Hard working New Yorkers We Are Scientists have been around the block for over 15 years and now the duo just released their new and fifth studio album Helter Selzer. Keith Murray and Chris Cain Sold out London’s KOKO and played a host of shows in major cities around the country in May of this year. The band are plotting their return to British shores this autumn to perform for their fans, regardless of what corner of the island they live in. Having started in 1999 as a three piece, the band has seen many come and go however Murray and Cain have both stuck by each other. We Are Scientists have mapped out 24 dates for autumn, bringing the total this year to an impressive 40 UK shows, including 8 festivals and 32 headline shows. Performing tracks from their latest releases Helter Seltzer and TV en Français as well as a healthy dose from classics stretching right back to their 2005 major label debut With Love and Squalor, the duo always guarantee a unique night balancing unrivalled onstage humour and a blistering set of giant pop songs. Murray takes the role as lead singer, guitars and keyboards whereas Cain provides backing vocals and bass. Keith Carne also goes on tour with the band on drums and percussion. You can listen their latest single In My Head below!
We managed to catch up with We Are Scientists for an interview as they talk about their latest release, UK tour, fans and more!
How has the release of Helter Selzer gone?
It’s been like a dream. But, I guess, a very literal dream. Not like one of those dreams where you’re at your elementary school, but it’s not actually your elementary school, but you know that it IS your elementary school, and your grandfather is there and your dog is there, but it’s your dog from when you were 16 years old, but also he’s a lizard, and you’re naked and you forgot that you had a French test that day and it’s being administered by the lizard-dog and also it takes place in a cloud city. Not one of those dreams. Just a very literal dream in which a record release goes very, very well.
Are you looking forward to your UK tour dates over October/November?
Of course! Of course we are! What could we not be looking forward to? We get to play our songs (which, in our opinion, are the greatest songs ever written in the recorded history of human civilization) in cities throughout the United Kingdom (which, in our opinion, is one of the greatest civilizations ever in the recorded history of those human civilizations). So, it’s like a double-shot of human excellence. We think it will go down as one of the greatest ever tours in the recorded history of human civilization.
What’s different playing in the UK to other countries?
Well, this is going to be a very subjective answer, but for us it’s the curry. The curry bloat. When we are in the UK, we eat lots and lots and lots of curry. Just, inhuman amounts of curry. It’s one of the best things about your civilization, that curry of yours. So when we’re over there, in your civilization, we are just constantly gobbling curry. As you might imagine, that level of curry consumption has its consequences, and those consequences are bouts of curry bloat, which doesn’t really happen on any other tours we do.
You’ve been around for over 15 years now, what has been your most proudest moment to date?
We did a tour with REM back in 2010, and every night, Michael Stipe delivered the following speech: “REM only tours with great bands, and We Are Scientists is a great band.” I guess it wasn’t much of a speech, and, to be honest, it smacked of being a sort of phoned-in message. Like, he probably said it every night about every band that ever toured with them. But still, I have to kind of believe that it’s true. REM doesn’t have to tour with anyone they don’t want to tour with, so the fact that they even okayed us was a real badge of honor for me, and I’ll tell you what, it made me feel pretty damn good to hear the noble Mr. Stipe, frontman for the greatest alt-rock band in the recorded history of human civilization, say it each and every night.
It’s only you two that have been there since the start, what drives your passion to carry on?
Well, I could say that it’s our enduring friendship, or our undying passion for the music we’re making. And those answers would be true – those things definitely are a driving force, for the band. Mainly, though, it’s probably the fact that there are lots and lots of cocktails out there, in this great, big, crazy world of ours, and if we’re ever going to have even a chance of tasting them all, we’ve got to let the We Are Scientists touring juggernaut carry us to every corner of the globe.
How much does your fans mean to you guys?
Our fans mean the world to us. I know, I know – that sounds like a pretty pat, cliché answer, but it’s true. If we didn’t have fans, or if our fans elected out of some sick spite to not attend our shows, we wouldn’t be able to do this. And, if we were unable to do this, our lives would obviously be pretty different. If I had to guess, I’d say that I’d probably be mopping up blood and sinew in some illegal animal testing lab, or some sick crap like that. So truly, it is no exaggeration to say that we’d find ourselves living in a pretty different, probably blood-soaked world, were it not for these great fans of ours.
Is there any news of new music soon?
There is news, there is. We’ve already started the writing process for the next album, but given our fairly hectic tour schedule through the end of the year, we probably aren’t going to really get started working on it in earnest until 2017. So, nobody hold your breath waiting for this new music of ours, unless you can hold your breath for like eight months, in which case, holy crap, you’ve got more to think about than new music by We Are Scientists.
If you could work alongside any band/artist in the world, who would it be and why?
If I could work alongside any artist in the world, it would be Chris Cain of We Are Scientists, because I’ve already been working with him for like 16 years now, so the learning curve on our collaboration would probably not be all that steep, and we could just get straight down to business of crafting taut rock hits – business as usual, that is.
You can catch We Are Scientists live at the following venues and dates!
OCTOBER
7 // Rockaway Beach 2016 // Bognor Regis, UK
8 // Clwb Ifor Bach // Cardiff, UK
9 // Wedgewood Rooms // Southsea, UK
10 // O2 Academy // Oxford, UK
11 // Guildhall // Gloucester, UK
13 // Princess Pavilion // Falmouth, UK
14 // The Hub // Plymouth, UK
15 // Hackney Wonderland 2016 // London, UK
16 // Boiler Room // Guildford, UK
18 // The Slade Rooms // Wolverhampton, UK
19 // Arts Club // Liverpool, UK
23 // Limelight // Belfast, UK
24 // The Liquid Room // Edinburgh, UK
25 // The Garage // Aberdeen, UK
26 // Buskers // Dundee, UK
27 // Fibbers // York, UK
29 // The Picturedrome // Holmfirth, UK
31 // Waterfront // Norwich, UK
NOVEMBER
1 // The Junction // Cambridge, UK
2 // Chinnery’s // Southend, UK
3 // Esquires Bedford // Bedford, UK
4 // Barrow Library // Barrow-in-Furness, UK