Interviews: Desert Clouds

We have had the opportunity to interview the Psychedelic Grunge band Desert Clouds from the UK. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or come out just like that?

We got the idea from one of our first written songs and it's all about the absence of benefit by thinking that something, like a god or a better life, is hidden beyond the clouds

2. Why did you want to play this genre?

To be honest with you, we have never decided to play this or any other genre. We write songs and develop them without setting any limits or barriers. The result is usually labelled by others and thrown into a category and so the band. I think that is a convenience that it is very inconvenient. What can be listened in our last album "Nothing beyond the Cage" will slightly change in the upcoming one "Planexit" and will keep changing in the future. It will merely depend on which songs we will decide to publish among all those we write and perform.

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

I met Val at the high school when we were 13 and 14. The band was formed three years later and it was based on the simply pleasure to spend time together doing something that made us feel creative and alive. Since then nothing has changed and many friends joined the band, throughout the years enriching it with their creativity. What we are today is also thanks to all those people who put their passion into Desert Clouds, even if it was for a short while. Andrea joined the band five years ago and Julius two. What you can listen into our upcoming album will be the sum of all our hands.

4. Each band member favourite band?

This is one of the hardest questions. You know that right? A list of bands is a good way out usually and that's what I will do. There are several influences from Syd Barrett, Leonard Cohen, Tim Buckley to Doors, and Velvet Underground. Andrea and Julius listen more to stuff like Led Zeppelin, Pineapple Thief, Tool and Pantera and these influences merge with these I've just mentioned and others such as early Pink Floyd, late Beatles, Joy Division, Dirty Three, Sonic Youth, Nirvana and Radiohead.

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

While other songwriters are usually inspired by events that happen around them or in their lives, I noticed that our way of writing is inspired by the state of mind in which we stuck and on how we approach to it. That's why our songs never refer to political or social matters but aim to an inner feeling that, we hope, is in every human being. In my personal experience I am more inspired by sensations, moods and abstract hopes rather than events or ideals.

6. Where was your last gig?

Our last gig was at the Dublin Castle in Camden (London). We played for the Camden Rocks Festival. I know I should say something good about it but I am trying to respond to your questions honestly.

7. Where would you like to act?

We really love to play outdoor or in a theatre (unfortunately we have never played in the second one). I know that I am contradicting myself but these two things have something in common: Outdoor concerts or dedicated music venues, like a theatre would be, gather only those people who are there for the show and nothing else.

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

Beside the dead ones? Those few good bands I met since we are in London. Unfortunately some of them split but, fortunately, others are still active. Bands like Circa Never and Elbrano and Onism who are not playing anymore, and bands like Gramma Vedetta, In Violet and Pink Diamond Revue who are still around.

9. Whom not?

Whoever wouldn't be happy to feature with us.

10. Any of you has ever suffered from stage fright? Any tip for beginners on how to beat that?

I am, most of the time, the singer and, very often, the crowd expect me to entertain them between songs, to say something cool as if I was a Rockstar or to promote stuff as I was a salesman." You know? selling albums, promoting our social medias, making some jokes (many times the same jokes) and following that unsaid code anyone follows. My suggestion? If you don't feel to behave like others who act like cool salesmen or attention seekers well, you are there to express your art and not to talk. The best interaction can ever happen is when the music and all those ears (including yours) open connections that make that moment worthy to be lived.

11. What bands have inspired you the most? 

See n.4

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?

Why are you playing like that?

13. What do you think of your fans?

They are looking for the same sensations we are looking for.

14. What do you think of our site?

Thank you for making it exists

15. Something to add?

We are part of Civil War Collective and on the 27th and 28th of November there will be a two days festival with 10 bands. We are on stage on Saturday the 27th at the Hope & Anchor in Upper Street, London. If you fancy coming you can get your tickets here: https://www.wegottickets.com/event/515548

Thanks again for your interview and take care. David, Desert Clouds