We Are Scientists – Q&A

Just after the announcement of their new album Huffy and upcoming tour, Chris Cain & Keith Murray of We Are Scientists talked with QRO....
We Are Scientists : Q&A
We Are Scientists : Q&A

Just after the announcement of their new album Huffy and upcoming tour, Chris Cain & Keith Murray of We Are Scientists talked with QRO. In the conversation, the pair discussed making (and delaying until October 8th) Huffy, their European tours, being with their parents (but separated from each other) during the pandemic, their hilarious pandemic livestreams (including faux sponsors such as Battlenology & Brad Pitt – a.k.a. “B.P. Oil”), drummer Keith Carne getting married, 8.10 & 10.8, jet skis, briefcases, being better than Urkel, cheap Utah booze, lousy Miami weather, their hair, and much more…



We Are Scientists playing “Dumb Luck” live at Bowery Ballroom in New York, NY on April 18th, 2014:

See also QRO’s live review & them playing “Make It Easy” and “What You Do Best”.





QRO: How have you both been holding up during all of this?

Keith Murray: We’ve been alright. I mean, I don’t want to speak for Chris, but we’ve been alright.

We’ve been very fortunate to have this album to work on for the entirety of lockdown. Kept us very busy. And recording an album is generally like working under quarantine anyway…

Chris Cain: Very true.

QRO: Keith, how is Miami?

KM: Miami was amazing.

I’ve been here since November, so Miami in the depths of winter is incredible. The weather here is amazing, and comparing it to what’s happening at our apartment in Brooklyn only makes it feel better.

But now we’re in rainy season, and it’s pretty brutal. So, Miami sucks now…

QRO: And Chris, how was Utah?

CC: Utah was great. I made the wise decision to truncate my trip based on the active season there. So, I was basically there for ski season, and then I got the hell out, while the getting was good…

Now I’m enjoying a largely reopened New York. Not too bad being here nowadays. Seems like everything is coming back to life.

QRO: Keith, do you return to New York soon?

KM: Well, we have a show August 10th, so I’m gonna be back for a few weeks prior to that, for rehearsals and stuff like that.

The final return is still up sort of in the air. Like I said, we still have our apartment in New York. There’s no deadline on leaving this place. So, we’re kind of going to be back-and-forth for a while.

CC: I guess the question is: Do you want to be buried in Miami or New York, when it comes to that? That’s the decision you’re gonna have to make…

KM: [laughs]

QRO: Did you have to take all your gear when you moved?

KM: I moved gear that was essential to finishing the record, like stuff to do some basic overdubs and things like that. I did not bring everything down; I just brought the good stuff down.

CC: Same here.

QRO: But you guys did just see each other in person, when Chris was in Miami?

CC: Yeah, and actually, Keith has been back up to New York twice in the last couple months.

QRO: Chris, how has being a parent been during the pandemic?

CC: Probably a mixed blessing. It’s kept me company, certainly… [laughs] Kept me from experiencing pandemic loneliness…

But I do think that the fucked up conditions of last year hit my son, who was a freshman in high school last year, hit him a lot harder than they hit me. So, unfortunately it also exposed me to a rougher side of the pandemic than I would otherwise had really been personally privy to…

Recording an album is generally like working under quarantine anyway…

QRO: And both of you basically went to stay with your respective parents during the pandemic, Utah and Miami. How did your parents feel about your moving back home?

CC: Well, Keith’s not actually living with his parents.

My family did, during the three months we were in Utah, and luckily Utah, being the elbow space-rich state that it is – they’re in a pretty big spread out there – we were able to be more help than hindrance. That was before any of us had been vaccinated, so we were able to do the shopping for them, and kind of keep their exposure minimal.

They also enjoy having an in-house chef…

KM: My parents were very excited about their misunderstanding of my intention when I said we were coming down, and they thought we might come live with them…

CC: [laughs]

KM: No, no…

CC: No fucking way…

KM: C’mon, guys…

They definitely had my childhood bedroom all set up.

CC: Which you have yet to step foot in since going down in November…

KM: That’s true. I think I’ve been in there once to fix their Wi-Fi router, then I immediately ran out…

QRO: And Keith Carne got married?

CC: He did. Just a few weeks ago.

He actually put that off by roughly a year. He was supposed to be married in the summer of 2020.

So, he was very patient – especially since he had vowed not to have sex until he being married…

KM: [laughs] Like us with our album, he delayed release…

CC: [laughs] That’s right. And similarly, it was best for all the fans…

QRO: Did you all play at the wedding?

