there was an outdoor music festival in Glasgow for the first time and we played at it with Yo La Tengo, Broken Social Scene, Tilly and the Wall and others so it was not really about the local scene.
What are other glasgowian bands you want to recommend?
The Hermit Crabs, My Latest Novel, Dot to Dot, Music and Movement.

Did you often play in big festival such as Glanstonbury?
No, we hadn’t played many UK festivals before this year. The line-ups for these festivals are usually very mainstream and concentrate on big commercial acts. We have played some interesting festivals in Europe this summer though.

As many indiepop bands going signed up with major labels from Primal Scream, Ivy to Persephonic Bees, how do you comments about this?
Going with major labels works for some bands but I’m not sure it’s for us.

What are you listening to recently?
Midlake, Jim Noir, Neko Case, El Perro Del Mar, Jens Lekman, The Guillemots, M. Ward…

What do you do beside in the band? are you guys working in a permanent jobs or something?
We’re not really working at the moment. We have been touring pretty solidly since the album came out in June.

Where do you often met each other now?
In the pub. We are Scottish after all.

What's your opinion about myspace? It is strange how these fads come and go but this seems a particularly big one. I think it is a good way to find new bands and listen to music, it’s so easy to peruse. We have been surprised by our popularity on myspace. It’s a nice easy way to communicate with fans and we run our page ourselves so it’s a personal link.

What's going on with you guys in next 5 years?
Who knows? Five years is a long time. We will be touring till the end of April next year, then we will start to think about the next album. After that, I don’t know.

ok.. last, what do you want to say to readers and indiepop fans, especially your fans in indonesia?
Hello and thanks for listening. I hope we can make it over to play for you sometime,

thanks a lot guys ...
Yeah, you too... takecare