It is imposible to describe Kashemre in one word. When you are listening to them you feel like this is it. That is something you were looking for in music. Their sound and lyrics are creating together something absoluetly great. If you will ever see that they are playing near to you town just take your friends and go. I am absolutely sure that you will be unable to stay still after their first few guitar riffs. Kashmere are the band full of passion and they are creating an unique atmosphere during the concert which can take you anywhere. Oh , and one more thing, there is no barier between the crowd and the band. When you will go, you will understand.
Here is my talk with them before their concert in London.
Kashmere are: Joey Newey (vocals,guitar), Charlie Cole (guitar), Andy Law (vocals,drums), Freddie Hughes (bass) and Darragh Burke (synth in London).
How would you describe your sound?
Joey: It is very hard. Someone called it, a long time ago, electro-indie doom pop. We like that. It is always some kind of pop music, but with a little alternative such as doomy lyrics or doomy guitar. There is always something dark about it
Charlie: Something miserable.
Joey: I think it is like that since 2018.
Charlie: Definitely
How does your writing process look like? Are you working together or separately?
Joey: We are tring to write together a lot more, but usually, I write the backbone of the song, structure and chord progression. We are trying to break that a little bit and get a whole picture of it.
Who inspires you?
Charlie: We all have somebody different. Each member has different inspirations.
Andy: Lots of people
Joey: And that is why, I think, we have a bit unique sound. We are always being told about that unique sound. I think it is because we all have our individual little things which we can bring to the table and a lot of it is in the way we play and stuff.
Do you remember that moment when you realised „ I want to be a musician, this is what I want to do for a living”?
Joey: I remember an innocent moment of understanding of what a musician was. I remember that my uncle showed me a video of Jimmy Hendrix and his guitar on fire when I was about 5. I remember thinking „This is the thing”, „This is what someone does, okay cool”, „I have got that little toy guitar, so maybe I will play on that”. I think, from that moment it was just it. I knew that.
Charlie: For me, I remember watching the Oasis gig on the Maine Road. I kind of realized that thousands of people are going to these gigs and go mental to the song that they love. I think it is when you are going to the concert to listen to the songs and you are like „wow, I want to be that person on the stage, doing that”. Since, obviously, I have been that person, there is nothing like it. When you have a crowd go mental in front of you, you can’t replicate that. There is nothing else like it. Seeing and experiencing that moment is just making it solid. That is what I wanna do.
Andy: Well, to be honest music is all I can remember and something that was something that I was good at since I was a kid. Not particularly on an academic level, but I always played instruments since I was a little. It was just a natural thing for me.
Freddy: Same
Joey: I guess it is sort of an escape. Because if we would not be in a band. Well, expect Freddie, ‘cause he is actually the clever one (laugh). If we wouldn’t be in a band, we all would be doing dead-end jobs now. I am saying that because we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have music career ahead of us. We would be fucked, man.
Charlie: That’s about it.
You are from Manchester and you’ve been playing in China in 2018. How would you compare the Chinese crowd to the UK’s?
Charlie: It is so different. You go out there and people there couldn't listen to our music legally. So on that point, they are breaking their law to listen to our music. Then you are going to the show to sing and everybody is going mental.
Joey: Mental? I don’t know, they were more like... clapping?
Andy: Yeah, very still, clapping their hands. And then, in the UK, everybody is fucking jumping around.
Joey: When we were in China, we were playing one song, and in the chords, there was „stay!”. And whenever we were playing that, the crowd stop clapping. We still don’t know why. I was checking them every time and they always stop clapping.
Andy: Maybe they were clapping in Chinese. (laugh)
Charlie: It is like in the old Beatles videos. When you are doing a guitar solo, they all go mental. Even in the middle of the song, when you are going back to the chords, you know they are crazy. Like literally what they have done to the Beatles.
Joey: You know what was the difference? It was how well we were looked after. Their hospitable after was absolutely immaculate and they really looked after us while we were there., so that was amazing.
Andy: Same in Europe, they are more friendly and hospitable people.
Joey: I think here there are just too many bands to look after.