CC: Oh, no…

KM: Unless by “play” you mean, “drink heavily,” yes, we did…



We Are Scientists playing “Rules Don’t Stop” live at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, NY on November 15th, 2017:





QRO: How was making Huffy? Did you make it during COVID?

CC: We started before COVID. We started fall of 2019, right?

KM: We started recording in February of 2020.

CC: Right. I guess I was thinking of songwriting and stuff.

We had booked studio time to start in February, and we had a very brief period before anyone really knew what was going on.

And it pretty quickly worked out to our advantage in some ways, because we were in [the band] Ash’s studio, and they were on tour for like a month-and-a-half. We were able to stay in the studio for many extra months because they got stuck in the U.K.; they couldn’t return to the U.S. So, we had our run of the studio.

We had extra time there, and then of course we had a lot of extra post-production time, because [laughs] we pushed the record by at least a year. We were able to create a lot more songs, which was nice. So, we kind of have more material ready to go next year, which is cool.

QRO: Did the pandemic affect the writing at all?

CC: Probably effected how much were able to sit there and worry over every little thing. The state of the songs would have ended up in an earlier version, I suppose, if we had to finish it in the spring of 2020, right?

KM: Yeah, I think so. I think we would have at least pulled some triggers earlier.

QRO: Did you delay the release date so you could have it for a tour, or did you not want to put something out in the middle of the pandemic?

CC: Really touring, yeah.

QRO: Or was it all scheduled around Carne’s wedding?

KM: We just swore we would not put out an album until he legitimized his relationship…



We Are Scientists playing “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt” live at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY on January 12th, 2017:





QRO: Will the August 10th show at Elsewhere in Brooklyn be the first time you’ve played in front of in-person fans since everything shut down?

CC: It will.

KM: Yeah, I believe it will be.

CC: Since December of 2019 I think, right? That was our last With Love & Squalor show in London. I believe that was our last show.

KM: We were, earlier on, during the pandemic, we were doing a weekly livestream. And to combat the pretty bad Wi-Fi situation I was having in this place, I did a couple from my parents’ place – and you better believe they were just right behind the camera, watching those performances! I feel like I have been doing many in-person shows…

QRO: [laughs] That show is on August 10th, 8/10, and HUFFY comes out October 8th, 10/8 – or 10.8 and 8.10 for Europeans. Coincidence?…

CC: No.

KM: We’re playing chess… [laughs]

CC: And that numeric code is going to continue to resonate throughout the album cycle, in ways that you’ll come to discover. Obviously, we don’t want to spoil the surprise now, but that is going to be a dominant light motif…

KM: We also have advance word that our Metacritic averages in the States will be an 8.10, and in Europe will be a 10.8 – unprecedented!

CC: [laughs] Some kind of error, probably…

QRO: It’s not 1.08?…

CC: God, I hope not… [laughs] We checked – it’s not…

QRO: After that one NYC show, you’re heading to U.K./Ireland in the fall, then continental Europe in the spring – what about the rest of America?

Both: What about it?… [laughs]

KM: Yeah, that’s right! That’s our company line on this one. [laughs] That’s what our PR people told us to say, anyway…

CC: [laughs] We thought it was kinda harsh, but you can see they drilled that into us, pretty effectively.

We are gonna tour the U.S. in the spring. We have yet to firm up those dates, so we haven’t announced it yet. Hopefully announcing that relatively soon.

QRO: When was the last time you were off the road for this long? Ever?

CC: Never!

KM: Maybe 1999, I guess? Before our first show, I guess…



We Are Scientists’ video for “Contact High”:




QRO: And how was making the video for “Contact High” (QRO review)?

KM: It was pretty good. Any excuse to be on a jet ski…

You saw – we were on jet skis! The video answers the question about how it was: It was the best!

CC: We wanted that to be a sort of metaphysical quality of the video, is that it would itself answer the question of, ‘How was the video?’ Lot of videos, if you watch them, don’t do that, really, very effectively.

KM: They don’t bother to do it. We took the time…

QRO: The people want to know: What was in that briefcase?

CC: Oh-ho, sure they want to know! Of course they wanna know… [laughs]

It’s not going to be answered – yet

QRO: It’s like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction

KM: It’s not like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction!

CC: [laughs] It’s nothing like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction! Did you see a golden glow?…

QRO: Well, you never opened it!…

KM: That’s right! That’s another difference: we never opened this one…

CC: And believe me, we would never open that suitcase and say, “We’re happy…” – ever!

