Armed with a computer and a drum kit, Dan Snaith, Ph.D., unveiled his latest album, Andorra, in late August of this year for Merge Records. The stellar follow up to The Milk of Human Kindness, his debut as Caribou after having to give up the moniker Manitoba, is his most coherent and compelling album yet. Dr. Snaith recently spoke with Abhinav Kumar, whose radio show, Tons of Fun, you can tune in every Tuesday evening from 8:00-9:00pm on KVRX 91.7FM. Caribou plays Club DeVille this Friday, October 19 with Born Ruffians.
Austin Sound: How are you?
Dan Snaith: I’m good. We’re in Tampa [Florida] right now; we’re getting ready to do a gig.
AS: Is this your first time in Florida?
DS: It is actually, yeah. We’ve done three shows in the last three days, and this is our last show before we start heading your way.
AS: Well, I’m glad you could squeeze me in for an interview. I don’t know if you know this, but you’re very popular at KVRX. Your newest album, Andorra, has been in at least the top five over the past few weeks, so congratulations.
DS: Oh, no kidding! Thank you very much.
AS: How long had you been working on Andorra before it was released?
DS: It took me, like, a year, I guess, and then I finished it in February. Since then it’s taken a while to get the record released and get set up by a record label. It’s been so long since I’ve finished the music; I’m just so ready for people to hear it and to have finally gotten it released.
AS: I read online that you got a Ph.D. in mathematics, in London. Is that correct?
DS: Yes, that’s right.
AS: So how’d you get into music after that?
DS: I used to be called Manitoba before I was called Caribou, and I released a couple albums under that name while I was still a student. I’ve always kind of done both things, mathematics and music at the same time. As I was finishing up my Ph.D., music became more and more full-time. I was able to do it more, so it was really natural to continue making music.
AS: So you’re not doing anything math-related anymore, besides creating music?
DS: No, I mean, I barely have time to think with so much touring; I’m pretty busy, so I’m glad to focus on just doing music now.
AS: Where have you toured so far for the release of Andorra?
DS: We did a month in Europe, kind of western Europe like the UK, France and Germany. And then we came over, started in Toronto [Canada] and headed down the east coast. Now we’re in Florida, and then we’re heading across to you, then all the way back to Toronto up the west coast.
AS: So far, what’s the best place you’ve been to?
DS: Actually, Gainesville, Florida, was really amazing. New York was amazing, and Charlottesville, Virginia - I guess these were kind of recent shows, so they’re sticking out more than the European ones. There were some awesome ones there in Berlin, London, Scotland and all over the place. Too many to remember almost already.
AS: I read somewhere that on one of your previous tours you got food poisoning. Has anything like that happened to you yet?
DS: The only thing that happened was that somehow we always tend to get ripped off by somebody on one of our tours. We’d given a deposit to a bus company called Digger Bus, and they just didn’t show up and took off with $5,000 at the beginning of the tour. And we were yelling at them on the phone, and crazy shit. So if you’re a band going on tour, don’t call Digger Bus basically.
AS: Was that an American-based company?
DS: Yeah, they’re based out of Illinois, I think. Apart from that, it’s been really good - meeting lots of cool people at shows, hanging out and having a good time.
AS: That bus thing, I think it’s a pretty integral part of the American dream; I mean, we’ve all had to go through that. It’s just kind of like an initiation thing. Now you’re in.
DS: [Laughs.]
AS: I read that you were born in Canada, and now you live in London; is there a reason that you passed over America?
DS: I grew up in Canada my whole life, and I moved to London because of a mathematician there that I wanted to study with. And also my parents are English, so I have a Canadian and English passport - makes it easy to live in those places. And it’s harder to live in the States without a work permit. I’ve been enjoying living in London; it’s great.
AS: Do you have a pretty big following in UK?
DS: It’s kind of the same everywhere - Europe, North America, Australia and Japan - we’ve played all those places a few times, and the records have come out in all those places. It’s good. It’s not like we’re a big band, but there are people who come out to the shows who are interested in the music everywhere, and it’s kind of nice.
AS: What does Andorra mean? What’d you name the album after?
DS: It’s a little principality between France and Spain, in the Pyreneese Mountains in Europe. I went there last year, actually, and it’s kind of how I was imagining some of the music on the record - which is sounding kind of lush arrangements. I kind of imagined that the time-forgotten, little country in the mountains was going to be the perfect, physical home for this music. I got there, and it’s actually like one, big duty-free store - cheap smokes and cheap booze and guns and sex toys and shit.
AS: All the essentials for creating an album.
DS: Yeah, it’s not exactly what I had expected. I guess the name [Andorra] refers more the place I had imagined rather than the place that I found when I got there.
AS: I’ve listened to The Milk of Human Kindness, and I’ve listened to Andorra. The styles are very, very different. What prompted the change?
DS: All of my records, I want to do something different each time just because I spent so long working on the music. To keep me interested I have to feel like I’m moving on, doing something different, not just treading over the same ground. Whenever I sit down and start recording a new album, it’s just whatever’s catching my attention musically at that time, what seems exciting.
AS: I think when you come down to Austin, you’re going to be very well received. What advice do you have for our up-and-coming and startup musicians?
DS: I’m not sure I can give any advice besides my own experience. I just kept recording music since I’ve been a teenager; I’m really quite obsessed about it - working on it all the time. I record everything at home, all my music. I couldn’t spend a lot of money on it; I couldn’t afford going to a big studio, so I do everything at home. To this day I still record all my albums and everything at home. And then I got my music released just by approaching a guy here in Hepton, who puts out the music of Four Tet and various other things. He was somebody who I felt, musically, I had something in common with, and I approached him and kept in touch with him and played him some music. It was easy and fast, so that was my experience.
AS: Do you have anything you’d like to add?
DS: I’m looking forward to coming to Austin.
Interview by Abhinav Kumar
Websites:
www.caribou.fm
Myspace
