The Cribs
Three albums in and The Cribs are more volatile and vital than ever. They have the right attitude, a real message and a supreme knack for writing killer tunes. In short, they’ve got it all and their time is now…
Ryan Jarman – vocalist, guitarist and one third of The Cribs – is fired up and speaking with an air of total conviction. He’s also dead right - we need The Cribs now more than ever. In this current climate of carbon copy bands the Wakefield trio come on like a full force hurricane, blowing everyone else away and clearing the path for their assault on the public consciousness. Like the first rain after a long drought, The Cribs return to wash aside the waves of bland, faceless music we’ve been pummeled with in recent times.
Their new album ‘Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever’ is another leap forward for brothers Ross, Gary and Ryan. Where sophomore effort ‘The New Fellas’ further refined the lo-fi style of their self-titled debut, ‘Men’s Needs…’ takes their sound to bold new places. Produced by Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, the record feels big. Real big. Not in a lame chart-pop or stadium rock sense, but rather the kind of album that could grip anyone, anywhere, by virtue of its quality tunes. Their flair for punk songs with a pop edge is unsurpassed, and in an industry where the seeming trend is for everyone to sound like each other, The Cribs stand alone in both attitude and style.
All the elements and ingredients necessary to shoot their star skyward are present and correct. If there is any justice the new album will make The Cribs huge. The last record’s singles flirted with the charts, increasing their level of exposure and winning a lot of new fans to the cause. But the atmosphere of the music scene is different now. A lot of dreary, monotonous rubbish is being released, and against this backdrop The Cribs stick out. The timing and delivery could catapult the band to new heights but coming from a fiercely independent background you have to wonder how they would deal with that.
“If we had loads of hype and exposure we certainly wouldn’t waste the platform,” explains Ryan. “Having done things our own way all these years there’s no way we’d be looking up to anyone or playing it safe. We’d definitely let it be known what we think, which a lot of people aren’t doing at the moment. I’m not saying you should start ranting for no reason, but if you’re in a band you should at least have some kind of…I don’t want to use the word ‘manifesto’, but I’m gonna.”
You can hear the confidence and self-assurance in Ryan’s tone. It’s not that their music is not overtly political or issue-based, but it’s obvious The Cribs have mission and purpose in spades. There is a vein that pumps pure passion and honesty through everything they do. This isn’t about posing, posturing or schmoozing, it’s about making the music they want to and trying their damnedest to make sure every possible person hears it. They’re doing things their own way and for all the right reasons, something Ryan sees as absent in the majority of today’s groups.
“I get the impression a lot of bands start up now as a career move, because indie is the new pop, ‘let’s start a band that sounds like whoever, be nice little cocksuckers, get in the charts and make loads of money’. It’s bullshit. I guess you can tell I’m not particularly enamoured with most bands these days.”
You sure can. On ‘The New Fellas’ it was the scenesters being railed against but on ‘Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever’ bands themselves are targetted. Album opener ‘Our Bovine Public’ sees Ryan singing, “You’d never exist if you wasn’t generic”, a clear dig at the current crop. It’s an indication of where Ryan’s head has been at for the past while.
“Last year I was so frustrated at what I seen going on around me. A lot of these bands are generic, and shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it. The comeuppance is that as they set themselves up as disposable, they will be disposed of when the next generic band shows up, but I don’t want anyone to think we come under that umbrella. That’s why we put that lyric on the album and made it the first song, so people are left under no illusion that we don’t like that.”
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