Cars On Fire

Cars On Fire are shaping up to be one of the UK’s hottest prospects at present, producing (in this writer’s opinion) one of the most impressive albums/mini albums of 2009 to much acclaim from both the rock media and all importantly from the people that really make a difference, the fans and musical community at large. We sat down with frontman Ali Ross ahead of the band’s recent show with Fightstar in Brighton to see how the picture looks from the band’s perspective, and see what the future might hold for the Bristol four-piece. 

Rock Pulse: So how’re you all at the moment, it’s the first day of the Fightstar tour for you? 

Cars On Fire: It is...it kicked off yesterday in Cardiff but I think that there were some competition winners playing so the bill was already full. 

Rock Pulse: Ah right, so are you looking forward to the tour, have you played many of these venues before? 

Cars On Fire: Umm, no I don’t think we have played many of them; we’ve played here before (Brighton’s Concorde 2) with Orange Goblin which was pretty cool, it’s a really nice venue, really good size and the sound is amazing so we’re looking forward to playing it again tonight. I don’t think that we’ve played any other the other venues, it should be cool. It’s always wicked playing new venues, getting a feel for loads of different types of venue, different sizes, different sounds and stuff, it’s always pretty exciting. 

Rock Pulse: There’s a lot of great mid-sized venues on this tour.... 

Cars On Fire: Yeah, it’s a nice size, not too big and not too small. We’re used to playing quite small venues so it’s quite nice to have a bigger stage, even though there are two kits up there and not much room, but it’s a good sounding stage. 

Rock Pulse: 2009 was a really packed year for you guys, with the release of ‘Dig Your Own Grave’, plenty of touring and a steadily increasing level of publicity, what’s your impression of the year overall? 

Cars On Fire: It’s amazing, awesome. Things really started to pick up for us last year, with the album, signing with Undergroove and playing some amazing shows...we’ve put the album out, made a video, it was our first time doing any of that kind of stuff, it’s been a real experience that we’ve all enjoyed. We’ve had loads and loads of fun. There were the shitty bits that everyone has like breaking down on the way to a show and all the usual stuff but making a video and making an album, recording with Jason Wilcock who’s now a friend of ours, and getting to meet lots of really cool people, having a wicked laugh, was great. We don’t take anything too seriously, we’d rather be enjoying it than worrying about it all the time. So it was amazing, the whole thing has been since stuff started happening, it’s been phenomenal, we really enjoyed last year. Hopefully this year will go the same, if not better. 

Rock Pulse: ‘Dig Your Own Grave’ comes across as quite a cathartic work, lyrically dark but with a defiant, energetic feel... what influences do you tend to draw upon while writing, your personal environments, memories etc? 

Cars On Fire: I guess that musically, in terms of how we perform and write our songs... I guess like any musician really, we write for the mood that we’re in at the time. We’ve always got riffs knocking about that we’ve written and can say ‘I like the sound of that.’ Quite often the riff might dictate how the song’s going to end up sounding, you might end up coming back to it when in an angry mood if it’s an angry riff, or if you’re pissed off you might write a set of lyrics that go with something, so it just comes together like that really. 

Rock Pulse: Ah right, cool. Releasing a seven track mini-album like ‘Dig Your Own Grave’ is quite an unusual move, what prompted you to release material in that format? Were there logistical/financial reasons behind it? 

Cars On Fire: Um, well we had those seven songs ready, and we’d recorded about half of them; we didn’t plan to put it out as a mini album to start off with, we’d recorded about three songs and played them to some people, Owen (Packard, press agent) got involved, we thought that a mini album would be cool so we went and recorded the other tracks that we’d written and chucked them all onto one record. It gives people a little more, so it’s nice, somewhere in the middle. It’s good to put something out to say ‘here’s a little taster’, you’ve got a good seven songs to see how we are. 

Rock Pulse: The mini-album received some glowing praise from many sources, and seemed to get an impressive reaction from music fans; how do you view your growing profile as a band, is it something that you just take in your stride? 

Cars On Fire: Yeah, it’s difficult, we don’t really get to see it. We obviously see messages on the MySpace and Facebook saying ‘you guys are great’ and all that, and I guess that when we see those sorts of things we think ‘wow that’s amazing,’ that somebody from another city even knows who we are. Or they’ll comment on our YouTube, on the video, say ‘ah it’s amazing, come to Plymouth’ or whatever. Growing up listening to all of your favourite bands, these are the kind of comments that you’re used to seeing on their pages, so it’s a bit weird when it’s on your own page, it doesn’t really register. So it’s amazing that all these people seem to really like our stuff, but for me personally, and I know that a couple of the other guys are the same, you don’t really believe it until you meet these people who say ‘we bought your album’ or ‘we bought your T-shirt.’ You think ‘wow, are you nuts, you’re mental’ (laughs.) It’s hard to understand for us, because we just write our music and go ‘Ah I really like this stuff’ and then when someone else says that it’s a really good record you think that they’re just being nice (laughs). It’s cool, it’s great when anybody says that they like something that you’ve put a lot of work into, it’s amazing but at the same time you’re kind of like, really? Because you know the songs so well, you’ve written them and built them up from nothing, so to you it just sounds like it always has... but other people have never heard it before. It’s surreal but it’s great. 

