Stereoboard Speaks To Get Cape Wear Cape Fly Frontman Sam Duckworth (Interview)
Monday, 01 August 2011
Written by James Ball
Stereoboard catch up with Get Cape Wear Cape Fly frontman, Sam Duckworth, just a couple of hours before he’s due to take the stage for one of only a handful of solo gigs announced in support of his debut solo LP, 'The Mannequin'. He approaches, eager to chat about the new record, amongst a number of other topics our interviewer decides to throw at him. This is what transpired:
So what was it that inspired you to make the decision to go solo for a bit for the writing of this album, without the rest of Get Cape Wear Cape Fly?
The nature of the songs, really. I wrote these songs during touring the last Get Cape album and they were just a bit different. I guess I just wanted to tell stories in a slightly different way to how I used to do, and as a result everything just came out quickly and naturally. I really wanted Get Cape to be something that’s more upbeat, whereas this stuff is more laid back and quite mellow, but still a worthy record.
As it happens, I’ve actually been on the website (www.samduckworth.co.uk) and listened to the tracks '18 to 1', 'The Mannequin' and 'Nights'. I found the songs myself to be a bit more romantic than Get Cape material. Is that the kind of mood you were deliberately going for?
Pretty much, yeah. I got a lot of it from just travelling around. Just going around in a transit van, doing a lot of reading in that travel space, travelling down the motorway and staying in Travelodge’s. It’s a bit of an odd head space. You end up a bit percolated from your mind-set, really. Struggling with the late night long drives, and from that creative separation is where the mood for these songs came from.
What was it that inspired you to call the album 'The Mannequin'? There’s a song on the album with the same name so was it just named after that or was there a specific reason behind the name at all?
Well, the album being called The Mannequin all stems around the songs themselves, really. The Mannequin is really the song that wraps them all up. The vision I had was that when walking down the High Street, you see a modern day consumer quandary. It’s a bit of a synonymous relationship with packaging and consumption. But shop mannequins are just faceless and lifeless and without feeling, So, the idea of The Mannequins are a bit like angels of death in a way. It’s interesting though because the song itself is actually a bit tongue in cheek. Have what you want, be who you want to be and then we’ll work the rest out later, and that message weaves its way through the tracks on the album. We’re a by-product of modern buying and how it characterises us without even realising it.
So going deeper into the album. We’ve talked a little about 'The Mannequin' itself, but do you have a personal favourite from the record?
I think Jay (Malhotra, guitars & synths) and I both have the same favourite, which is Angels in the Snow. I think that’s track four (from nine) on the album? It’s based on a film I saw recently which is a pretty bleak biopic of what happened in Chernobyl in 1986. There were moments where people were talking about their skin falling off and other effects of the disaster. It wasn’t a documentary or a dramatization, but had loads of poetry and real life accounts, including about how a lot of the sediments and fallout all fell to the ground like snow, creating a beautiful Christmas-like landscape, while eroding everything around it. Using that as inspiration, it lyrically became one of our favourite songs.
Are you playing that one tonight?
Yes
(He did. It was the third song of the set, the review for which will also be featured on Stereoboard)
So with this gig tonight (at the Lexington), and the album coming out on August 29th, what other plans do you have for your solo stuff?
No idea man! I mean, I really want to play these songs, but I don’t know quite how to do this. I mean, with the Get Cape stuff, we’ve been together for years so it’s a bit easier but with this, we’ve done a few guinea pig shows where we’re still finding out the right way to tour this record, just to make sure we get it right. If this tonight goes really well though, hopefully there will be a tour between now and the end of the year.
(At this point I mentioned that I know from experience thorugh Sams Get Cape shows that he’s an excellent live act, and we went off on a long tangent about Truck Festival, a festival which with the rest of Get Cape Wear Cape Fly he headlined in 2008, returning as a guest of folk-punk pioneer Frank Turner in 2009. Sometimes when people speak to people who some could regard as a “celebrity” they forget they’re real people too and during this entirely off-topic exchange it was like chatting to an old friend. Sam is a very personable gentleman, but duty calls and I had to return to the interview.)
You’re widely regarded as one of Britain's greatest contemporary songwriters. The Get Cape stuff has always been held with a wide acclaim. Are there any pressures attached to that, a pressure to deliver every single time, or just roll with the punches and take it how it goes?
That was a really nice thing to hear, actually. I just really like writing songs and playing gigs.
Simple as that?
Yup. Simple as that. It’s a simple ethos really. I wouldn’t know what else to go and do otherwise. I really didn’t want to go and get lost in some numbers or anything. I just want to make music that I can be proud of that people want to listen to, and just perform to the very best of my ability.
The Sam Duckworth of now, sitting in the Lexington: What would he tell the Sam Duckworth of 10 years ago?
Take a bit more time. Be more relaxed and patient. Remember to take in as much as you can. Stay close to your family and friends and write about the experiences that haven’t happen to you yet. Just calm down a bit, I guess.
Ok. I’ve just got a couple of more general questions left I want to get your opinion on. With CD sales declining and a number of record stores having closed down, where do you see the future of music and its distribution?
I still see it being CDs and records, and I think that peoples mind sets have to change a bit. My album just leaked actually and I’ve had posted on my Twitter feed saying “Hey I like your new album” and a lot of time and energy goes into releasing on a certain date and some people can get it for free now.
I’m sorry to hear that
No no. It’s fine. At the end of the day it’s the new culture. You can’t blame these people at all. It has gotten to the point now though where it’s almost impossible to make any money from a record. Studios and producers are still very important because you go in there and they challenge you, and record stores the same, so I think the future is pretty much the same as it is now. If you like a record then just buy it. Nick it or download it first if you have to, but buy it when it’s out. And don’t just go to a gig and buy a T-shirt because while the money does go to the bands, it doesn’t register as a band that can sell records and thus be able to make more records for their fans. So then record companies will want a cut of the T-shirts as well until they want a bit of everything and then you’ll end up with nothing. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s bleak. People will always make, sell and distribute music. Just go to a record shop and buy a record.
Finally, just to finish, a fun question. If there was a cocktail called either the Sam Duckworth, or the Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, what would be in it?
A drink cocktail?
Yeah. It doesn’t have to be alcoholic
Dark rum and coke, with a squeeze a lime. Yeah. I’m a dark rum and coke man myself
Cool. Well thanks very much for talking to me. Good luck with the gig tonight, and best of luck with the record.
Cheers.
Sam Duckworths solo album 'The Mannequin' is released via Cooking Vinyl on August 29th. While no further solo dates have been announced he is playing the following gigs with the rest of Get Cape Wear Cape Fly:
August 2011:
Aug 6 - Bristol - Rebellion Festival
Aug 12 - Ludlow - Firefly Festival
Aug 13 - Wallingham - Leefest
Aug 27 - Cheltenham – Greenbelt Festival
Aug 28 - Leicestershire – Strawberry Fields Festival
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You’re widely regarded as one of Britain's greatest contemporary songwriters. The Get Cape stuff has always been held with a wide acclaim. Are there any pressures attached to that, a pressure to deliver every single time, or just roll with the punches and take it how it goes?
