Noise-pop band, Crocodiles are our featured artist of the week. The San Diego natives recently released their third full-length record, Endless Flowers and are now having another tour around the US after wrapping up a stint in Europe. We got to speak with Brandon Welchez of the band prior to their headlining show at the Black Cat this past Saturday, speaking about the process of creating their latest record, becoming a five-piece band, favorite bands and more!
Being a band from San Diego, how did the music scene out there influence you all to make the music you’re making now? Who are some of those bands past and current that impacted you all?
San Diego has a great history of weirdo art punk type stuff and growing up around that definitely informed what we do. Most of it is a bit screamier than crocodiles but the idea of applying the weird to music definitely stuck with us. We grew up loving Antioch Arrow, Clikitat Ikatowi, Heroin, Vicious Ginks – stuff like that.
With “Endless Flowers” being released back in June – what has the reception been to your third record so far?
Overall the reception has been great. The kids seem to like it and that’s the most important thing. Obviously there have been critics here and there who simply aren’t cool enough to get it but that’s their tough shit.
How has becoming a now five-piece band affected the process of creating this new record?
It enabled us to perform it basically live in the studio with far less overdubs than in the past. Also to have more brains in the room was nice, more people to bounce ideas off of.
The album was recorded in Berlin – how did the city itself influence the songwriting and recording process for the album?
Most of the music was written before we got to Berlin. I think only Welcome Trouble and You Are Forgiven were written there. I can’t really say specifically how Berlin influenced the recording but it definitely did. I think just to be immersed in another culture is influential in and of itself.
Were things any easier creating this record, as it was your third time around? What would you say you all did differently this time than before?
Yes, this was the easiest one to make so far. We had a lot of material to work with so there wasn’t the stress of trying to write under pressure. We produced it ourselves too, that was different.
You all recently wrapped up a European tour and starting another go in the US soon – were there any interesting or crazy occurrences while playing out there?
Haha, yes there are always crazy experiences but my mother could be reading this so I can’t really divulge much. I can tell you that at one show in France there was a German Shepherd wearing lipstick hanging out in the crowd. That was odd.
You’re heading out to DC on Saturday and have played here before – how has the experiences from those past shows been for the band?
DC has been pretty good to us so far. We had a few rough ones when we first started but for at least the last 3 years our DC shows have been really fun.
Who is your favorite band right now?
My favorite contemporary band? Dum Dum Girls, Dirty Beaches, the Fresh and Onlys, Deerhunter. There is a ton of great music out there right now.
What do you all have planned for the rest of 2012?
After this US tour we head back to Europe. That will take us to mid December and then we’re off for a few weeks. We have a lot of new stuff written so I’m hoping we can get in a studio soon…
For more information on Crocodiles and their upcoming shows, visit their website, like them on facebook, and tweet them @killcrocodiles!
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