CrashCarBurn not afraid to change their tune
Successful rock band shines its Headlights on slowing down and staying committed, writes Helen Herimbi
WHEN I sit down with Garth Barnes, he’s in a good mood. He’s just come back from an annual trip to Mozambique which started out as a trek to a friend’s wedding. Matrimony seems to be a theme of the conversation, but it’s only after the interview is over that I realise, commitment might actually be the word that resonates the most with the lead vocalist and guitarist of CrashCarBurn.
After nearly a decade in the music industry as a part of alternative rock band, Tweak, Barnes co-created CrashCarBurn in 2006 and recently, the band put out their fourth album, Headlights. CrashCarBurn includes Barnes, Brendan “Bugsy” Barnes (drummer), Etienne Janse van Rensburg (bassist) and Jaco Brittz (backing vocalist and guitarist).
“There’s still one lone ranger in the band who is still on the hunt, but the rest of us are married,” Barnes tells me. This comes after we’re discussing the first single off Headlights, Summer Forever. The video features comedian, Glen Biderman-Pam as a nerdy boyfriend who hangs out with his dog while the band is knee-deep in a pool, playing their instruments.
“We chose Summer Forever as a first single because the style of it is actually quite similar to our old stuff, so it was a nice stepping stone onto our new tracks,” Barnes explains. “But basically, I got married and what it taught me was that you can make a decision that can permanently change you for the better. Whether it’s getting married or taking a new job, you can do something that can change your life forever.” One of the stand out tracks on Headlights is
A Beautiful Year, which – you guessed it – was penned walking down the aisle. The idea was sparked by a friend’s request for a few musicians to record original songs as an anniversary gift to his significant other.
“He managed to get 10 guys to write 10 songs, and we recorded all of them in one day, and in terms of a first year anniversary present, how can you top that,” Barnes laughs. “At that point, I wasn’t married yet, but I had to envisage what it would be like to be married for a whole year. So that’s where that song kind of came from. Now, having been married for a year, I think I got it pretty close.”
While that may be true, Barnes’ commitment to his band has allowed him to grow in ways that only a creative process can. For instance, it would have been easy for CrashCarBurn to follow a formula that allows them to release another This City Needs
A Hero – their seminal debut album. But, they’ve done so much since 2006. The albums, Long Live
Tonight and Gravity followed, as well as some tweaks to the formation.
“It’s been, like six years since the last full length album, but that’s not to say we haven’t been releasing singles. The temptation was there to take those singles, just put them on our album, and call that the album, but that’s such a different way of writing.
“With singles, you can write specifically for radio or about what’s current, but the problem with doing that is that you then miss out on those gems that would never be commercially popular, but are still good songs. When you release an album, it’s a good snapshot of where you are as an artist, and maybe some of those songs will have a good shot on radio. Those are the songs that fans appreciate and will grow to love, so we really wanted to do a full-length album.”
Although Britz was not an original CrashCarBurn member, he has been playing with the band for a long time. I’m also curious about what role he plays in the snapshot of where CrashCarBurn was when they made Headlights.
“Jaco has been in the band for four years now, but I always joke with him and tell him he’s on probation, and his probation is almost up,” Barnes chuckles.
“The big difference for us was the way we wrote these songs. So CrashCarBurn has always been a very live band, and the way we’ve always approached the writing is we go into the band room in Victory Park, and just start writing, and we’d say: ‘Cool, this is going to be fun to play live.’ What that resulted in is a lot of very loud, energetic music. Which is great. And it worked for us.
“But this time around, we were like: Instead of thinking ‘how does the song feel to play?’ Let’s sit in the studio and write it. Which is very much: What does it sound like? How does it sound? Does it work well for the song? Because of that shift, we experimented a lot with electronic sounds. The only goal was: How does this sound?
“That resulted in a lot more chilled, relaxed songs. Usually it’s like balls-to-the-wall for three minutes. But, if we put out an album that’s the same as the last albums, then what’s the point?”
This mellow sound does not mean the album is devoid of any lyrical substance. On songs like We Sing, Barnes sings about drowning in ambition and having ocean-big dreams.
“The song is about the journey over all of these years of writing music,” he explains. “Sure, our motives have changed. We did want to be kings of the world, the next U2. But as we’ve gone on, we’ve realised what it’s actually about is making music. And if it wasn’t, we would have stopped long ago. That’s what it’s about. We’ll make music ‘til we can’t anymore.”
CrashCarBurn’s new album, Headlights, is available at physical and online music