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"Soldier"
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| This photo is the property of Civil Twilight. You should show it to all of your friends! They Were Made For This: Civil Twilight Talks Music, Lyrics and Life in South Africa April 23, 2010 I might just be one of the luckiest people on the planet! Why? Because I got to interview Steven, Andrew and Richard of the band Civil Twilight on April 23rd. The South African trio has been on tour supporting the April 13th release of their latest self-titled album. The album is better than great and features the single "Letters From The Sky," which was penned in studio by frontman Steven McKellar. Steven, his brother Andrew and drummer Richard Wouters met in school when they were quite young. Growing up in South Africa, the guys were influenced not only by South African artists like Johnny Clegg and Springbok Nude Girls (who, the band noted, aren't actually nude girls), but also by British and American bands like Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan and Nirvana. "We had one radio station that we used to listen to every night that had two hours of rock 'n roll," guitarist Andrew McKellar explained, "so we got introduced to Silverchair, Nirvana and Soundgarden…but it was a bit later than the rest of the world." The combination of these influences mixed with the natural talent of the band has given Civil Twilight a unique sound that any music lover can appreciate. Not only that, but they're three of the nicest guys that I've ever met. Just before they performed to a packed bar in Seattle, the guys took a break to do an interview with me outside of the funeral parlor across the street - yes, you read that right...a funeral parlor. That's how we roll at Findyourfav.com! :) Enjoy the interview, you won't regret getting into Civil Twilight! What was it like growing up in Cape Town, South Africa? Andrew: Really very beautiful. Very family orientated,with lots of good food. It’s very multicultural. Is it on the beach? Andrew: Yeah, there were probably five or six beaches just 5 minutes from our house. We grew up surfing and going to the beach every evening. What was the music like? Andrew: There’s a lot of diversity of music down there. We had a lot of influences from Europe, but not many bands came to South Africa. There was a couple of really good South African bands like Johnny Clegg and Springbok Nude Girls that we liked. Richard: They’re not actually nude girls though, they’re guys! [laughs] What kinds of British influences did you hear? Andrew: The first record that Steve and I got was Oasis’ What’s The Story Morning Glory and then we had one radio station that we used to listen to every night that had two hours of rock 'n roll. Steven: Yep, every night from 10 to 12. Andrew: So we got introduced to Silverchair and Nirvana and Soundgarden…but it was like 5 years later than the rest of the world. Steven: Yeah, back in the day in South Africa we got everything a little later than everyone else. So after grunge had left the states and they were done, we were just starting to get into it in South Africa. How did you get together and start the band?  Andrew: We went to school together and then we decided to form a band. Before we could actually play instruments, we just decided to be a band. A few weeks later we had a show so we just started practicing. We had a few songs that we were working on together. How’d you get the name Civil Twilight? Andrew: My (and Steve's) grandfather and uncle are both pilots and I love the theme of aviation. We looked at a list of aviation terms and Civil Twilight stood out. It’s a term that pilots use for a certain time of day. It sounded cool, it didn’t have a real meaning behind it for us, we just liked the name. Steven: I don’t think we were completely sold on it at first but then it started to grow on us. So how did you decide who was going to play what in the band? Richard: Yeah, there was actually a little bit of a debate about that at the beginning because Andrew and I both played the guitar and wanted to play drums. But, I won somehow…I think I was having drum lessons or something. That was the swing. Steven: I’m glad it worked out the way it did. Andrew: Yeah, I would make a terrible drummer! I’d make a terrible drummer and I think it would bore me, I’m really into the technology. What made you decide to use a bow on your guitar? Andrew: I’d seen a few guys do it before like Jimmy Page and the guitar player in Sigur Ros. I just went to the music store and picked up a bow, took it home and experimented. Do you guys have any pre-show rituals to prepare yourselves for shows? Steven: This tour we have been deprived of any time to have rituals, so we just get on stage wherever we are. But yeah, it’s nice to just have a little breather before we go out on stage. So how are you liking living in Nashville? Andrew: It’s good, good people there - a good community of musicians. We're sort of nomadic though, so I don't know how long we'll stay there. Do you miss home? Steven: I think all of us have recently started to miss home more than we had before. We’ve been in the states for about 5 ½ years now just trying to make ends meet. Now all of the sudden, I think all of us have started feeling really homesick. I don’t know what it is. Richard: I think part of it is because we’re talking about home so much in interviews now all of the sudden. We never really spoke of it and I’d never really thought about it that much before. Now people are asking us about it and I’m like ‘yeah, it really is cool!’ What’s your writing process? Richard: We spend a lot of time just kind of making sounds together and trying to develop them into songs. We’ve always kind of done that – we just start jamming. Often we’ll record ourselves playing and see if we come up with anything good. A lot of songs have been written that way. Steve also writes a lot on his own. Steve, do you write mostly on piano? Steven: Piano and guitar. What kinds of things inspire you to write? Steven: It could be anything, but you know when you know. It’s impossible to describe, but you know if an idea or feeling is worth pursuing. Something just clicks. I think we all know that feeling, but we feel it in different ways. It feels like each song has some sort of soul or character. 
