Formed officially in 2021 (having first played together a decade earlier), Cardinal Black call themselves "the oldest new band in the world".
With their freshly released second album Midnight At The Valencia drawing widespread praise, the Welsh quartet are currently on tour in the US, with a 14-date British and Irish tour in the autumn.
Most bands have a lifetime to write their debut album but then just months, or even weeks, to come up with a follow-up. In their second lease of life Cardinal Black found themselves in a rather different situation.
Chris Buck: The way the first record was made over the space of ten years, it felt like it just happened. So there was a little nervousness, but it [the new album] wasn’t a difficult record to make, actually.
Tom Hollister: I quite like the challenge of writing to time restrictions because it focuses my brain. Otherwise I can be a bit sloppy.
Your 2022 debut January Came Close took the band from playing university bars to sharing a Royal Abert Hall stage with Peter Frampton, so the pressure was on.
Buck: The biggest issue we faced [with the debut] was making it sound like a coherent record, as it was written over such a prolonged period of time. We felt it was nice to have a blank canvas and to write something completely new from scratch.
In around a year, Cardinal Black went from headlining London venues The Lexington (200 people) to Islington Assembly Hall (890) and Shepherd’s Bush Empire (2,000). Did it feel like the thing took on a life of its own?
Buck: A little bit, yeah. I try not to over-analyse these things and just live in the moment, but it does feel like things are gathering momentum.
If, as you have claimed, the first album was made for yourselves, did its success in any way inhibit the creative process when it came to making Midnight At The Valencia?
Buck: Do you mean to deliver more of the same? No. I want to make music that I would like to listen to. The biggest difference with this album is that it wasn’t self-produced. It was nice to have that outside ear to keep us on the right track.
Hollister: Realising that there was an audience for us provided the freedom to do a little more. If anything this record is slightly more Americana and a bit less bluesy, but we certainly didn’t feel hemmed in by expectations. Fundamentally it’s still guitar-based rock.
Lyrically the new record visits some dark spots.
Hollister: Yeah. For the most part it addresses times that myself, Chris or Adam [Roberts, drums] have gone through. That’s life, there are deaths, divorces and children born. It can be good to get all of that out of your system.
Buck: Especially for a man who would cry over an Andrex advert.
Hollister: Yeah. When we’re playing live I can get a bit soppy. But there you go, that’s how I am.
The record is charged with emotion. Do Cardinal Black consider themselves a rock band, or a soul band with blues-rock tendencies?
Hollister: Blues, soul, rock. It’s all of those.
Buck: There are times when I wish we could be more easily compartmentalised.
Hollister: As long as he’s playing and I’m singing, it’s going to sound like Cardinal Black.
Tom, who are your vocal heroes?
Hollister: Strangely, I’m attracted to people that don’t have what you might call classically great voices. I like Mark Knopfler and Eric Clapton. In a more obvious sense I’m a big fan of Otis Redding. A more modern example would be Paulo Nutini, but my favourite artist of all time is probably John Martyn. I do love a tortured genius.
With the debut being self-released, and having spoken of prizing the band’s independent status, Cardinal Black are now labelmates of Blackberry Smoke on the US label Thirty Tigers. Why did you pick them?
Buck: I still consider us a DIY band because almost everything still comes from us. As much as they signed us and there’s an A&R process, Thirty Tigers are a service label. They market and distribute us, but the decisions that would ordinarily be dictated to a band by a record label are still ours. Everything about them, including their roster, feels very natural.
We often hear horror stories of British bands venturing to the States, but your most recent tour was a triumph. For example in Los Angeles you sold out The Troubadour.
Buck: That’s one of the most iconic venues in the world, and, unsurprisingly, we didn’t get a response when we emailed them. So Slash stepped in, and he also wrote a letter of recommendation that helped with our US visas [Chris and Slash have been friends for several years – Ed]. The place sold out, which is an indication of how the wind was blowing. We’re going back out there again this summer.
Following your visit to the States, the band then have 14 domestic dates in October and November. Why should people buy a ticket?
Buck: Because we’re fucking amazing! [laughs].
Hollister: Seriously, we are fundamentally a live band. We’re about to load in our gear to a hundred-capacity record store, but we love that every bit as much as the Royal Albert Hall. It’s about seeing the faces of the people. We’ve got a growing fan base whose loyalty has taken us from The Lexington to Shepherd’s Bush. Buy a ticket because if you love the record, hopefully you’ll love the live show even more.
For Cardinal Black tour dates, check the band's website.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
