Careless Sons are a three-piece indie rock-pop band from London and we spoke to Dickon Collinson of the band about their new single ‘Don’t Make Me Do This Again’, a song he describes as being about perseverance. “It’s about being in a relationship that neither want to leave nor be in and being in it out of convenience.
“And I guess beyond that you can apply that to work, being in a band, that sort of thing.”
In terms of the song, the inspiration came to the band from a more personal level.
“As a band we always had grand aspirations that we’d write protest songs that would change the world but we soon came to realise that we’re limited to our own personal experience. We also come from relatively privileged backgrounds, we all live in London so it would be disingenuous to write about physical or political hardship so I guess we defer to romantic or emotional hardship so that’s where it comes from.”
Alongside the song there’s a great promotional video taken from a first person perspective, a format not often done in videos since Franz Ferdinand tackled it with their ‘Darts of Pleasure’ song.
“It was really good fun. We made that around where we live in Finsbury’s Park in Crouch End, North London. We shot it all like Peep Show. Basically we’re mimicking being Rob, our guitarist who is the main protagonist, and just went around London making decisions for him!
“Rob basically has an absolute nightmare!”
The video is inspired by the concept of terrible life decisions, but were any of those based on actual events?
“I don’t think Rob has ever been sick on a bunch of flowers! It’s more about portraying inevitability. You’ll see at the beginning it implies that Ben has gone through the same thing, hasn’t quite had as much of a nightmare but has still got run over by a car, even though his day has been perfectly normal! It’s all about fate!”
The group formed having been involved with music in education. Since then Dickon has said it’s been a rollercoaster of a ride. “Anyone who is in a band will know it’s all very fraught and very tense and any creativity is filled with self-doubt and people along the way telling you you’re not good enough.
“There’s been a lot of that but there have been some high points as well.”
Dickon was taught to play guitar by record company owner Richard Rose when he was at primary school aged seven and it’s now come full circle with Careless Sons’ new record released on Rose’s label.
“He taught me to play the Clash, The Who, the Pistols, the Manics, and I got the bug from there. I’ve been in bands since then, then went to University and met Rob and Ben, and we realised we all liked the same thing and got into the band.”
Influences such as the Clash have fed into the band’s guitar-driven sound. “There’s more of a Springsteen vibe to it, the Clash are a bit more aggressive, but there are influences.”
Careless Sons also have an EP called ‘Heartbreak Major’ on Repeat Records which came out at the end of May, and it’s available on 12’’ vinyl alongside the digital format. We asked Dickon about the release on vinyl.
“We love vinyl and think most music fans love [it too]. There’s a real appetite for it [today] and it’s a real antidote to modern living. It’s mobile, it’s physical, and you can listen to it and have a nice time, whereas when you’re downloading music and listening to it on the go you kind of feel a natural disconnect in my opinion.
“It’s something we wanted to do and something the label does – they’re big on vinyl!”
When we spoke to Dickon the band were preparing for a couple of live dates and rehearsals were going well, with further dates coming up in Cambridge in June and Manchester in August. But where is it now for the band?
“We just want to play in front of big crowds. This last year the number of people who’ve come to see us has dramatically increased and it’s been a great pleasure to play in front of people you don’t know, and we hope people enjoy our music.
“Our ambition is do more, and do it more often!”
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