Not a lot really, Kurti got great reviews by the online webzines, which is always nice, but in reality nothing really happened. Jamie started his 2nd year at Uni, which stemmed our gigging as its a very intensive course, we actually turned down a few bloody good London shows as we just couldn’t afford to get to them. It’s been tough. The Metal Hammer cover mount in the summer did fuck all for us, which was a bit of a disappointment, but then, we didn’t want that song on it as its the least representative of us, the lads don’t like playing 'NOW' as it harks back to a time before them, I wrote that in 2002 I think! But we didn’t have a choice of the track choice and as it was free so, nothing ventured nothing gained, ah well!
You released your first Ep “A Cosmic Interlude” via Kerosene Records and “Road to Kurti” has been released by the band, though you have pretty strong stuff. Why didn’t you find a label for this time?
Ah, Interlude was also self released, the whole kerosene thing was a joke and a steep learning curve, a testament to my naivety. It didn’t/hasn’t put us off being on a label and we have/are trying still., but, there’s a lot of bands out there chasing the same thing. We are still hopeful that someone somewhere can hear the potential we have and would like to sign us, just waiting for that person to make the connection.
Damn, I see that things are difficult to make Caravan goes further on full speed; does it mean that band is in a state of stagnation now? How does it manifest it’s activity nowadays?
It’s a labour of love, we are all into this 110% .Jonny and me travel to Brighton as often as we can to rehearse the set, we use the Uni holidays for working on new material when Jamie comes back to Oxfordshire, its difficult but we make it work as best we can. We try not to write any more material than we can knock into good enough shape for others to hear or nothing ever gets consolidated, we are just finishing 3 more songs which we will creep into the set and will be the basis of the next E.P. at a point in the future to be recorded.
My lyrics come from reality, I can’t write rock'n'roll ditties about cars, women,
nk, war/violence glorification. We all have a story and most are similar I like to keep it real.
“Drug Queen” is about the culture of drugs from my long experience, I am 47 and have seen a lot of bad things and experienced such highs and lows in every respect, I tried to capture this as an observation which can be read as it fits the listener
“Mister Bendy Man” is about the leeches and assholes that I have come across and is aimed at someone I knew, we all know one, they get in your life and take everything if you let them, everyone comes across these fools.
“Your God Is Dead”, ha, I have no time for religion anyway, its a sign of the weakness of mankind [I didn’t say humanity as I haven’t witnessed much of that lately].This song however was written after watching a religious debate between all the different superstitious factions, where all I witnessed was intolerance, hate, arrogance and everything that is wrong with this world .This is about all your gods, not any one, all of them. People are sheep, a bewildered herd, being shepherded by the greed of a few. WAKE UP.
“Waiting”, I think waiting speaks for itself, we can all wait till it’s too late, be brave, have a go, its better to try and fail than not bother at all, but oddly for me, this is a song of hope.
Caravan of Whores’ songs are solid and heavy, yet they have that cosmic psychedelic vibe that I have to ask - do you compose them under influence of some natural or supernatural substances?
We like a smoke, I make no bones about that, but we are also passionate about our music which is the most important factor, the songs just come out this way, Jonny is a space rocker, Jamie is a jam man and into more ethereal sounds, I bring the dirt, the sound is deffo a culmination of all these factors, you can tell when bands all have the same influence because invariably they will sound like that.
Don’t you ever think to stop take any substances? I guess that such things leave their trace on people anyway – as alcohol for example, man I just was enduring a most terrible hangover this morning that’s why I’m asking.
Yup, horses for courses, some of have dabbled much further than most, but are strong enough to know when to stop. I had a spiralling drink problem that ended in alcoholism, took me 22 years to figure that out, I have been dry for over 5 years now with the support from my wife Jane, best thing I ever did as thats when I was able to throw myself into music as a way of healing myself, I like to think it has worked. A lot of my lyrics still reflect the times and feelings of self loathing, despair etc due to the alcohol and to the reasons behind the alcoholism now I can be honest to myself about it. I am sure I am not the only one who has been through this.
What are main features of your music? What do you value in it the most?
I would like to think originality, we can and do cross boundaries and I like to think that we are all happy with what we perform without any personal compromise so far.
Would you like to do any experiments with Caravan of Whores sound in a future? Would you like to make it heavier or add there some space or psychedelic rock vibe?
We write songs as opposed to a piece of music with the lyrics as a secondary and our sound will constantly evolve, we try not to make any 2 songs sound the same and have dropped plenty because of this, also it depends on the song, if we need to tap into different sounds to make a song work then we will do. We will not just stay with one sound I am sure and like to experiment, however, we intend staying a 3 piece and will not write what we could never do justice to live, as essentially, we are a live band and do not believe in playing safe and sticking to a specific sound because its expected or easy, which is probably why people don’t understand us so much as say a Down/Electric Wizard sounding band, where listeners almost know what’s coming next.
Man, you’re from Oxfordshire, it’s a land with long and glorious history, do you feel it? And look – do you feel a kind of responsibility as you represent your land with Caravan of Whores to world’s underground community?
No.
How do you like an idea of Russian Heavy Metal Guide with that video contest between Caravan of Whore and Turbowolf?
The Russians have great taste obviously.
I know that collaboration between bands sometimes help to find the way to labels and listeners, do you have such brothers at arms who can support your show or maybe to do a split-album in a future?
No-one springs to mind, we are friendly with a lot of bands that we have shared stages with, however, we are a bit isolated and not really in a position to offer anyone a split and have certainly never had much in the way of interest in the respect of a split from anyone, probably as we aren’t current on the scene as it is or maybe people are a bit scared of us as we are a bit rough round the edges, poor by UK standards and a bit to honest for most to handle.
Man, I just have to ask you about band’s name – how did you figure it out?
Watching the late Heath Ledger version of the 4 feathers, I heard our name and that was it, we lifted that onto the front of Kurti so we wouldn’t get asked the next question.
Do you ever deal with prostitutes? I guess that it’s not the best variant because of insanitary, I never deal with it but my mate did...
We deal with a different kind of prostitute than those in the sex industry, we still seem to get fucked though, go figure. The world is being prostituted and we are all guilty.
What is your maximum task for the band, what would you like to achieve in 2013?
Easy, to make a living from this, We have so much more to offer but are constrained by day jobs, we have got this far on determination, unfortunately that can only get you so far. We will try to keep moving forward, writing rehearsing gigging when we can and afford to, you know, when we get a show we have to train Jamie back before we put diesel in to get to show, we spent more than we had in 2012, 2013 is going to be tighter financially for everyone, not just us. It’s a sign of the times and has to be rolled with. We just want to get noticed, get some bigger shows and keep the Caravan Of Whores moving forward.
Okay, the only thing I can help you is wishing you a good luck on your way! Thanks for the interview Pete, I hope that it’ll help a bit it Caravan of Whores!
Interview By Aleks
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