Interview | Conquering Animal Sound
Their forthcoming debut album is one of the Scottish records who are causing the most expectation. Conquering Animal Sound is the genius work of James Scott and Anneke Kampman, who are set to stir things up quite a bit, after having already done so with the few tracks they have released so far.
They are set to perform live over the next few weeks in a variety of festivals in different locations, from the Netherlands to Scotland, slowly presenting their business card and convincing straight away with their ingenious blend of electronic bits and folky sounds.
Being the curious person that I happen to be, a few weeks ago I had the chance to ask a few questions to the masterminds behind the act. If you’re curious to see what does half of Conquering Animal Sound James Scott have to say about the origins behind the band name and see how he fails in his prediction of the world cup winner, read on!
Argos Barks: First of all, who is Conquering Animal Sound and what is the main idea behind it?
James Scott: Conquering Animal Sound is Anneke and James, who seem to really like making music, and one day decided to do it together. I think there’s several reasons we play together, but I think fundamentally, the main idea behind it is to make pop music influenced by all the non-pop ideas that we like.
AB: Where did the name come from exactly?
JS: I was reading a magazine that had a feature on English soundsystem culture in the early 1970’s, and there was a picture of the group “Conquering Lion Sound”. This picture - viewable on our myspace - seemed to exude such exuberance and warmth that I felt I had to pay it tribute in some way. It’s a flexible name: if you want, you can take your favourite animal and replace the word “animal” with it. Conquering Elephant Sound. Conquering Hamster Sound. Conquering Salamander Sound. Whatever you like.
AB: You have a very distinctive sound that makes it your very own - if you were forced to slap a genre on yourselves, what would it be?
JS: Someone recently referred to us as broke-tronica. I like that, it fits rather snugly. Loop pop or something I guess would be fairly descriptive, but I’m not very good at genre slapping. If something is even a little out of the ordinary, then you have to start combining words, like you’re constructing a new German noun or something, and that can make me look a little clumsy. I’ll leave it to those who are good at it.
AB: It barely took a couple of tracks to get the media and listeners alike excited about you; are you enjoying the attention or are you starting to feel the pressure?
JS: It’s very nice that people like it, and it’s pleasing that we’re producing music that some people have decided they like, so I would say enjoy it. I don’t feel any pressure musically. I realise that we’re starting to get some attention for what we are doing, but that fact doesn’t cross my mind for a second when we make music or play live, and I don’t think it affects how we make the music. I’m just excited by the fact that we’re making a record that I really like, and if people start and/or continue to like it, then that makes me feel even better about doing something I’d be doing regardless of people’s attention.
AB: What can you tell us about your debut album?
JS: The album is going to be released on the rather excellent Leeds label Gizeh Records. It might not quite be what people are expecting to hear from us, I think we’ve developed and progressed while working on it. It does follow on from our mixtape, “Your Friends”, which we released last year, but is a lot more direct and diverse. We had a version of it finished, but we’re working on another two tunes which I think are going to be critical to the shape of the record, and are turning into two of my favourite tracks, so it will be a little bit more time and thought before it’s ready. At some point we’ll just have to decide to stop and run with it. I promise it will be in the shops before we go out on tour again in November.
AB: Earlier this year you played a UK tour - what was the first response like?
JS: It was great! People were really friendly and good to us, and we really enjoyed playing to people, being fed by people, making new friends and meeting their cats, experiencing the best coffee that motorway service stations have to offer.. I think we learned a lot of things as well: I kept getting us lost, so we’ll never tour without a sat. nav again. Hitting a microphone off things for percussive purposes means that the microphone will break. And people in Nottingham, as Anneke rightly observed, simply don’t know how to cross the road.
AB: In July fans should be able to see you perform in a couple of festivals, one of them in the Netherlands! Excited?
JS: Very much so, I’ve never been to actual Netherlands before, only to Schipol airport (which was, of course, made famous by the Gay Against You song “Triple Schipol”). De Affaire is in Nijmegen, and Health and the Antlers are headlining, so it should be really great. Then we have Wickerman, which I personally can’t wait for, as I’m a big fan of both the original movie and the Nicholas Cage remake. Sandwiched in between those two, we’ll be playing at Stereo in Glasgow with Tunng on the 22nd of July, and that should be an excellent night too.
AB: What’s the best thing so far that you got out of being in Conquering Animal Sound?
JS: Its cheesy, but making music with Anneke. She understands where I’m coming from, and she hears things in my ideas that I don’t, and it means that what ideas I have become all the better for it. I shouldn’t dwell on this, no-one really wants to know about that artistic nonsense.. She taught me everything I know, that’s what I’ve got out of it.
AB: And the worst?
JS: We had to play with a band from Glasgow called Barn Owl once, that was really awful..
AB: Essential question: who will win the world cup, seeing how things are at the moment?
JS: I can’t believe this wasn’t the first question! It’s the most important of all! Writing as I am just before the quarter finals kick off, I’d say Brazil are starting to look rather good for it, though I’ve been rooting for Germany from the start of the tournament. Spain are still stuttering a bit, though ground it out against Portugal. I’m just glad to have seen our good friends from down south suffer a much deserved annihilation, it means I can look forward to the rest of the tournament without half-time trips to the England camp, and enjoy plenty more replays of Frank Lampard’s goal that wasn’t.
AB: Who are in your opinion the best Scottish acts of the moment?
JS: Fox Gut Daata, Iliop, Adam Stafford and Lady North have all been excellent live watchings recently, and I’m very excited about seeing Pablo Clark of My Kappa Root’s new band Milk at the end of July. I finally got hold of the new Meursault album, which is well ace. The Dam Mantle EP is truly excellent, and I’m looking forward to hearing the long awaited Douglas Firs album as well. Names aplenty!
AB: And finally, if you could play live with any artist/band in the world, who would it be?
JS: We’d like to open for Stephan Bodzin, as he is a true idol of me and Anneke’s, and we’ve yet to see him live. Or Mr. Oizo.
Many thanks to James Scott! Conquering Animal Sound will release their debut album over the summer through labels Gizeh Recordings and mini50 Records. Watch this space for more info on the release.
