Basically, we formed 'for real' after we evolved from a college covers
band into Caretaker. We wrote our first song around then (Rangefinding) and managed to write enough songs for a live set
and managed to secure a few support slots in our area.
When and where was your first gig?
It was an Easter Sunday festival (99) thing in Farnham Maltings
which was headlined by Stella Maris. Shortly after that we
supported Fungus and Nojahoda in our second ever gig.
If you could tour with any band who would it be?
For me personally, it would be probably be someone like Fugazi,
y'know. They're just so good at what they do, they've been going so long and the persistant quality of their songs just amazes me. 'At the Drive-In' never cease to amaze me either. I saw them at Reading and they were like nothing I'd seen.You hear people go on about energy on stage, but this was something else! I think that both of those might be a bit out our league however.
In a period where the big league music press still doesn't have a clue what's good and what's not, what do you think about the lack of brains behind these publications?
The NME, they're just so inconsistent, I mean the way they hype a band like My Vitriol and then slay them months later, it's just not on.
Meanwhile piles of shit like Crashland are constantly praised in live reviews. We played with them once and they were so boring!
If you could sit down and write a song with anyone, who would it be?
Oh god, loads of people. I'd love to do a song with Cable if they were still going. They were the best.
How do you go about writing songs?
Usually, I will discover a riff or pattern at home on my acoustic, and when the rest of the band are ready, then i'll play it to them. John, our other guitarist is really good at working round what I make up and
Chris' drums are very innovative. We're very anti-guitar solos now, you'll only find a couple scattered around Caretaker songs. Words usually come last of all, I'd rather the music was spot on with vague lyrics that be ranting without strong instrumentation.
What's been the best moment about being in the band so far?
I know it sounds like nothing but the first time we got played on radio One it was amazing. We were practicing round mine and Seb's girlfriend phoned to say that Mary Anne Hobbs had phoned his house to say that she was playing our E.P on the Rock Show that night. We all stayed over mine and got drunk while waiting for the moment. Very sad, I know, but there you go. Also when we played with Symposium at Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms, that was good. The first moshpit we ever had and it was 400 strong.
What was the last song to be written?
Couple of months ago, it was called 'Learning Curve'. It's a bit different to our older stuff, lots of rhythm changes.