South London space punks CuT have been favourites at Joyzine ever since we were tipped off about their psyche-laced garage gems by the ever wonderful people at Rocklands Music, and with a new line-up and fresh recordings on the way are going from strength to strength.
We caught up with the band ahead of their weekend gig at The Hospital Club in Central London.
It’s been a few months since we last caught up with you on The Joyzine Radio Show – what have you been up to in the meantime?
We’ve been spending all our spare time and money recording with Tuck Nelson at Goldtop studios in Tooting Bec, recording new tracks ‘Free Transmission’, ‘Make This Heaven’ and ‘Sleazer’. We’ve blooded the new line-up now, playing some cracking shows for Blow Up at St Moritz and supporting The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing at O2 Academy. And we organized, in conjunction with Momentum, a free night of music poetry and art in support of Jeremey Corbyn at Nambucca.
Talk us through the new line-up:
Jimi Scandal, the most badass guitar slinger in the west, he has the most tasteful guitar noise feedback riffery my ears have ever bled to. Gabi Garbutt on bass, the coolest thing since an all time-line lovechild of Kim Deal & Che Guevara, like a lazer sighted uzi 9mm, so sexy. Last but not least Neil Ganesha on drums, I nearly gave up on drummers, cause they are mental and get locked up or vanish. I was just gonna use a drum machine, but then Neil rocked up, he’s mad enough for the band, and really heavy on the drums, the hardest hitter I’ve ever known.
The band have always had a political edge – have this year’s events had an impact on your approach to songwriting and the live shows?
Yeah, it just feels like we have been honest and bothered to sing about issues and moments in world history that are shaping the future, when everyone else is just putting their heads in the sand and pretending that everything’s ok and the shit ain’t hitting the fan. We all need to wake up, to raise our consciousness to higher levels, to rise to the challenge of changing our society for the better and for the masses and not for the governing elites.
You’ve got a gig coming up at The Hospital Club this Saturday, which sees you link up with The Budapest XChange to play with a selection of bands from Eastern Europe – how did that come about?
The always magnificent Sam Chamberlaine, a very close friend and supporter of CuT, called me and said she had this event going on and it was perfect timing for us; our last show of the year. It’s free entry and is at The Hospital Club. There are a few tickets left, you can get yours here: thehospitalclub.com/events
With Christmas and New Year coming up, what have been some of your favourite moments of 2016 and who deserves a lump of coal in their stocking come the 25th?
Musically Grimes is my favourite, I know Gabi is obsessed with Ezra Furman. Leonard Cohen & David Bowie’s last offerings left us with something special. Obviously this is the year of Isis, Brexit, Trump, the rise of the far right, arms deals and the Yemen, Syria, proxy wars. The only ray of light out side of music for me and many others is Jeremy Corbyn and the emphatic confirmation of him as our chosen champion to take on the establishment.
Finally, what are your plans for 2017 and will you be making any resolutions? Stockpiling water and fags for the zombie apocalypse. Resolutions = destroy all fascists.
Questions by Paul Maps
Header photo by Leo Garbutt, band photo by Neil Wildblanket
Watch the video for ‘Mouth to Mouth’ below:
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