Verra Cruz
Interview
Thursday 1st of May 2008
By Haydon SVerra Cruz are another band from under the radar who are deserving of your attention. The intensely melodic howl of their new record, Innocence, marks them out as a band ready to move up the echelons of the UK rock scene. We caught up with their drummer, Jimmy Cooke, to find out more about the band.
Please introduce yourselves.
Jimmy Cooke drummer from VC.
Your new record, 'Innocence', is your second full-length album, but you've been around a while. Could you give a potted history of the band?
I met Marc in what used to be our local music venue pub (The Horn of Plenty, St Albans) when I was 15 and he was working there as a sound engineer. He started talking about playing good rocking music in venues like that and writing songs about God that you wouldn't be embarrassed to listen to, and the band was born! We've done loads of different things over the years - we played in schools for a while, we toured a lot in Poland and the Czech Republic for a couple of years, then got taken on by a management company in Bristol where we tried to get a record deal and did loads of showcases.
No record deal came but we got some good press and radio play in the USA and UK and toured a lot around UK club circuit. Exhausted and in massive debt we left the management deal and made our own record and signed it over to Fierce! for licensing and distribution in 2006. Our new album Innocence is largely to do with the good stuff that's happened to us since then.
What are your hopes for the new record?
Well I suppose like anything we release we hope that people will really get it, and enjoy listening to it. We feel like these songs are really strong and we want them to connect with people. In some ways it's not in our hands now; we've worked hard to make the best record we can and now we'll just have to let it do its own thing!
I know you guys produced this record yourselves, although you mixed it with Sam Gibson. How did the recording of this album differ from your previous recording experiences?
I would say making this record was the most fun studio experience we've had as a band. We love the studio, especially when things are sounding good and actually self-producing was a really positive experience for us. Marc and I engineered the bulk of guitar bass and vocals at a really nice room in Rustington and it was really cool getting sounds up together and working with 'real' musicians when they came in to do the string parts! With Emancipation Day it was very much sink or swim, this time everything felt easier somehow.
What influenced you musically and lyrically when you were making this record?
Well Marc is the lyric writer in the band so I can't speak for him but there's a lot of songs about love, healing and hope on this album. There's also some themes that carry on from the first album (put the weapon down, soul on fire) which touch on issues that are close to our hearts like the horror of the arms trade and the middle east situation. Musically, most of these songs came out of rehearsals and us playing in a room together last year.
We also have a new bass player, Henry Cross, and he definitely brought some new stuff to the table. It's hard to pinpoint specific influences, I think you just soak up a lot of stuff being out gigging, listening to the radio etc.
If I hear right, a couple of songs on this record ('She Don't Want Him' and 'Friend in You') have been given fresh treatments from past releases. What led you to revisit these songs in particular?
We had some contractual restrictions on those songs and so couldn't record them for the first record but when we played them again recently they felt really fresh and actually they seem to fit where we are right now as a band and the general feel of this record.
There seems to be more diversity on this record musically, specifically a heavier blues influence as well as a few string parts. What led to this development?
I think the blues thing is always there with us, just beneath the surface.
Generally the lap steel songs are the really obvious ones because you can't sit down and play that thing without something blue coming out! Strings was really just because we felt that there were some 'big' songs that needed the production to reflect that. We will always be a three-piece rock band but from a production point of view we wanted to try some new stuff that would do those songs justice if that makes sense.
What does 2008 hold for Verra Cruz?
Well Marc and Veronica are having their first baby in July which is very exciting - it'll be the second band baby as Henry has a two-year old son Zeke who came to Italy with us last year. We're working on a mini UK club tour for June, maybe 6 or 7 dates. And the festival circuit around Europe some of which we did last year and was really.
Do you have any advice/solidarity to share with independent or unsigned musicians who may be reading this?
Er, well for us being in a band has been an amazing journey, at times really tough but also punctuated with some amazing highs. I think the relationships you make in a band are very special, hold on to them and treat each with respect. Celebrate your differences and embrace them in your sound. Just because it isn't earning money doesn't mean it isn't connecting with people and changing things.
Walk your the path that God gives you as a musician/artist and He'll provide the means for you to do it. And lastly don't worry about what people write/say about you, and in the words of Switchfoot "the hype won't get you through."
Any last thoughts for our readers?
Keep rocking as hard as is physically possible!
http://www.the-mag.me.uk/Music/Articles/Item/Verra-Cruz-Interview-20080501/
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