They’ve only been a band since September 2013, but King Cloud is already going places with a loyal fanbase and a performance slot at one of Northwestern’s biggest events of the year, Dance Marathon. The indie rock band beat three other competitors to win Dance Marathon’s Battle of the Bands competition on February 13. North By Northwestern sat down with singer/bassist Jordan Cohen, guitarist/keyboardist Patrick Leonard, drummer Carter Freeman and guitarist Mike Perri for a chat.
How did you come up with the name King Cloud?
Carter: We locked ourselves up in a room and tried to come up with some. It was definitely the hardest thing we had to do as a band.
Jordan: We had a show after Thanksgiving break [last year], and we needed a name before we were going to play a show. So we decided that after Thanksgiving break, we had to have a name.
Carter: We ended up narrowing it down to words we liked, essentially. We first determined "cloud," we liked the word "cloud."
Jordan: There was a point when we really wanted "Space Ghost."
Carter: I wanted "Dominant Flavor."
Jordan: "Criminal Space Program."
Carter: It was tough. But I like what we settled on a lot.
Patrick: The process of coming up with the name "King Cloud" was actually very representative of the way that we write and play. We all come in with things that we individually really enjoy, and then eventually we meet somewhere in the middle.
So you said the way you came up with the band name is similar to the way you come up with songs?
Carter: One of us will come with a riff or pattern we’ve been thinking about and like and bring it to the table for everyone to listen to. If we feel like we can work with it, we do. Normally Jordan and Patrick write the lyrics. They’re the ones that fuel the emotion in the lyrics. I usually don’t know what they’re talking about.
Patrick: Pills. “Reds and Blues” is about Tylenol. When the stress of Mayfest [last year] built up, my neck started feeling very sore. That’s where the Tylenol came from.
Mike: They totally write songs about girls.
Jordan: I write about girls, I write about my family occasionally. Sometimes I write a caricaturized version of stories. Like I wrote a song about Bonnie & Clyde, almost as a joke, but we like it.
Patrick: We had the music down, and we listened to the song come together. It was rolling along. And Jordan was like “Alright, I’m going to write this song about Bonnie & Clyde now.” And it worked out, it sounds really good!
What are you each most influenced by?
Jordan: I listen to a lot of different types of music and stuff growing up. The holistic indie rock experience is what colors my additions [to the band].
Carter: I was never too much into indie rock until I came to college and met these guys. I was taught more as a funk drummer. I’d say I have the hardest rock influence out of everybody, because that’s what I grew up listening to. More alternative rock and funk influences for me.
Mike: I listen to psychedelic rock, but I don’t think it shows up [in our music] much. Most of the stuff we’ve done so far is more indie rock stuff. I listen to some rap too.
(here, an argument on Yeezus ensues. According to Patrick, Yeezus is Kanye’s second-worst album, the worst being 808s & Heartbreak. Mike protests vehemently. Jordan declares he changes his influences to Yeezus.)
Patrick: I grew up in Seattle and listened to straightforward indie rock. My favorite bands are Death Cab For Cutie, Young the Giant, Tokyo Police Club... I crossover a little bit into these guys’ [influences] a lot. I’ve been listening to Tame Impala, got a soft spot for Foo Fighters. But I’m an indie rock-heavy person.
If you had a rock star hospitality rider (a document attached to a contract that dictates what an artist wants in their dressing room), what would you put on it?
Carter: I would require ranch dressing. So it would be the ranch dressing room. And preferably something to dip in the ranch dressing.
Jordan: I’d like a piece of the Hubble telescope.
Patrick: How about the ultimate Disney DVD collection? Every Disney movie on DVD, going back to Steamboat Willie through Frozen.
Mike: I’m not going to be able to top any of this.
What’s the best and worst thing about being a band at Northwestern?
Patrick: There’s no band culture. There’s no student performance culture.
Jordan: That might be the best and worst thing, because that puts us right in the front.
Patrick: But I want there to be other bands to hang out with and go to shows with, jam and stuff. There are other bands out there, but there aren’t very many and they’re not organized well. They’re not grouped collectively. There’s no forum to talk about being in bands, and to play shows with each other. Having grown up in Seattle, the music scene there is so well developed that everyone knows everyone who’s in a band, and everyone goes to their shows because the shows are great and the music is awesome. It’s super tight. That is such a collaborative culture that Northwestern completely lacks. The fact that that doesn’t exist in Northwestern is frustrating.
Carter: It’s tough to, because obviously we’re here as students. We have to put school first. Or at least I do. It’s tough to find time. But we make it work.
Mike: What about the best thing?
Carter: I don’t know, but we’re one of the only bands on campus where we came in with a good following because of people we know. We have the luxury of sending emails over listservs to our fraternities or groups because we’re all involved on campus. We have the luxury to let people know and get our name out there. We all come from different social circles but we’ve all brought it together.
Patrick: Our friends all support us and that’s really awesome. We all appreciate the encouragement that we get from our friends.
Jordan: The four of us as a unit, as a band, wouldn’t have happened without Northwestern.
What does the future look like for King Cloud?
Patrick: We’ll play till the end of the school year and see what happens.
Carter: We’re still gonna write, we’re still gonna make hits.
Jordan: We’re not going to derail. We’re going to try and reach out spring quarter to venues downtown and see what a general populace of strangers in Chicago react to what we’re doing. We’re going to put out an EP and see what reaction to that is. And that reaction will dictate what our future will be.