QRO: And I want to know: What was up with Chris’ jacket? In some shots, it seemed like it had split down the back…

KM: Oh, did it seem like that? Just look again is my advice…

QRO: But in other shots, it was fine…

KM: [laughs] Now you’re catching on…

CC: [laughs] It’s all part of the code…

KM: You’re beginning to read the language – not even of our video, but of cinema…



We Are Scientists’ July 18th livestream:





QRO: Now to the important stuff: How have your livestreams been [previously Instagram, now on YouTube]?

KM: They’ve been fantastic! They’ve been top entertainment! At least an 8.10, maybe a 10.8 on Metacritic.

QRO: Have those really just been to justify the two of you seeing each other?

KM: Didn’t hurt…

CC: That was one incentive among… Oh, I guess that was the only incentive… [laughs]

QRO: I love all the comic pieces, the videos, quizzes, photo presentations – how much do you work on those beforehand? They seem like they would take a while…

CC: It is a way to kill some downtime, for sure…

KM: [laughs] Yeah, for sure. Part of the reason we stopped doing them weekly, they did take more time than we probably should spend on them…

CC: [laughs] I think we’re gonna do them monthly now, and that feels about right, considering the time investment.

QRO: And do either of you know what the other is going to do?

CC: The stuff that looks like it’s taking the other person by surprise is indeed – we definitely don’t share that stuff beforehand.

The stuff that we kind of obviously both appear in, or had to produce – the cat’s out of the bag on that, but we both enjoy rewatching it, that’s for sure.

KM: And Chris usually recognizes the songs that are performed.

CC: Eh – you’ll notice that when I put video content behind him, it’s often generic, and could work with any song…

We just swore we would not put out an album until [Keith Carne] legitimized his relationship…

QRO: How did you get so many amazing sponsors, like Battlenology and Jasmati Rice?

KM: That’s all our manager, Cat – she’s really good… [laughs]

CC: [laughs] She’s a hustler…

KM: She’s a hustler. She will corner people at parties. I guess during the pandemic, it’s been just a lot of cold-calling. She’s pretty great…

QRO: And when will B.P. Oil (otherwise known as Brad Pitt) finally come on?

CC: I kind of get the sense from Brad Pitt that he is not actually that rich these days. He doesn’t have that ‘sponsor money’ to throw around.

Which seems crazy. This guy was in Legends of the Fall!

He’s been behaving awfully tight with this wallet. We asked him if he wanted to a Brad Pitt signature greenscreen backdrop for the livestream. It would all be greenscreen, except for his little autograph in the top-left, so that would be in any shot we did, any keyed shot we did would still say “Brad Pitt” at the top-left.

It was gonna cost us, what, 800 bucks or something? And he couldn’t seem to find it…

KM: He couldn’t cobble it together. He said he’d have to move around some assets & stuff… [laughs]

CC: At one point, he Venmoed me 60 bucks, but then he had to ask me to Venmo that back the next day… [laughs]

I don’t think he’s gonna be a sponsor…

I kind of get the sense from Brad Pitt that he is not actually that rich these days. He doesn’t have that ‘sponsor money’ to throw around.

I have a feeling, on the road, when we’re back on tour, I think Instagram livestreams could be a more frequent thing that we would do. More spontaneously in the green room.

I’d like to do a series were we just kinda prank Keith Carne in the green room.

KM: Ruthlessly!

CC: We’re livestreaming and it’s just Carne, rooting around his suitcase, and we’re whispering behind the camera – and then you see him discover a dead rat in his suitcase! [laughs]

And we’re laughing our asses off…

QRO: You don’t actually have many running jokes in the streams, usually all new material. Does that come from your on-stage humor, where you can’t do running jokes on a tour (and don’t repeat yourself)?

CC: That’s true.

KM: Everybody knows that repeated catchphrases are a crutch for people without humor. Like Jim Carrey…

CC: Probably most famously, but not exclusively. I mean, think about Full House, or Family Matters – remember Urkel? He would always say, “Did I do that?…” That’s not funny. It was funny the first time; it was hilarious! But subsequently, it was irritating…

KM: The second time, it was met with dead silence. And then every time thereafter, increasing hostility…

CC: [laughs] Worse from there. “Boo! No! Don’t say it!” A lot of that from the live studio audience.

KM: [laughs] Well, yeah, then you’ll notice they stopped filming in front of a live studio audience. But even after a while, you’d hear the crew objecting…

CC: “Fucking idiot!…”

QRO: And I noticed, when Daylight Savings Time started in America, but not yet in Europe, you moved the [American] EST start time, but not the [European] GMT…

CC: It was our impression that more of the viewers are U.K.-based than U.S.-based.

