CAIN interview – “The melodies that last hundreds of years do so for a reason”
Piping hot
CAIN grew up in the Highlands of Scotland, competing in bagpipe competitions at the Highland Games from the age of ten – and by the time he was 16, he was the overall junior winner at the Northern Meeting, the most prestigious international bagpipe competition in the world.
These days, he uses his knowledge of folk traditions to inform his productions, which an impressive list of DJs from Ben UFO and Gilles Peterson to Peggy Gou, Erol Alkan and Ame can’t get enough of. With his latest album – Lineage – just about to hit, we decided to investigate further.
Hi thanks for your time…. First of all, can you tell us where you are right now, and what kind of day you’re having… Been anywhere already or going anywhere interesting later?
I’m in London right now, going to a studio later tonight to work on different bagpipe reeds!
Tell us a bit about your formative musical experiences… Early musical memories from siblings, parents, schoolmates… First instruments, embarrassing bands etc
My father started teaching me the bagpipes when I was around 7 years old I think. I started competing in the piping competitions at the Highland Games from age ten. Every summer we’d travel all over the Highlands taking part in those. I had to practice for hours every day.
When I was at school I was really obsessed with hip-hop and I got some turntables and started learning to scratch, beat juggle etc. Because playing the bagpipes requires so much finger dexterity, I found learning to scratch quite easy. I went to Edinburgh Uni and met Brian d’Souza there (Auntie Flo). We started DJing together a lot – I did the scratching and hip-hop stuff and he did other kinds of music, more house and techno.
I’d be driving to Arisaig Highland Games to take part in piping competition, whilst listening to Mobb Deep in the car. I guess that is the real beauty of music to reach across the world!
And your journey into the music you make today – what were the important steps?
I’d always had a vision for the kind of music that I’d love to create – fusing ancient, traditional sounds with futuristic techniques, combining polyrhythms with cinematic harmonies as well – things like that. I think my background in Celtic music has strongly influenced me, in terms of how I love the rawness and authenticity of folk traditions. The melodies that last hundreds of years do so for a reason. The sound of the instruments instantly gives you a sense of place – whether it is darbuka drums or the clarsach. However, it took me a while to really work out how to create what was in my head – particularly as I tended to have a bit too much going on in my tracks at times. I had to learn that not every track can do everything – sometimes they just have to do one or two things really well.
How did Cain come together?
I just started writing the kind of music that I’d love to hear. Writing music for me is the ultimate adventure – there are endless possibilities, although that can make it a bit overwhelming at times. When I started writing tunes, I would walk around in the hills and get different ideas that I was really excited to try when I got back to my home studio. I’d then have a burst of activity, come to a standstill and go to climb another hill to get inspired again!
Give us a quick precis of what you’ve released to date for the uninitiated…
I’ve released music mainly on the Fine Grains and Highlife (Huntley and Palmers) labels. I’ve also released on different labels around the world though, including Frente Bolivarista (Brazil), Darker than Wax (Singapore), Boogie Box (Abu Dhabi) and Erbium (UK). I’ve also done remixes for quite a few different artists, such as Nicola Cruz (think I’ve done three for him now!).
Is approaching an album a very different beast to making tracks for 12”s and EPs?
When I originally signed to the Fine Grains label after handing the owner a CD at Sonar Festival years ago, we both had a vision that I would release 3 EPs on the label and then an album.
Making this ‘Lineage’ album was a drastically different approach for me. I knew that I wanted to complete a lifelong dream of combining my background in Celtic music with all the different styles of ‘modern’ music that had contributed to the sounds I create for CAIN. I wanted to work with a small selection of incredible musicians from the Highlands, and who had a connection to my childhood. So I had a very clear idea of the parameters for this, but absolutely zero idea what I’d actually end up making!
What’s the story of the album’s evolution? What timeframe were they written over? What songs came first and what was last? Did you set out to write an album or did one form itself around certain songs?
The album was formed entirely from studio sessions that I held in two locations: working with Brìghde Chaimbeul who played the Scottish smallpipes in an Edinburgh studio and with James and Katie Mackenzie, on the beautiful island of Great Bernera, which is part of the Isle of Lewis (in the Outer Hebrides). James played the Celtic wooden flute and Katie sung in Gaelic.
Once I had the recordings, I started working on the album. However, it took a long time as I had a vision of doing things like turning the bagpipes into a plucked instrument for some tunes (as obviously they are normally a constant sound), and trying all kinds of different rhythms and beat structures with the Gaelic vocals. I sort of developed new techniques and a sound world to work from, so I felt I couldn’t actually work on the tracks until that was complete. I’d never done that before, normally I write tunes pretty quickly. I think it was good to take longer over this project, to try to do justice to a vision I’d had since I was a child.
Elephant in the room time – bagpipes and electronica… Not a usual combination ha ha How did that idea come about?
I feel that the bagpipes have been so often misunderstood. The Great Highland Bagpipe (which is the kind most people know), is a very difficult instrument, particularly to get really nicely in tune and to control the notes properly. Sadly people often hear a massively out of tune instrument and think that is what piping is like! However, when played properly it is such a beautiful, raw and powerful sound.
I wanted to demonstrate that the pipes could be effectively adapted for music that suited audiences that wouldn’t necessarily normally listen to Celtic music, and in a way that didn’t sound like too basic a crossover (eg: not just putting a house beat on a jig!).
We can think of one other excellent use of bagpipes in non-traditional music, namely AC/DC’s ‘It’s Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)’..,. Do you have any favourites?
There are actually a lot of good examples now, particularly with Galician bagpipes (which are from Spain), but an absolute classic for me has to be the tune ‘Do You Want More?’ by The Roots. They use sounds from the jazz bagpiper Rufus Harley, who was self taught and couldn’t really play ‘properly’ at all, but he actually really made it work well with jazz. He was a very eccentric character that just loved the pipes and was determined to play them. The tune is an absolute classic that I listened to a lot as a teenager.
What’s next for you in the short/medium/long term? What are you hearing that’s inspiring you? Any more live or release action we should know about?
I’ve got a ton of new music that I’m preparing for release in the near future. I’d also love to work on some other projects soon like this album, working with great musicians from a specific place and sticking to working with those sounds.
At the moment what is inspiring me is what always has really – different rhythms and textures in sound from all over the world. I’m playing at Glastonbury in a couple of weeks (Sunday at 6pm at The Hive stage), I’m really excited for that. My set will be focused on the album.