How did Car Crash Hearts come together?

Car Crash Hearts would not have been conceived if it wasn’t for Facebook. It started by me putting up a status message on my Facebook [profile] one day saying that I was bored with playing with other bands and wanted to put a band together. And it so happened that the exact same members who are with me now are the ones who replied. And we went for a jam and everyone got along really well and here we are today!

So social media is very important to you as a band?

It makes things so much easier, even compared to just five years back. It’s really easy to reach people now, so there’s no reason to say that you can’t find an audience. It’s definitely a really good tool…

But how do you turn a web presence into income for the band?

Once you’ve got that audience I think it’s down to your creativity how you build from there. If you want to you can do it the conventional way, selling your CDs to the crowd you make. Some bands have decided to focus more on merchandising. There’s no set way.

What attracted you to the idea of doing Heineken Green Space?

We wanted to do a video and we were looking at different ways to do it. Plus, it’s Heineken. So we just thought we’d apply and we got it. It was a spur of the moment thing, and when we got it we were like ‘Wow’.

Is it something you’d recommend other people to apply for?

Definitely. Everyone should try, there’s certainly nothing to lose. Music is like any other art form and it helps enhance life, I think it’s important that brands should give back to the arts and add to that cultural exchange.

Coming back to the band, how would you describe the band’s music?

Car Crash Hearts is basically a power pop band. It’s a predominantly rock, with a bit of punk. But what really distinguishes power pop is the big choruses. A lot of the songs I hear on the radio are not anthemic enough, so I wanted to try and recapture that. So with most of our songs we have an anthem like chorus.

Where does that direction come from? What do the members bring to the band?

Mostly it’s a collaborative effort but in terms of the music our singer Collin he comes up with a lot of the music. He’ll bring the basic chords and then we jam and put our own arrangements on it. I write the lyrics for most of the songs, so it’s very collaborative.

Isn’t that unusual, the singer writes the music and the guitarist writes the lyrics for the singer?

When we first started it was a bit of a problem as Collin would say that he doesn’t feel what I’m writing. Normally before I write something I talk to Collin and tell him the story, tell him how I feel, so he can get into it. Being a singer you have to really believe what you’re singing. So sometimes there’s a bit of dialogue. It’s a group effort: we all sit down as a group of friends and see what happens from there. There’s nothing forced on anyone [laughs].

Are you surprised at how positive the reactions to the band have been, right from the start?

Very surprised. Last Xmas – we played our first show in Xmas 2008, so last Xmas was our one-year anniversary – I told the band that for a group that’s been around for such a short time what we’ve achieved is incredible. So we’re very blessed to have come this far. I’m very happy about that.

The song that your Heineken Green Space is built around is Just Another Face in the Crowd. What are you hoping to achieve with the single?

I hope people connect with it. Whatever you do in life, regardless of where you’re working, if you don’t like what you’re doing you may feel trapped. The song is all about trying to break away from that and doing something fresher or something you love. Just so you can feel good about what you’re doing. So I really hope that people take it to heart and – on the business side – that radio plays it and it helps to accelerate the band.

And when will we see a CCH album?

We’re done recording. We’ve just sent it off for print. So, we’re expecting to have copies ready for Heineken Green Space. It’s a six-song EP, called Learn To Drive.

How serious is CCH? Is it a hobby or something more than that?

Right now, we are all just doing music so I guess we’re pretty serious about the band. Hopefully we can earn a living just by playing music.

So, what kind of challenges do you face?

There’s a mass divide between the newer bands and the more established ones. The more established ones don’t have to worry about the bills and putting food on the table but the new bands don’t have that. So there’s that period of struggle to reach that level. I think our biggest obstacle at this point is balancing finding money to live and pushing the band to where we want it to be. A lot of other musicians I know drop off halfway.

What about competition? Does the success of bands like Bunkface make it easier or harder for you?

I don’t think there should be any serious competition – just a friendly rivalry between each bands. I don’t think it’s worth being negative about other bands because the scene is so small. So, no matter who makes it, or who is the hottest band of the moment it only benefits us all in the long run. The more quality bands that we have, the more people are going to spend money in the scene. Then we’ll have more places to play and the scene will be healthier. So, if anything the success of other bands should make it easier.

Beyond platforms like Green Space, what else needs to happen to help the music scene move forward?

I think bands need more guidance. Most of the musicians I know are talented musically but we all lack the business sense to be able to cut deals compared to things in the West where they have managers and all that. And you can’t hire a manager if you’re not making money. So it comes back to a chicken and egg story: if the bands here were a bit more business-savvy I think that would help the scene in general. We’ve got to be smart about it.

Event Information:

Heineken Green Space served by Car Crash Hearts

Date: Saturday 8 May 2010

Time: 7pm – 10pm

Venue: Milk, 18, Jalan Liku, Off Jalan Riong, Bangsar, 59100 Kuala Lumpur

Tickets: By invitation only (to find out how to get invited follow Car Crash Hearts on twitter (via @CarCrashHearts_  ).

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