Vocalist Alistair Richardson speaks with AARON BRYANS about the release of The Cairos’ debut LP, Dream Of Reason ahead of their shows at The Brighton, Mandurah, on Thursday, June 12; the Odd Fellow on Friday, June 13, and Amplifier on Saturday, June 14.
The life of a touring musician has its attendant mental difficulties. Being on the road performing songs day in and day out, one can struggle to find a balance between performing and songwriting.
And when a band finally has some new material they can’t control the craving to show the world.
For The Cairos, 2012 was a huge year. The Brisbane quartet released their debut EP, Colours Like Features, and won triple j Unearthed, but struggled with maturity.
“In the past we’ve rushed, we’ve written six songs and then we think we’re ready to hit the studio,” vocalist Alistair Richardson says.
Realising this mistake, the boys took a gap year off in 2013 for writing and recording, creating over 100 layered and textured songs, for their debut album, Dream Of Reason.
“This time we wrote so many songs that we had the chance to pick the brains out of the ones we wanted to work on. It was a really involved experience for us to really analyse everything and it was a more mature way of doing it. But it is frustrating taking so much time as well. When you’re in a band you want the music to come out.”
The frustration would continue when the band had to cut their choices down to a final 10 songs.
“There’s songs in the band that we love as individuals and there’s different types of songs that didn’t fit and there’s songs we wish could’ve gone on it,” Richardson explains. “I think having Nick Didia as a producer helped us realise what it was we wanted to portray. We wanted to have a coherent sound that could be played in its entirety. We knew we would have to make sacrifices but I think the hardest part was how do you have four different minds that have different ideas coming together.
“But it worked out and I think we’re all satisfied with the final product. No two songs were written the exact same way. Sometimes a song might be written just on guitar and then built up on a recording program; and sometimes the songs are written in a room with all of us and sometimes it’s a few of us. I think the benefit of having four songwriters in the band is there’s all kinds of different ways of coming up with songs and being inspired. A few of the songs we’d never even played as a band until a week before we went into the studio.”
The band recorded their debut LP, Dream Of Reason, at Studio 301 in Byron Bay and had the production and mixing aid of respected Australian producer, Nick Didia, who has previously worked alongside Powderfinger, Kasabian and Rage Against the Machine.
“Nick had this experience and this wealth of knowledge; he was this all-knowing wise prophet and he was also a mate. He could whip your ass and then have a few beers; but when it got time to get serious he’d command our respect and command our attention. We’d really take to heart what he was offering us as advice. If we didn’t agree he’d never push the issue or anything like that. You could tell he’d worked with some fantastic bands in the past he just knew how to get the best out of us.”
The Cairos have not only applied their new maturity to their music but also their representation. Taking their tour into Asia, the group having been making important friends and spreading the excitement.
“It’s awesome. It’s a great place to start when you’re looking at touring overseas. Asia is where a lot of growth is heading right now and excitement. If you’re going to America or Europe, having connections here is going to help us a lot. The people react really strongly to gigs and they have heaps of fun its like anything goes here. It’s awesome. We’re here to build these contacts and meet this people who are going to help us out in the long run.”
Their non-stop touring schedule is set to continue back home across June and July including three huge Perth shows.
“The chance to finally play these album songs is going to be such a thrill. We’ve had the songs for ages and we’ve played them a few times live but when you know people have never heard them before its hard for people to really get into it. We’ve never actually had a whole album out, we’ve got a whole bunch of pyrotechnics we’re going to be using for the first time. We’re excited to give our first full, proper show.”