Andrew (center), Steven (left) and I just near The High Dive in Seattle. Photo by Heather Fitzpatrick. Have you ever written a song about a specific person? Steven: That’s a difficult question because I think that I’ve written songs inspired by people but they end up being vague enough that whenever I perform it, I could sing it about any person. So yes, I have written songs about certain people but they usually end up being very vague so no one really knows who it is or what it’s about. What does your album, Civil Twilight, mean to you? Andrew: The songs are pretty old but I still think it’s an honest album. We recorded it fairly quick and we wrote a lot of the songs in the studio. The producers gave us a lot of freedom just to play so we did. We recorded a lot of stuff live. The song “Human” was recorded completely live. “Letters From The Sky” was written in the studio. We had the music down and then Steve started writing the lyrics for it. Richard: It was a really great process recording that record. We’d been in the studio a few times before and never really had a good experience. We worked with producers and it was just frustrating. We had been living in L.A., then we got out of L.A. to this little town in South Carolina. We went into the studio and just did what we wanted to do. It was amazing, we had such a great time. We wrote a lot in the studio which we had never done before. Quite a few of those songs were written in the studio. When I listen to the record I think it’s cool, it’s got a vibe and we captured what we wanted to. Steve writes all the lyrics and I’m a big fan of his lyrics, there’s a lot in them. I agree! Speaking of lyrics, what inspired the song “Soldier”? Steven: It’s one of those weird things. It just comes out, it’s hard to explain – but it’s what you put in. What you feel yourself is what you’re going to produce. I was watching CNN years ago, flipping through channels, and they were showing what was part about the war. It’s not a topical song or subject. The subject is universal, people have been “warring” since the beginning of time and that’s what this song is about; it’s about the desire to fight, but the desire to have home and the tear between those two worlds. Everyone feels it, whether you fight in a war or you fight in a job or whatever. I was trying to capture that. It just kind of came out. I wrote the lyrics in about ten minutes, just kind of spilled them out. It’s not topical, but it’s just sort of how I feel. If you guys could tour with anyone, who would you tour with? Andrew: Elbow. Richard: Radiohead, just because I want to watch them every night! Steven: I’ll say Oasis, because I want to see what they get up to. Even though they just broke up unfortunately. What kinds of books and movies are you into right now? Richard: Some of my favorites are: Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov and The Idiot are all amazing. I also like Tolstoy... I like stuff like that that makes you think and is good literature. ...C.S. Lewis books. “Good Will Hunting” is one of my favorite movies. I like inspirational movies. I also liked “Crash.” Andrew: On the road I really enjoy magazines and blogs. As far as movies go, I really like this French movie called “The Chorus.” I like “There Will Be Blood,” it has a great soundtrack. Anything that’s visually appealing and has some sort of emotion to it I really enjoy. Steven: I love reading books, but not on the road. I love reading magazines on the road. I like Q Magazine and one that Andrew found called Dazed and Confused, which is a really good arts magazine out of Europe. Do you do art besides music? Steven: Actually yeah! I just started picking it up again. I used to paint when I was a kid and I recently got a new paint kit. What kinds of things do you paint? Steven: I want to be more…childlike. That’s the point, but I have a tendency to try and be perfection which is not good. But there are exercises for that. If you had to pick three albums that every music lover should love, what would you choose? Andrew: What’s The Story Morning Glory, OK Computer and I really really like The National's Boxer and maybe Elbow’s Cast of Thousands. Steven: That’s a tough one! For me, when I heard Radiohead’s OK Computer, like Andrew, I thought it was amazing. Definitely Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind. Bruce Springsteen, Darkness On the Edge of Town. I think that's a good mix of records. Richard: Well OK Computer has to be on the list. Then, Led Zeppelin IV and Miles Davis' Kind of Blue.  Our great photo after the interview. Perfect evening! Photo by Heather Fitzpatrick. Check out Civil Twilight's official website for more information on the band and their upcoming releases! Check out Civil Twilight performing "Letters From The Sky" live in Chicago:
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Civil Twilight
Discography:
iTunes live from Soho
//track list//
anybody out there (live)
soldier
(live)
perfect stranger (live)
save yourself
(live)
trouble (live)
next to me (live)
snow(live)
teardrop (live)
letters from the sky (live)
what you want (live)
civil twilight
//track list//
anybody out there
soldier
next to me
letters from the sky
on the surface
trouble
human
perfect stranger
what you want
something she said
quiet in my town
run dry
save yourself
stolen
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