Sounds Like: Black Honey, Superfood, Metronomy
This month’s Band of The Month are acclaimed softcore-psych group CHILDCARE. We’ve been big fans of these guys for a while now and their energy onstage is unmatched. With their sophomore album due for release in September and a string of bangers already under their belt, we decided to catch up with their fabulous frontman Ian and find out what’s in-store for this fantastic foursome next. Spoiler: it contains sandwiches.
Huge thanks to our gal Kelly Morrison for this amazing illustration as well!
Hey CHILDCARE! How are you guys doing?
We are doing very well thank you for asking, how are you?
We’re not too shabby thank you! Please introduce yourselves to our lovely readers:
I am Ian Cares, lead singer of CHILDCARE.
Hey Ian! How have you been coping with these continuously mad times? Are you still based in South London?
Yeah we are. Well it’s been a long unusual time hasn’t it really, I feel like there are already so many different parts to it that it’s hard to sum up, but overall we’ve been good. We were able to record an album last Summer and have had some very good writing and beer pong sessions (except with gin and tonics, aperols etc; we aren’t animals) along the way. Obviously can’t wait to play some gigs again, this is probably the longest I’ve gone without performing since about age 6.
You recently released your single ‘Almost’ and we’re pretty obsessed – can you tell us a bit about the story behind the release?
Well that was written with a friend at about 6 in the morning after a big night. It was a weird mixture of being quite a painful and exhausting experience to be up at that time (I’m not good with late nights) but equally, the song just flowed out of us. That rarely happens and when it does, it’s usually alright.
We’ve been pretty obsessed with you since the release of your EP ‘Made Simple’ way back in 2017 and we’re so chuffed with how far you’ve come since then! How do you think your sound has progressed since the early days?
That EP is us at our poppiest, then I think with ‘Wabi-Sabi‘ we went a bit slower and a weirder. With the new album it’s more upbeat like the early stuff, but still more leftfield and less predictable than then.
‘Wabi-Sabi’ is OOZING with bangers – do you have a favourite song from that release?
It’s funny I haven’t listened to it in so long, you really move on emotionally from something once it’s out. Maybe ‘Big Man‘, that still feels good to play.
That is a banger for sure. And you have a new album coming out soon! What can you tell us about the upcoming release?
We recorded it with Dom Monks who’s worked with people like Big Thief and Laura Marling before, and he got us to record in a much ‘liver’ way than we had done since ‘Made Simple’. So I was singing my vocals at the same time as the band. It requires a real shift in thinking because you have to zoom out and try and appreciate the whole vibe instead of the tuning on your parts and whether you’re in tune or not, but it definitely worked and I think we’ll be recording like that again.
What do you miss the most about live music?
Feeling like a god on stage.
Yassss, love that energy. What’s your songwriting process like?
It varies but generally I write on bass guitar and get some sort of groove which I then build melodies and lyrics on top of. I often send ideas round and get Emma in particular to send back ideas and vocal parts which then work their way into the demo. Then we get together and play over them and record a band demo. I tend to work on these a lot and get them to quite a high and finished standard so that we know what we’re doing when we come to record them properly. If you work them out less, then you can get some really good things happening in the studio, like with Almost, which was only half finished, and then you can have an experience like we had with a couple of others on the album where you end up doing about 4 versions and it’s stressful.
Describe your sound in five words:
Only need two. Slink rock.
Who would you say are your biggest influences?
Oh all sorts, too many to name. Rock, hip hop and r’n’b artists over decades. Lyrically, I try to make my words fun and weird so in that vein maybe Talking Heads or LCD Soundsystem are an influence.
What advice would you give artists starting out in the music industry?
Work very hard and enjoy every sandwich.
Are there any emerging London-based artists you’d recommend?
I’m not that up on new artists to be honest. System of a Down?
Haha you might be a bit behind the times there… What are your plans for the rest of 2021?
Put this album out, tour in Autumn. Write the rest of album 3. Get a sexier body.
Lush. Any final pearls of wisdom?
Enjoy every sandwich.
Oh we always do. Thanks so much CHILDCARE! We love you guys xxx
Thanks for the support.