JamBase Questionnaire: Erland & The Carnival
By Team JamBase Mar 29, 2011 • 2:18 pm PDT
Wisps of pleasing, distant things float inside Erland & The Carnival – the charged yet pastoral folk-rock of England circa 68-72, some Summer of Love psychedelic twinkle, a hint of 80s new romantic pop and 90s UK big rock & indie jangle – but the final fragrance is ultimately unique, a combination of alluring elements that makes one press play as the final notes of the sophomore charmer Nightingale (released March 29 on Yep Roc/Full Time Hobby) fade.
The band’s core is guitarist-singer Erland Cooper, multi-instrumentalist Simon Tong (The Verve, Blur, The Good, the Bad & the Queen) and drummer David Nock (The Orb, The Fireman), and the winsome sound they produce together carries one off with a gentle, sure hand. One finds themselves wrapped up in the folds of Nightingale without fully understanding how they ended up there, such is the album’s sly hypnosis. That’s not to say there’s not a hook or four kicking around – jeez, at times Erland & The Carnival recall XTC in their mid-80s heyday, down to echoes of their Dukes of the Stratosphear trippiness and conscious quirk. Charming but flecked with darkness, Nightingale presents a new group coming into their own, defining their sound and extending their creative reach a good deal from their 2010 debut. (Dennis Cook)
Here’s what Simon Tong had to say to our inquiries. And curious children are encouraged to check out Tong’s anthology series What The Folk on his own swell Butterfly Recordings label, which introduced Erland to a wider audience a few years back.
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Nicknames: Old Nick
1. Great music rarely happens without…
Drugs
2. The first album I bought was…
The Thompson Twins
3. The last song or album to really flip my wig was…
“Send in the Clowns” by Barbara Streisend
4. When I was a kid I wanted to grow up to be…
A musician
5. My favorite sort of gig is…
Outkast at the Brixton Academy in London around the time when “Miss Jackson” was released.
6. One thing I wish people knew about me is…
I hate cats.
7. I love the sound of…
Reverb
8. One day I hope to make an album as fantastic as…
The Beatles’ Revolver
9. The best meal I ever had on tour was at…
Nobu in Sydney, Australia – roasted brussel sprouts with truffles!
10. I always find the coolest audiences in…
Detroit
11. The worst habit I’ve picked up being on the road all the time is…
Whiskey drinking
Led Zeppelin or Radiohead, which flips your switch the most and why?
Radiohead because as good as Led Zep were they spawned a terrible genre.
13. The craziest thing I ever saw was…
A drunken baby raccoon trying to climb up a tree at SXSW
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