Having freshly dropped out of college just as Crocodiles’ debut album was released, I listened to Summer of Hate on repeat for days. Their fuzzy, pop sound and macabre lyrics fueled my angsty soul. Now, three albums later, with Crimes of Passion out on French Kiss Records, Crocodiles are still going strong, honing in on their own individual take on rock & roll. I got to sit and chat with Brandon Welchez, one of the men behind the Ray Ban’s, and discuss reflections of past lives, recording in the Mojave Desert, and the pros to living 3,500 miles away from your band mate.

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ASHLEIGH DYE: Can you tell me a bit about how you guys got started? You were both living in San Diego at the time, right?BRANDON WELCHEZ: Yea, he and I had been playing in bands for a couple years together and so in 2008 we were bandless, and wanted to start a new project. We couldn’t really find people to play with so we just started as a two piece and in about a year we got these guys, Marco & Robin. We’ve gone through a lot of drummers but we’ve finally settled on Robert.AD: Ah, the golden ticket of drummers. From over the years I have boxes and boxes of photographs I’ve taken over the years. I love going back through them and remembering what kind of place I was in when I took each photo. Now that you guys have been playing together for a while, are your recordings like that for you?BW: Yeah, I guess in a way. They definitely feel like slice of time out of our lives. I don’t think we’d be able to record most of our early stuff now because we’re in a different place.AD: You guys produced Endless Flowers yourselves, along with the B-Sides to Sleep Forever and all of Summer of Hate. So what made you decide to work with Sune Rose Wagner on Crimes of Passion?BW: We’ve actually wanted to work together for a long time. We toured together in 2009, and we talked about it then but it just didn’t work out time-wise. You know, we can produce things ourselves, but I think it’s good to have some other artistic influences involved.AD: For Sleep Forever you recorded with James Ford in the Mojave Desert. What was that like in comparison? I imagine some peyote and white robes.BW: We definitely smoked a lot of weed and drank a lot. It was just a house in the middle of the desert; there was nowhere to go. I think we went out once and we had to drive a couple miles. We were there for ten days.

AD:

A lot of your songs, lyrically, have darker meanings and intentions then you would think at first listen. Was this juxtaposition intentional or was this just how your sound developed?

BW: No, nothing was really intentional. I think it’s probably easier to write about negative things. I think at the root of it we’re kind of just bitching and moaning, just like it’s easier to do that in real life.AD:

That’s what art is for, right? So you guys put this out on your own label,

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, in the UK. Do you have any plans of doing more self-releases, or collaborations?

BW: Yeah, I definitely want to start putting out more full-length albums as opposed to 7”s. It’s hard though because it’s a much bigger commitment financially, so it’s not as easy. But, yeah it’s a goal.AD:

So you and Charlie are living over 3,000 miles apart now, and everyone loves to talk about all the trials and hardships that come with it, but I’d like to know what some of that positives aspects of it are. You guys are both living in such distinguished and exciting cities, there’s got to be a silver lining.

BW: It’s cool that we have a base camp in two really cool cities. If we want to spend time working on something we have the choice between New York and London, and starting tours is easy in a way, too. If we start a European tour we have somewhere to start from and stay, same for New York in the States.

Photos & Interview by ASHLEIGH DYE

Empty Exchange: CROCODILES