When it comes to buzz bands in Australia, you don’t get much buzzier than Sydney-based Cloud Control. The band have recently released the highly acclaimed Bliss Release, which they celebrated with a sell out tour, a massive Splendour set and that’s just the beginning… Drummer Ulrich Lenffer took some time out to chat with Larry heath and all this and more.
So you haven’t really stopped for a while now!
No we haven’t!
But you’ve got a bit of a break through September by the looks of it…
Yep, yep. We told ourselves we’d have a month off, but we’ve been invariably doing band related stuff anyway.
What has this involved lately?
Well we’ve all been working a lot, but we just did another video clip the other day, for the first single we’ll be releasing in the UK, “Meditation Song #2”. It should be released there before November.
Have you organized a tour over there yet?
Yeah we’re going back in November for a short stint, and then we’re hopefully touring with Local Natives and Temper Trap as well.
They’re such a hot band right now, the Local Natives.
Yeah everyone’s going crazy for them! When we were over in the UK, they were going nuts for ‘em. They had a secret show they announced about an hour before it happened, and then 500 people turned up. It was nuts.
You never have that sort of stuff happening down here!
No! But I guess we just don’t have the density of population to make that stuff really possible, unless they’re a massive artist.
Yeah unless The Presets or Tiesto rock up somewhere no one seems to care! But your guys most recent tour went gangbusters – can we talk about that?
You have pivotal moments in every bands life, and that was definitely one of them for us… when we realise that this show sold out and that show sold out… you realise that this is actually sustainable now. We’ve actually got fan bases that will actually come in each city, regardless of how many times we play there. So that was a really fun tour. It made it all the better that we were playing with Richard In Your Mind, because it was just like we were holidaying with mates.
I have to say, Richard In Your Mind are better than ever these days.
Yeah, definitely. Ever since Spod joined, he just adds this wild energy to it all, and everyone feeds of him I reckon.
And I managed to catch you at Splendour in the Grass. The tent was PACKED! How’d you enjoy that experience?
It was incredible. We were worried actually. We were there the day before, watching some other bands thinking that we’d be lucky to fill half the space… it was such a massive stage! And then as it turned out, it was pretty full. They were going nuts! I can’t really remember the last time I was nervous, but this one it was weird… I was buggin’. I couldn’t believe how many people there were. But yeah, it was exhilarating. It justified five years of hard work.
The pay off! Sold out shows, touring with The Magic Numbers, Splendour, your debut LP out and killing it… and essentially headlining the Manning Birthday gig next week…
Yeah, I’m looking forward to that show. Manning was where it all started really! It’s a good venue.
We’re of course here to talk about the Coaster Festival, which you’re playing next month in Gosford. Now you were talking about Splendour before, and how you got a great reaction but didn’t expect it. Will you be heading to Coaster with a bit more confidence in those respects?
Yeah well Splendour was the first big festival we’d ever played and the first big crowd we’d ever had. It’s still new… just something you’ve got to get used to I guess! But Coaster Festival I’m particularly looking forward to, mainly because of Cypress Hill, but also because we’ve never played to the beaches area before. We’ve done Newcastle a few times… but yeah, never anywhere like Gosford. So it’ll be good to see what that crowd’s like. And Cypress Hill just makes it all worthwhile.
Imagine if you all jammed!
Ah… I’d lose it!
We spoke of the pay off… have you had any of those ‘pinch yourself’ moments?
Well we just signed the deal in the UK, and that was a pinch yourself moment, because we never thought we’d be able to legitimately get over to the UK and try and live there for a while. But this legitimized that in a real REAL way. “Oh, we’ll probably be living the UK next year!” It’s all a bit scary actually…
And the promise seems really good over there, things are moving?
Yeah. We’re going to give it a go regardless. I’m really excited, because the dudes we signed with seem like they’ve got a really solid plan and strategy behind the things that they do. So I have a lot of confidence in what they do, and in us as well.
And I imagine that you’ll be spending most of next year overseas then? Will you try and make it over to SXSW?
Yeah that’s the plan! I hear that if you go to SXSW without any sort of buzz or anything around you, you get lost in the sea of a thousand other bands. So we were waiting until we had some sort of backer before we went over. Something that could actually get some sort of notice. So depending on whether or not we have that at the time, I think we’ll be doing it! We’re looking to release the album in the UK around February, so the timing could be right…
Now talking a bit more about the live shows, I’ve read that your favourite song to play is “My Fear #2”. Is that still the case?
I think I’ve moved on since then, probably to “Nothing in the Water…”, mainly because I’m going nuts on the drums.
I’ve noticed a definite progression in that song… it gets a little bit more epic every time I hear it.
Yeah it’s a relatively new song, so we’ve still been working it out. Now I feel like we’ve got it down pretty well. The problem has been the only time we have to practice these days is when we’re actually on the stage… and shows are definitely not practice. So we’re trying to make our set tighter. The tighter our set gets, the better that song will get. It’s definitely a trickier one.
You’re off to One Movement festival later this year as well. How has Perth been for the band in the past?
We had a really good leg of Perth last tour. The shows went great and the crowds were great. So I’m excited about One Movement to be honest. Plus there’s lots of cool industry there. We want to get to Japan, and there’s some dudes coming down from Japan to One Movement. So hopefully they get to see us.
It all seems like you’re pretty damn close to living off this music thing…
Yeah we’re pretty much going 9 to 5 next year. It’ll be our full time job. As long as it keep being fun, it will never be a real job. A fairy tale…
And I’m going to end this chat with the question I ask all the drummers I interview: what’s your favourite percussion instrument?
You know what, I’ve never played one, but you know those little fish that you scrape with the thing? (Ed: A Guiro…) Oh man, the people that play those… that’s probably why I like them. It’s hilarious. It’s a very Latin thing. They’re so into it. Good on you for partying hard, with a fish. Either that or a Castanets… another thing that looks weird while you play it, but makes a cool noise.
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Don’t miss Cloud Control when they play Coaster Festival in Gosford on September 25th!
