Start Listening To: CVC
We spoke with Rough Trade’s AOTM January CVC and learnt more about their debut album Get Real.
For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from, and a little bit about the music that you make?
We are a 6 piece collective from Church Village in sunny South Wales. Our music spans the genres from hard rock, funk, psychedelic, blues and incorporates little dashes of any other genres you can care to name, except hardcore death metal. We take influence from the doo wop sound of the 50s, the Merseybeat sound of the 60s, the Motown sound of the 70s, the Hall and Oates sound of the 80s, the G-Funk gangsta rap era of the 90s and the Chico Time sound of the 00’s
How did you form?
Half of us went to primary school together, and the other half were fused on to our initial acoustic outfit, to form a fully operational Death Star.
We love your new single ‘Sophie’ can you tell us more about the lyrics?
Sophie is about Nanial’s girlfriend Kate, and how she’s a great singer, but suffered from a terrible case of stage fright!
How are you feeling about releasing your debut album?
We’ve been so excited to release this ever since we started recording it in Elliot’s kitchen during the great lockdown.We’re all really proud of it and can’t wait for people to here wheat we’ve been sitting on.
Can you tell us where you got the name CVC?
The CVC name came from seeing the letters ‘CVC’ graffitied all over Church Village, and when it came to naming the band it just seemed right to name it after that. We never did find out what it meant so we’re decided on Church Village Collective.
Can you tell us more about how you produce your music?
Well the only music we’ve produced is our first album and EP, Get Real and Real to Reel respectively. All of which was recorded in two locations. Location A was our drummers shed, where all the drums were recorded, using just a kick mic, a snare mic, and two overheads.
Location B was Elliot’s living room/kitchen where everything else was recorded on one Rode condenser mic. We took a ‘more is more’ approach with this album since we had no producer or studio time constraints.
A lot of the songs on the album we were writing as we went along, often chopping up drums parts to suit the new arrangements. Very DIY, quite rough, but came out just right…for us.
What’s the best thing about being in a band together?
I think we can all agree that one of the best things about being in a band is playing cards in the van. We entered a whist league, with money and group-chat-nickname medals to be won.
The winner of the league, which usually takes around 10 hours to complete, wins a fiver off everybody, and a gold medal next to their name on the band group chat, a prize much more rewarding than the money.
Other than that, people enjoying themselves at our shows is a number one priority for us, and is the most rewarding part of being in a band.
Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s important to you?
Speaking for myself (David), I’m still listening to Blood Sugar Sex Magik by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
The very hard funk/punk nature of the record always resonated with me when I was learning how to play drums and guitar, and I still get the same excitement from it when I listen now. The documentary that came out with it titled ‘Funky Monks’ also inspired the recording of our debut album, in that it was recorded in a house (granted ours wasn’t jimi hendrix’s old mansion in the Hollywood hills, but still), and that is was very sporadic and a spur of the moment-whatever sounds good-bashing pieces of metal together and calling it percussion-experience.
Special tracks on that album include ‘The Power of Equality’, ‘Sir Psycho Sexy’ and ‘Breaking the Girl’.
Why should people listen to CVC?
You should listen to CVC if you’re up for a good time and you love guitar music. Something to whisk you away from the unbending monotony of everyday life. Ps our live set is even better.
If your debut album were a film which would it be?
I would have to say Star Wars IV: A New Hope, since the budget was almost non existent (however much Lloyds bank we’re allowing us to go into our overdrafts), very DIY (the definition of do it yourself), and that it’s the first chapter in what we feel will be a monumental saga.
What advice would you give for anyone trying to achieve a similar sound to your music?
Lots and lots and lots of reverb, lots and lots and lots of harmonies, and lots and lots and lots of animated ad-libbed vocals.
What do you love right now?
Anyone who’s pre ordered our DEBUT ALBUM GET REAL THAT COMES OUT ON JANUARY 13th 2023
What do you hate right now?
I hate the price of houses in Cardiff, since we can no longer afford to live there as a band.
Is there any new music from 2022 you have been enjoying?
A stand out for us at CVC was Katy J Pearson. Always thought she had great tunes, and we saw them live in London and the band were so tight I went away from the gig saying ‘we need to be as tight as KJPs band’
Is there anything you would like to share with our readers?
We would like to share the message of Peace and Love to all humankind this Christmas time.
