AN INTERVIEW WITH ROSS JARMAN OF THE CRIBS

Last week I interviewed Ross Jarman, drummer of the punk infused pop rock band, The Cribs, and chatted about their new album, the upcoming tour, and exchanged a few anecdotal Halloween stories over a transatlantic shoddy cell connection. Fresh off a few gigs in Korea, the band was taking some time off in their hometown of Wakefield, England before heading out on the second leg of the tour to promote their fourth studio album, Ignore the Ignorant.

The Cribs are a family run business of sorts, and up until this album the band consisted of Ross on drums and his older, twin brothers Ryan and Gary on vocals and guitar duties. Ross told me their that hometown is so small that the only reason it's a town at all is thanks to the presence of their Cathedral. Evidently it's a British rule of thumb, "anywhere with a Cathedral gets to be an official town". Since we were on the topic of religious institutions, Ross also shared with me his past Halloween festivities, "some f
riends threw a gig in an old chapel down by the river, it was really creepy, there was loud music and lots of beer". Evidently, the music was too loud or the beer was too plentiful because there will be no such soiree this year. I told Ross he should try some good old-fashioned trick or treating but he told me Yeah, I'd probably get arrested.

The three brothers have officially added a new member to the lineup this year, Johnny Marr, aka guitarist of a little band called The Smiths. Ross told me they met Marr at "the Glastonbury Festival and have been jamming together for the last couple years". For a band made up of three brothers I asked if there were any sibling rivalry issues that needed to be resolved in front of their new, no relation member. Ross assured me they're "all grown up" and even though they "know how to push each other's buttons" they work hard on keeping the peace. Sounds like a dream come true: traveling around with your brothers, playing rock n roll, hanging out with music legends, but Ross told me his favorite part about their job is "playing live shows". He said even though this time around they added some interesting touches in the studio with recording methods, for the most part they record their tracks live. I asked him what he was most pleased with on Ignore the Ignorant an
d he told me "I'm proud of the little details on the new album, right down to the album artwork", and he cited "City of Bugs" and "Save Your Secrets" as his personal favorites on the record. Ignore the Ignorant debuted in the UK at #8 making it their highest-ranking album to date.

The Cribs just wrapped up their UK tour and will be jumping over to this side of the pond for a few dates in LA and New York in mid November. More US dates are in the works, and Ross assured me they put on quite a live show, so definitely keep an eye on that, and check out their new album out now. - amelia trask