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Linear Notes with Gareth Campesinos (Los Campesinos!)
Words: Matthew Benn
Photo: Grace DeVille

1. What’s the most over-the-top thing anyone’s said about your band?
Difficult. I'd hate to say something positive and perhaps risk allowing people to think I actually believe it. Equally, to say something negative is to disagree with it. I'm gonna duck this question, sorry.

2. Favourite films?
In all honesty, I'm not a film fan at all. That's a very general statement to make I suppose, but I've never had a great interest in that particular art form. I have a reasonably short attention span, and if I'm likely to spend time sat down with a DVD it'll be a sitcom or something.

Films that I generally enjoy are, by my own admission, as a rule, awful. We take a lot of long haul flights I suppose, and recently I've had the pleasure of viewing (and at least tolerating) such features as 'What Happens In Vegas' and 'Made Of Honour'. I'm all for cheap laughs.

3. Top 5 albums?
This is by no means definitive, but five that would more than likely always be apparent in my top ten.

At The Club - Kenickie
Dig Me Out - Sleater-Kinney
The Fidelity Wars - Hefner
Safe As Houses - Parenthetical Girls
Mt. Eerie - The Microphones

And, for a contemporary twist. Things that I am listening to a lot, more recently:
Saint Dymphna - Gang Gang Dance
High Places - High Places
Black Eyes - Black Eyes
Hysterics - Rolo Tomassi
The Soft Touch Of Man - Kill Yourself

4. Most scary thing to happen at a gig?
We played a gig as part of Camden Crawl at a venue that I cannot remember the name of right now. It was only about 100 capacity, but by the time of us starting the show there were (now word of a lie) at least double that in there. The venue was essentially the upstairs of a pub and from the beginning of the set, the crowd was going crazy. Jumping up and down, dancing and hanging off the windowsills. From the stage I could see the floor bowing. From downstairs in the pub, cracks were appearing in the ceiling. The police went past and came in to stop the gig. We had to get the audience to sit down for us to play a couple more songs, and still the gig had to be halted early.

There was one moment where I really thought the floor was going to go through. I was in shock for a good half hour and could barely bring myself to carry on the gig. Really bloody scary.

5. If you weren’t in a band, what would you be doing?
The thought of this is even more scary than the events of the above question. Ummm, I think maybe I'd be working for some charity promoting veganism, as that's something I feel motivated and passionate about. Or maybe I'd have been sucked into the darker side of the music biz.

I'll find out in a couple of years anyway...

6. If you had to come up with your own question, what would it be? (This is basically a chance for you to say whatever you want as an answer.)
To be honest, so long as people don't ask what the band's name is about, I'm happy.


Los Campesinos! official website: http://www.loscampesinos.com/