Devil's Gate Music
Related Articles
With the arrival of their incredible brand new album, ‘Motherbrain’, looming large on the horizon, Crobot are on a whistle-stop tour of Europe for some killer festival appearances. Not content with mere 30 minutes sets in the middle of a field somewhere, the band also added some choice UK headlining shows, including one “by popular demand” in Glasgow. Prior to this gig, we spoke to guitarist Chris Bishop and vocalist/harmonica player Brandon Yeagley, along with new drummer Dan Ryan and touring bassist Eddie Collins. Read on…
You guys have just appeared having driven up from Ramblin’ Man, speaking to a few friends who were there and by all accounts you put on one hell of a show, how was it for you?
Chris – “That one was a cool festival as there was a lot of really good bands on, as well as it being intimidating, as you had some Blues guitar players that could play me under the table, you know what I mean! We were one of the more different bands, more on the heavier side, it was awesome though, we got to see a bunch of bands that we’ve toured with; Airbourne was there, we’ve done a bunch of shows with them, the old Motorhead crew were there and we had done the last Motorhead tour in the States, they’ve all dispersed now and are with different crews.”
Motorhead were often referred to as a family, and Lemmy used to get asked why he still toured, and the answer would often be, to keep the crew in a job.
Chris – “Yes, it definitely felt that way.”
How are you feeling after last night then? Partied out?
All – “We drink every day!”
Put it this way…on a Brad Pitt sliding scale, one being Benjamin Button-era Brad Pitt and ten being Snatch-era Brad Pitt, where would you lie?
Chris – “Haha! I would say maybe a five?”
So you’re “what’s in the box” Seven-era Brad Pitt?!
Chris – “Yeah!”
Excellent! Now, after the social media campaign from Northern #Beardos, you could call tonight “by popular demand”! Most times a band misses a particular country is logistics based more than anything else?
Brandon – “What happened was that we had shows booked with Monster Magnet that were cancelled, in lieu of that, we said how about a gig in Scotland? It was a logistics thing to start with yeah, we ended up filling in the dates between the UK run anyway, so it’s like an eight day stretch for us but it’s totally worth it as we love playing up here.”
Chris – “We play up here a lot, I hadn’t realised how much we’ve actually played Scotland, we played here with The Virginmarys, a co-headliner with Scorpion Child, we played with Airbourne, Black Label Society, that’s some fucking huge shows we’ve played up here!.”
The Airbourne gig was particularly memorable, that’s for sure. You’ve got some more UK headlining shows, then it’s Steelhouse Festival, up the mountain, then it’s…Wacken!”
Everyone collectively – “Yeahhhhhhh!”
People go on about Download Festival, but Wacken is the daddy of them all really, I mean it sells out straight away with no acts revealed!
Dan – “Six hours I think it sold out in?”
Eddie – “About 100,00 or so people, that’s incredible. It’s one of the festivals that I’ve wanted to go to, since I was like 12, so now I get to go there and actually play!”.
Have you seen the Wacken movie?
Eddie (pointing at Dan) – “Yeah we watched it, we know what to expect!”
It should be carnage! Moving onto the forthcoming album ‘Motherbrain’, Chris, I have to start with you as you are responsible for the jaw-dropping cover art, jeez that is beautiful!
Chris – “Yeah?! Cool! Thanks man, I wanted to get back to the feel that I had on the first record, I like that style, Art Nouveau, the look, it’s stereotypically stoner rock but it’s got a cool, elegant, and also a really dark and fucked up side to it. It also has a Georgia Cherokee rose on there, I just did it when we had some down time in the studio.”
What does it look like on vinyl? Have you seen it yet?
Chris – “We haven’t seen them yet, but it is going to look pretty awesome, there’s going to be pink swirls, a bit of purple, full colour.”
The merchandise is all designed by yourself Chris, as a band, how important is it for you guys to have a physical product to show at the end of the day?
Brandon – “We will always hold onto the physical versions of music, we all collect vinyl, and posters, we grew up loving music and that’s why we do what we do. We could never let that stuff go, it’s kind of unimaginable to us.”
Chris – “It’s important, I did a super limited poster of the cover-art, we did it on foil paper and its super trippy looking, that’s the collectors stuff. We did a bundle that we called the Old Skool Rocker Bundle, which is the vinyl, a shirt and a patch, you know what I mean, all the stuff that rock fans love.”
You’ve also got the comic as well, ‘Legend Of The Spaceborne Killer’, I think the second part is due soon?
Brandon – “Yeah! The second part should be out at the end of the Summer.”
Back to ‘Motherbrain’, you’ve just released ‘Low Life’ as a new single, listening to the lyrics, it seems quite a personal song?
Brandon – “You know, it’s about kind of embracing who you are, whatever anybody else wants to label it is okay, if somebody says that what you do, considers you to be a “low life” then…”
We’re all low lifes then!
Brandon – “Exactly!…and I will repeat it over and over!”
‘Motherbrain’ is a heavy, heavy album, the pacing on the album is superb, the mid-section that features ‘Alpha Dawg’, ‘Stoning The Devil’ then ‘Gasoline’ is a killer fifteen minutes or so. But even though it’s heavier, it’s still instantly recognisable as Crobot. ‘Stoning The Devil’ is kind of sneaking on in there as my favourite track on the album
Brandon – “That one kept coming back, that was one of the first songs we wrote for this record, and it’s quintessential Crobot, as a collective we knew that… okay, this one IS on the record”.
Chris – “After three years of writing it was like, we had enough material to have a really funky album, or a softer album, or a really heavy record. At the end of the day we went with the heavy record, because no-one ever says..”Man, I wish that I didn’t make that heavy record!” It felt right to do that.”
Corey Lowery produced the album what did he bring to the party?
Brandon – “It just kind of fell into place in an easy way, we love everything that Corey’s done in the past, the guy knows what he is doing.”
He’s Clint’s (Clint Lowery, Sevendust/Seether guitarist) brother yeah?
Brandon – “Yeah, he’s Clints brother.”
Last question…will Macho Man Randy Savage be appearing tonight?! (Check out the footage on the official Crobot Facebook page of Brandon appearing for the encore at a previous gig dressed as Macho Man Randy Savage)
Brandon – “Haha! Something tells me he got caught in customs!.”
His spandex set some alarms off?!
Brandon – “No, I think it was cocaine! I’m not quite sure!”
Nice! Thanks for the chat guys, enjoy the rest of the tour, especially Wacken!
Connect with Crobot on facebook for all forthcoming live shows, more information on ‘Motherbrain’, as well as that footage of Brandon Yeagley/Macho Man. Point that pesky mouse right here.
Flickr image gallery from the Glasgow gig, available here.
‘Motherbrain’ is available on Mascot Records August 23rd, check out the pre-order bundles here.
