CULTURE CLUB
ON THE SCENE Singing praises With their laid-back aura and psych-rock sensibilities, CVC have been wowing listeners. Ahead of an upcoming show at Mash, Miriam Balanescu sits down with the band C VC (aka Church Village Collective) may seem relatively producer and team of guys working on it, as opposed
to us just messing about in our living room – so the professionalism factor has shot up.” Topics on their mind have also taken a different turn. “A lot of the songs were about money and things like that, because we were really – but still are – very skint,” says Francesco of their early music. Their new preoccupation is ‘love and loss’. “If you imagine Get Real is like a sunny beach in Los Angeles, then album number two is more of a late-night New York city cafe with neon signs,” says David. “There are people smoking in long jackets outside. It’s probably wintertime. It’s been raining, but it’s stopped. You can hear thumping 120bpm music inside.” Though they’ve now taken their music worldwide, CVC are still indebted to their Welsh roots, both personally and sonically. “It seems like a split between post-punky stuff, psychedelic rock and noise. They’re like the three peaks, if you will, of the Welsh music scene,” says David. Francesco adds: “It’s just great to see Wales in general having a music scene, which has been almost dying for the last couple of years because
31 Jan
new on the music circuit (their first EP Reel to Real was released in 2022, while debut album the similarly titled Get Real swiftly followed earlier this year), but the Welsh rockers have long been making waves on the Cardiff music scene. Despite this, the six- piece initially struggled to be taken seriously as a band – and to this day don’t take themselves too seriously, either. “The reason we called it Get Real is because Dave used to absolutely scream ‘get real’ at people down the street for a little bit,” laughs lead vocalist Francesco Orsi, as I speak to him and guitarist David Bassey. David hastens to add: “It was a play on ‘get a real job’, which is what I felt like I was being told subconsciously by my family at times,” clarifying that he didn’t really shout at elderly pedestrians. Hailing from Church Village – hence their name – the six friends collaborate on every song, working by filling in the gaps. “Hardly any of them have been just written by me, which is nice,” says David. “We only consider a song good if we’re all dancing in the studio together.”
DA IAWN CVC’s Welsh roots come through in their noisy post-punk, psych-rock tunes
When we write, it always comes from the music
venues have been closing down.”
An easygoing attitude is at the crux of CVC’s records, harnessing the laid-back approach of the Laurel Canyon school of musicians. “We’re still like 70% vibes, 30% technique,” according to Dave, explaining that their mantra is ‘peace and love’. Rather than writing with a special agenda: “When we write, it always comes from the music,” reveals Francesco.
All CVC songs to date were recorded in one session, impressively over one lone microphone. Inevitably, their next album will be a gear change. “We’re already halfway through now and it is wildly, vastly different in terms of recording, but it’s all the same songwriters in the album so it’s not that different,” says David. “We’re in a professional studio now with a professional
But the band, who play at Mash in Cambridge this month, also have another musical endowment – David’s distant relative Dame Shirley Bassey. Has he reached out? “I’ve been waiting for the right time,” he says. “I wanted to be in a position where I can get in touch without having to get through six layers of security.”
16 JANUARY 2024 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
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