With dense lyrics that stuff myriad pop culture references and snarky bits of indie hipster criticism into songs like “…And We Exhale and Roll Our Eyes in Unison,” the pop-rock septet has brains to spare. Yet the group’s recently released full-length debut, “Hold On Now, Youngster…”, is a constant burst of manic energy that gives listeners permission to ignore the words and just dance their pants off.
Los Campesinos!—the name means “The Farmers” or “The Peasants” in Spanish, though only one member speaks much Spanish—have been on the go constantly since winning praise for 2007’s EP “Sticking Fingers Into Sockets.” They also work to earn their ironic exclamation point. Says singer/glockenspielist Gareth Campesinos (not his real last name), “I think an exclamation mark is to represent excitement and volume and exuberance, and I think we’re quite entitled to use one for those reasons.”
From his mum’s house in England, where his busy lifestyle on the road makes it hard to do his chores—“But mom, I’m really tired and I know I haven’t tidied up all my shit around the house but I just want to rest,” he moans—Gareth addressed indie clichés, drunken sloppiness on stage and the art of the glockenspiel.
Which is more fun: playing glockenspiel or saying glockenspiel?
Yeah, glockenspiel is a good word to say, actually. If you say it in the most German way possible, then it makes it particularly entertaining to say. And I think using the word “playing” is a particularly grand description of what I actually do with a glockenspiel. I would describe it more as disciplining a glockenspiel. Just the way I seem to hit it randomly and with no actual pleasurable tune coming from it. That you suggested that I played the glockenspiel was very flattering.
Disciplining? As in, teaching it a lesson?
Well, it seems like it sometimes. Sometimes if I become a bit aware of what I’m doing, I realize I actually hit the correct note about 17 percent of the time. The rest of the time it’s just banging the plastic stick against the metal with no real accuracy. If we’re ever operating in the same circles or we cross paths with some orchestra on the festival circuit and they see the way that I treat a glockenspiel, they’ll be disgusted.
You seem very bothered by indie clichés. Do any apply to you?
I think I’m very much guilty of indie snobbery. Bands that I like that aren’t very well known, I kind of like to keep [them] as my special secret. I guess I’m very much guilty of the snobbery cliché. It’s not a particularly nice cliché, but I think I carry it off with a certain charm that makes it slightly more acceptable.
If your shows are so exhausting to you, what training do fans need to prepare for them?
I think they need to appreciate what our motivations are going into a gig. I used to look at clips that people posted of us [on YouTube] playing live. There was a clip of us playing in New York and somebody commented, “They can’t even play their own songs!” When we play live, the primary thing we want to achieve is that we enjoy it ourselves, and often we will be a bit too drunk when we go on or we will get a bit too drunk as the set continues. I guess the more we play, the more we get used to playing the songs, and we kind of can play them live. But there was a time where we really couldn’t play our songs live and we really didn’t care. And I think some people left the gigs being a bit pissed at us.
People will understand the exclamation point, but the name may be spelled wrong as a result of drunken sloppiness.
And quite often [on] the posters advertising the gig at the venue, the name actually will be spelled incorrectly. I guess one thing about having a slightly unusual name is that we are often subject to mispronunciations or misspellings.
If the name is spelled wrong, it’s your duty to have a sloppy show.
Yes, that is my defense from now on. Thank you. [Laughs] I’m taking along my own misspelled posters to put up on the wall.
Yet you guys have expressed distaste for British bands who are all about going out and getting drunk and fighting. How is your drunken sloppiness different?
I think our drunkenness is very much a playful drunkenness and primarily excitement that when we get to a venue there’s a fridge with beer in it and there’s some whiskey on the side that we don’t have to pay for. I mean, we’re all only just finishing university so we’re used to being students and getting anything for free that we can. So that’s not going to change anytime soon.