Rock Pulse: It’s interesting how the video (for ‘Burn The Suits’) seems to have caught a lot of attention; many of the comments on your MySpace begin by talking about the video, so the rotation on Scuzz and places like that must have a substantial effect. 

Cars On Fire: Yeah, it’s amazing, it was great fun to make as well. I think that a lot of people seem to go to the video more than the MySpace page; I’m not really sure what people do these days, what ‘fans’ or whatever you want to call them do these days, whether they go to your MySpace page first and check you out, or they see the video... I don’t know, it’s just great, any comment on any of our pages is welcomed (laughs.) Unless they’re saying that we’re shit, in which case we’re like, ‘well, you’ve got to have a couple of bad ones’ (laughs). 

Rock Pulse: Can you see yourselves writing and recording a follow up in the near future? 

Cars On Fire: Yeah, we’re writing a full length album this year so hopefully we’ll have something out by the end of the year. The writing’s going alright, we’ve got a couple of decent tunes on the go, we’ll probably be playing a new one tonight, see how it works. So hopefully by the end of the year, if things go right. It’s so busy, it’s really hard to find the time to write new stuff, rehearse the stuff that we’re playing now, and have a life (laughs). 

Rock Pulse: Yeah, it’s a really difficult situation for musicians at the moment , especially with all the financial and employment troubles in the UK. How do you go about achieving a balance between keeping the band going and putting food on the table, so to speak? 

Cars On Fire: Bloody hell, we just live for the minute. We’re always tired, none of us get enough sleep, none of us eat properly, but we do it because it’s what we love doing. We find a way to fit the band in, or for us we find a way to fit everything else in around the band. Y’know, for the sake of not seeing your friends for a while or not getting enough sleep because you’ve gone to work, then gone to a show, then got home at three in the morning when you’ve got to be up at eight or whatever, you sacrifice those things because it’s what you love doing and you want to pursue it as a career. If it was about the money then we’d have all given up a long time ago because we don’t make anything (laughs) but I don’t think that any band does at the start. So with sacrifice, lack of sleep and lack of decent food we get through. 

Rock Pulse: Since forming in 2006, you’ve shared stages with a host of established and unsigned bands... it’s a difficult question, but can you recommend a couple of acts that people may not have come across, and should be checking out? 

Cars On Fire: Christ... A band called Left Side Brain from Bristol, a great bunch of guys and a really good band, great friends of ours, if you like Kerbdog and that sort of affair they’re really good. A band called MK Zero from Shrewsbury, again really good friends of ours, we’ve played plenty of shows with them over the last year, really cool guys and great music. Who else... a band called Idiom from Exeter, again just a fucking awesome band. There’s so many of them, I could just sit here and go on and on, they’re just awesome people to meet and great great bands; we look forward to playing with anyone, getting out there with any band. 

Rock Pulse: There seem to be quite a few really good bands coming out of Bristol recently, what’s your experience of growing up as a band in the Bristol scene, is it a strong scene at present, or is that picture somewhat illusory? 

Cars On Fire: Well, sometimes I read about a band that’s from Bristol and I don’t even realise that they’re from Bristol, it’s a really big place. I know the bands that are on the circuit at the moment but then someone will come along and say ‘have you heard of this band’, and I’ll say ‘Oh are they from Bristol?’ There are so many bands is every city now, sometimes someone pops up and you think ‘oh, they’re from the same city as me.’ Bristol’s got a pretty good scene, but people don’t seem to go to a lot of shows in Bristol anymore. A few years ago it used to be really good for rock music, and then I think that the Hip Hop/dance/rave music took over, and it became a big clubbing scene, so all the rock venues were dying down, things got really bad at one point. But now it seems to be picking up again, there are some really good bands coming out of, not just Bristol but the whole Southwest in general. It’s a pretty exciting time at the moment. 

Rock Pulse: I reckon that you’ve answered this in part already, but is there a ‘long view’ for Cars On Fire, an idea of where you’d like to go long term? 

Cars On Fire: Well, I think that what we want to do is what every band wants to do when you’re playing this kind of music, and that’s that you want to make it your career eventually and become a full time musician, which is becoming increasingly difficult because of stuff with the internet, nobody buying CDs anymore and all the rest of it. We’ll keep bashing away at it, we’ll keep playing, I mean I’ve been in bands since I was twelve, so you just keep going. Things are looking up at the moment, so we’ll keep striking while the iron’s hot, write the new album, and more than anything keep enjoying what we’re doing. 

Rock Pulse: Awesome. Finally then, is there anything that you’d like to see to people who’ve bought the album, come down to a show, and so on? 

Cars On Fire: For anyone that’s bought it already, thanks very much for buying it and I hope that you’re enjoying it. For anyone who’s come down to a show, bought any merch from us, thanks very much, keep it coming because we need the money (laughs), thanks for everyone’s continued support and we’ll hopefully make a decent record this year to follow up ‘Dig Your Own Grave.’ 

Rock Pulse: Thanks a lot for your time today, I hope you have a good show. 

Cars On Fire: Thanks, no worries man.