Set to release their debut EP with Island Records, Brisbane pop rock outfit The Cairos are understandably quite happy, having finally signed a deal that has been four years in the making. The EP, titled Colours Like Features, saw the band working with producer Wayne Connolly, the man behind albums from artists such as The Vines, Josh Pyke and Boy & Bear. A collection of songs rife with a bright nostalgia of youth and its heartbreak and vigour, Colours Like Features is the culmination of the band’s years of touring and previous EPs.
We caught up with drummer BC Michaels to talk about the EP, as well as their soon-to-be-released lead single We All Buy Stars not to mention the band’s touring habits and cheeky festival etiquette.
Music Feeds: So, what’s been keeping you busy?
BC Michaels: We’ve got a new single and it’s called We All Buy Stars, which is off our new EP Colours Like Features that we recorded down in Sydney with Wayne Connolly. It’s our first release with Island Records, or any label, so it’s a pretty big deal for us. It’s pretty fresh in comparison to our old songs, which are quite a few years old now. There’s a boost of enthusiasm in this new track. It might be a bit rockier than the other ones.
MF: So when can we expect the EP?
BC: We’re planning on releasing it in February of next year, I think, though I can never be sure. Things tend to change a lot in Cairos land.
MF: Fair enough. How did the whole deal with Island come together then?
BC: The first time I spoke to Island I was 17. I was asleep and they gave me a call. I had no idea who they were. We didn’t have a manager and the band was way crappier than it is now, but we went in and an AR and representative came and saw us at the now defunct Hopetoun Hotel. I don’t know if that guy liked us very much cos we didn’t speak to them for a while. We got back in contact with them when we had some new demos a few years down the track and they kept keeping in touch with us from there. After that we eventually sat down with them and made a plan for where we wanted the band to go and talked to the label about how they could fit in with that. We put pen to paper in the end and now they’re putting out this EP.
MF: So did you negotiate a lot of this yourselves or did you have management most of the time?
BC: When we first spoke to them we didn’t have a manager but then we got a manager, or actually we had two managers. Island ended up speaking to both managers, but now we only have one manager but they, the manager the label and the lawyer, all talked to each other and sorted it out. But we definitely had management for most of the time we were talking to them. I don’t think any of us have the patience to go through pages and pages of contract to read over sections and make them play in our favour. So it’s a massive help and I don’t think we could’ve done this without our manager.
MF: Other than the EP then, what are your plans for the next few months?
BC: We played heaps of shows over the past couple of years, but as of earlier this year we’ve been taking a bit of a break and want to keep that going until the end of the year, because it’s quite nice (laughs), then release another song at the start of next year and do some touring to support it. There’s nothing that we’ve announced yet, but we’ll be doing some headline shows and some pretty sweet supports as well as Big Day Out.
MF: Great, you must be excited about that then, playing Big Day Out?
BC: Yeah, this is our first time on Big Day Out. We’ve played a couple of other festivals, but Big Day Out is the one that when I went to as a kid I just couldn’t imagine playing at a festival like that. It’s probably not quite like the ads I used to see on TV when I was a kid with all the girls taking their shirts off, but it’ll be pretty good. I’m looking forward to being able to run around and indulge in some of the things you don’t get to do as a patron.
MF: You planning on getting up to some mischief then are you?
CB: Hopefully, we played at Parklife a couple of times and we ended up going through Missy Elliott’s dressing room looking for booze.
MF: Is that typical of on-the-road behaviour?
BC: Usually on tour it goes up and down. At the start, we get all excited and maybe have two beers instead of one, but as the tour goes on some people start drinking more because they’re getting bored and some are drinking less cos they’re just getting burned out.
