An Interview with Brandon Yeagley of Crobot
Sarah managed to catch up with Brandon, Chris, Dan and James aka Crobot prior to their set in Manchester. It was hot and Electric Rebels were playing in the club below… Here’s what they had to say about their new album, internet trolls and no air con…
“Hi guys… how are we doing? How was last night (in Glasgow)?”
All – It was great!
“Was it really unbearably hot there too?”
Brandon – It was. It really was. And I forgot that you guys don’t do air conditioning over here.
“It’s because we don’t do heat, we don’t usually have heat like this! I wanted to kick things off by talking a bit about the new album, Motherbrain. It’s out next month isn’t it?”
Brandon – August 23rd!
“That’s really soon! Are you pleased with the end result of the album?”
Brandon – Absolutely. It’s been a long time coming for us and I think that the anticipation of it has built the excitement for us to just get it out there. We made a great record with Corey Lowery and it’s the best work we’ve done yet. We’re super proud of what the end result is.
“You’ve teased the fans a little bit by having Keep Me Down and Low Life available for streaming. What has the fan reaction been like to those tracks?”
Brandon – It’s great. Super responsive. It seems like people are really digging everything. The more we play the stuff live it just seems it gets better and better.
“What track from Motherbrain are you most proud of?”
Brandon – I love Alpha Dawg because it’s probably the funkiest and most Frank Zappa, P-Funk influenced song we’ve ever done. I think because of that and the subject matters, it’s one of my favourites for sure.
“Crobot have been a band for many years. Would you say your way of creating music has changed over those years, or do you think you’re having the success and adoration you have because you’ve got such a solid tried and tested method of writing music?”
Brandon – It’s a natural evolution for how the creativity has changed. I think technology has gotten better and we’re able to be on different sides of the country and still collectively work on music. But yeah, we’ve got better as song writers. It’s a sheer numbers game, we’ve written close to 300, maybe 400 songs Bishop and I. The machine is well oiled we definitely came into this record with a lot of songs too. I think it’s still a lot of the same methodology with writing the songs. But it comes from a lot of different things. Any idea can snowball. And then it can change once you get into the studio too. It goes through a few filters before it is what you hear.
“There’s so many different ideas, themes and influences running through your music. Can you tell me a bit about your influences?”
Brandon – We always go back to the classics like Sabbath, Deep Purple, Rainbow, and I’m a huge Dio fan, so that will always make its way into the music. But we also love stuff like Soundgarden, RATM, QOTSA. We try to bring our own spin on all of those things, but those are definitely our heavier influences.
“I love the video for “Keep Me Down”. You guys looked like you had a lot of fun on that one! There’s a bit at the start where you’re reading internet trolls writing mean things about yourselves though. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever read about yourself online?”
Brandon – I don’t know you know! We had to let Bishops wife kind of take the helm and find the mean tweets!
Chris – She is EVIL! This was pretty easy for her.
Brandon – You’re right though, we did have a lot of fun making that video and I think we just try to stay a step ahead of the trolls. We’d just rather make fun of ourselves before anybody else gets the chance to.
“Could you tell me what your favourite venue is to gig in?”
Brandon - …………… I don’t know.
Chris – I don’t know
Brandon – No. I don’t know.
*collectively thinking*
Chris – I think rather than an actual venue, it’s just when you’re playing in front of your family and friends, where ever that is. That is the best and that could be any club really.
James – With all that bullshit aside, the Machine Shop in Flint, Michigan is pretty fucking awesome.
Brandon – We’re about to play Underworld in London which is always awesome every time we play there. I’m excited to get back there.
“What would you say your career highlight has been?”
Brandon – Probably pushing Ron Jeremys car to a gas station. That really has got nothing to do with us as a band. We were just in the right place at the right time. Or the wrong place at the wrong time. Whatever way you look at it.
Chris – And we’ve met him probably 3 times, and he did not remember us.
“With that being your career highlight, what on earth was you’re most challenging thing to overcome as band?”
Chris – Just… living. Seriously, sustaining a band in today’s age and being able to put food on the table and not be homeless. That’s how hard it is for young bands now. You can’t do the normal things, you can’t have a normal job and a normal income… You have to figure out the ways to prioritise things. And yeah, you figure it out, but it’s really the hardest thing. That’s why so many bands don’t make, they have to give up.
“With Motherbrain due for release next month, what next after that?”
Brandon – Tour. Rinse. Repeat! Bishops actually already started writing riffs so the whole thing just begins again.
Chris – I’m already really excited about that. Hopefully we won’t leave it another 3 years…
“Crobot, thank you so much for your time with Rockflesh this evening!”