Laurence Made Me Cry - an interview

Hi Jo, how are you today?

LMMC: I am very well thanks! Just had the delivery of my album CDs and they look amazing. Very pleased!

Where did ‘Laurence Made Me Cry’ as a name come from and why not just release music under your own name?

LMMC: The name was a headline in a tabloid newspaper quite a few years ago. I was working in a record store and was reading a paper someone had left behind during my lunch break. I spotted the headline ‘LAURENCE MADE ME CRY’ and it instantly occurred to me that it would be a great band name! The news story was about Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen ruining a poor woman’s house in ‘Changing Rooms’!

Performing under a band name allows me more freedom to do things a little more out of the ordinary I guess. I know I feel more comfortable, might have something to do with my shyness. LMMC is a bit of a project too which incorporates art and poetry so it just feels more appropriate.

What was the spark that made you decide music was going to be your career and did you consider any other careers seriously?

LMMC: The story goes that one of my first words was “drums”. I highly doubt this but it’s a good story! I’ve loved music from as far back as I can remember and it seemed natural for me to pursue it. I think one of the sparks was getting into rock music just before entering secondary school. I’d started learning drums by then and it didn’t take long before I was teaching myself guitar and starting to write my own songs.

Music has always been my career in one form or another although at the moment I’m currently a freelance illustrator which is also a creative field. It’s tougher than it sounds being self-employed! Before that I spent quite a few years working in record stores and then I taught drums. Even my illustrations are usually music themed!

How would to describe your sound for people yet to hear your music?

LMMC: Quirky lo-fi folk pop that is honest, sometimes melancholic and usually a little over to the left.

Are there any particular stories you would like to share behind the songs on the new album?

LMMC: My first single from the album ‘Between Destinations’ has an interesting story behind it. The lyrics were inspired by a train journey I had on the way to see some friends in Port Talbot. It was a very cloudy day but the closer the train got to Port Talbot the more amazing the clouds became. They were huge and it felt like I could reach out and touch them. I was in awe at the scale of it and totally baffled as to why I was the only one in the carriage excited by it! The track is also a collaboration with North Walian Pulco (Ash Cooke) who is a fantastic lo-fi musician. We both started talking on twitter and I asked him if he’d be up for working on a track. I provided Ash with the ukulele and vocal parts and he came up with the rest. During the lyric writing I came up with the idea of having a train conductor list the journey from Bristol to Cardiff which represents moving from my hometown to Cardiff. Ash did a great job.

You use bandcamp, how do you find the format and what are the main benefits to you as a band?

LMMC: I find bandcamp incredibly easy to use. The interface is simple and understandable, they are clear about their fees (which are pretty reasonable 10 or 15% I think) and the music player is good quality. I know some fans can be put off and would rather buy digitally from iTunes, I don’t understand this logic but you can’t please everyone. I really like the fact you can sell physical CDs and merch on there and it looks generally smart.

With so many great young female sing-songwriters do you think there’s always room for more - unless you’re very different, do you think there’s a danger of overload?

The same can be said for young male singer songwriters too (thanks for calling me young, I’m still in my 20s… just). In every genre there comes a point where you reach saturation and to a certain extent I do believe we’ve reached that point at least with folk/pop. But then again I thought the 80s sound had passed its sell by date and it’s still very popular. I don’t deny there is a reasonable about of folky stuff on my album but it’s got my twist on it which I hope does make it different enough from the other stuff out there right now.

Back to School/College days what was the music you and your friends listened to the most?

LMMC: Oh goodness. That’s probably going to really show my age now. My music tastes really started forming in secondary and I was your typical indie kid as were my friends – Oasis, Blur, Longpigs, Kula Shaker (yes, I know), Ocean Colour Scene etc. If you can think of an indie band around in the mid to late 90s I probably listened to them. I was also unashamedly a U2 fan as a teenager, there, I admitted it! I got more adventurous going into college and started investigating more electronic acts like Moloko, Lamb, DJ Shadow although my friends at college were really into metal. I grew out of the U2 thing thankfully.

If you could tour with any band or artist, who do you think you could learn the most from on tour?

LMMC: I think it would have to be Bjork. She’s really taken the live experience to a new level and I love all the technology that she uses. Bjork is not afraid to collaborate either. 

What is your favourite radio station today and why?

LMMC: Right now it has to be BBC6 Music but a close second would be Amazing Radio. Both stations play a really varied amount of music and mostly music that I like which is a bonus. Any station that champions us little artists is good in my book.

Any live dates on the horizon?

LMMC: Yes, Feb 18^th I’m playing at the Halo Bar in Bristol and then my album launch in Cardiff on the 9^th March at Buffalo. Lots more dates being planned for later in the year with a small UK tour.

Between Destinations

by Laurence Made Me Cry on Bandcamp