Charlie: It is very oversaturated. A few years ago, there was something called „indie landfill” . There were sooo many bands. They almost, kind of have a big call and just get rid of some. There were just too many of them, you couldn’t justify it. Now they break out of it because now it is just a big group. It is almost across every genre. In Manchester, for example, you have 50 gigs every night, which is great and really good.
Joey: I think in Poland it is quite the same as when we were in Germany. In some of the places where we have been playing, that was the first concert of the year. It is hard for you guys to watch bands because they have literally one „Poland day”. In Germany, for example, people were just going to the gigs because that was the first gig for the last 6 months.
Charlie: In the UK you have a local venue, and concerts are happening every week. There is no buzz about it, unless if it is a massive band. So this is the main difference, the fact when you are over there, you are something special and something different because it doesn’t happen as often. It is a very UK thing to go mental during the concert.
Do you have your dream venue?
Joey: For me, it would be 02 Apollo. The first gig I have ever been to was there.
Charlie: The same for me, but because of a different reason. On my way to college, I used to pass it and see tour buses. There is a little screen on the other side of it. You need to pass it and turn around to see who is on. I kind of imagine that maybe someone else, going to the college one day, will pass me and see that Kashmere is on. I like to think that could happen one day.
Andy: I would say Manchester Arena personally. I went there for my first gig when I was little and I couldn't think about anything bigger in the whole world. I think it even is one of the biggest arenas in the world. I would love to play there.
Freddie: For me, it would be Arena or Academy 1. I used to work across the road in Sainsbury and I was thinking „Oh shit, one day I will be able to play there and say that I used to work across the road. I used to work in Sainsbury and here I am”.
Charlie: „And now I am working in Tesco”. (laugh)
Joey: In front of the Apollo. (laugh)
Do you have your guilty pleasure song?
Joey: Oh yeah. Girls Aloud – "Call The Shots".
Freddie: I think mine is not even just one song. It is a few songs by the same artist. I like Drake. He has a few very good tunes.
Charlie: I have got two. One is Robbie Williams and the other is that I like Harry Styles stuff. Because he was in One Direction people are like „oh that is guilty”. Everything because he was a part of it, but I think he is cooler than rest of them.
Andy: I don’t know.
Joey: I know. McFly.
Andy: Oh yeah. They have fucking great songs, but they are pretty lame. Yeah, but they are very great.
Joey: How about you, Darragh?
Darragh: I am big ABBA fan
Joey: Oh you can not be that cool. You have to be worst than that.
Freddie: Something that you are embaressed when you are listening to and you just turn the music down in your headphones.
Darragh: Hmm, I like a couple Taylor Swift tunes. This one which is kind of like „I am too sexy for my shirt” . It is called „Look What You Have Made Me Do”.
If you could choose anybody, with whom would you like to drink a cup of the tea?
Charlie: Oh, it is a very English thing.
Joey: I would love to share a cup of tea with Tyson Fury. He is the opposite of me, completely. He is like a foot taller than me and from a completely different world. I find him pretty inspiring so I would love to share a cup of a tea with him.
Charlie: Yeah, he is an absolute legend. But mine is Dave Grohl. I want to have a chat with him. We would start with tea and then move on to pint. I would make a tea but then I would be like „Hey, Dave do you fancy a beer and chat”? He is gonna love it We would drink 10 pints and it would be like „Are we dead? Here, we’re alive, party is in”. The day would freeze a little bit. He is such a nice guy and he is an absolute legend.
Joey: He is like a British national treasure even when he says „Nah!”.
Andy: It would be quiet interesting and funny to see Eminem drinking a cup of tea. It would be so surreal. I would love to meet Eminem. Or 50 cent.
Joey: The people from our childhood that only existed in magazines or on TV.
Freddie: Danny DeVito. I love him, he is one of my favourite actors of all time. He is just incredible
Darragh: Jack White would be interesting. And Ian Wright.
Joey: Oh, Shaun Wright Phillips!
Freddie: Oh he is my absolute hero.
Do you want to add something?
Joey: To the band? (laugh)
Darragh: I would like to have a cup of tea with Joey Newey
Joey: Oh man, any time.
Charlie: I think that the main thing is „go and check our album!”. Listen to the tunes! We are on all social media, youtube as well. Check this out, come to the show and you can see what’s it all about.
Interview and photos: Zuzanna Maja
Editor: Grzegorz Biały