And that may partially be due to the fact that, out of the gates, we privileged with the better drinking time, 8:00 PM, 9:00 PM.

KM: If we had privileged the U.S., all our U.K. fans would be long asleep. At 10:00 PM or whatever…

CC: That was a factor. It was also the case that by 8:00 PM, East Coast time, Keith and I are usually way too drunk to do a livestream…

KM: I can’t find my iPhone, much less use it…

CC: Whereas at four, we’re just getting nice buzz on, and that’s that sweet spot when you wanna livestream.

QRO: [laughs[ When you were in Utah, wouldn’t you have to start drinking at like 2:00 PM?…

CC: Yes, I did. I wouldn’t say ‘have to’ is the word, but I got to…

QRO: Is it particularly hard to find quality alcohol in dry, Mormon Utah?

CC: It’s not too bad. The trick is you have to go to these state liquor stores. Which, they exist, and if you’ve got a car, you can just go take your pick.

Actually, the prices are pretty good. They have some kind of law that went into effect when I was kid – kind of shocking, considering what a bad name alcohol gets in Utah – but they had some kind of law that disallowed taking advantage of drinkers by really making any profit off them.

So, the state-run liquor stores have to sell the stuff essentially at a mark-up that will just cover the cost of running the liquor stores. But the state doesn’t make any money – which is insane! That seems like an obvious place to be like, ‘Well, we’re gonna put some school taxes or whatever…’

It’s a lot cheaper than buying alcohol in New York, for example.



We Are Scientists playing “Lousy Reputation” live at Irving Plaza in New York, NY on May 11th, 2016:

See also QRO’s live review & them playing “Textbook”, “Buckle”, “Dumb Luck”, “Make It Easy”, “After Hours”, and “Too Late”.




QRO: How was doing the ‘Dumpster Dive’ podcast?

KM: It was good stuff. It was top quality time spent together. Just goin’ over the past, breakin’ through the scrapbooks…

CC: The embers…

KM: [laughs] Still hot, though, still hot embers…

CC: [laughs] We got burned a few times, that’s for sure.

The idea behind that project, I think, ended up bearing out. Which was just to find a way to keep doing something musical over the course of the pandemic. When we had kind of pushed ‘PAUSE’ on the new material.

Just putting out some garbage that would have never have seen the light of day, otherwise…

KM: [laughs] One man’s trash, you know…

CC: [laughs] That’s right. Still pretty good…

QRO: Did you find any of the songs, ‘Oh, we never play this. We should play this live…’

CC: In the Dumpster Dive? No…

KM: [laughs] No, no, no… Oh, no.

I think a lot of the Dumpster Dive stuff was songwriting challenge stuff that we basically write as jokes to make each other laugh. It’s not like it was even songs that we had thought could be releasable. The song challenge thing, it’s at least half just getting the giggles out, and then maybe one serious song per.

QRO: When can you do a web series?

KM: We can do it when we get that funding…

CC: As soon B.P. Oil sends me that Venmo, gives me the greenlight to deposit the Venmo…



We Are Scientists’ video for “I Cut My Own Hair” (QRO review):





QRO: Chris, do you still cut your own hair?

CC: I do. My most recent effort, well, I would say it’s not finished, actually.

Keith taught me the technique of being willing to bail on a haircut, and just come back to it the next day. Doing small bits at a time.

KM: In the fight-of-flight binary, always flee. Do not fight your way through a haircut… [laughs]

CC: That’s right. If you feel like you’re fucking it up, stop and come back to it. I’m kind of in the middle of this one.

I have not given a barber any money since this pandemic started – and I won’t! [laughs]

QRO: You don’t have your trademark mustache!

CC: That’s true. That was one of the casualties of this haircut. I got so out of control, took off half my mustache. And I said, ‘Alright! I am gonna shave the mustache the rest of the way, but let’s hang up the sheers…’

QRO: Keith, at least your hair is still grey…

KM: Oh, yeah. I’ll grow it out brown again at some point. But for now…

Until Chris gets his mustache back, I’ll keep it…

CC: [laughs] So the fans have something to lean on…







We Are Scientists playing “I Don’t Bite” live at Brooklyn Bowl on November 20th, 2014:

See also QRO’s live review & them playing “After Hours”, “Ghouls”, “Make It Easy”, “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt” and covering Stone Temple Pilots’ “Interstate Love Song”.

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