Music Features

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly plays The Junction on Wednesday 13th February, 2008

I worked on the assumption before this interview that Sam Duckworth, better known as Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, is asked where on earth the name comes from every few seconds. So instead I asked him how difficult it was when Vera died in Coronation Street.

After the obvious laughs that ensued, I decided that I'd be even cleverer and ask about how often he gets asked about his name, rather than just asking about his name.

"I get it more often than not. But I'm the idiot that chose the name, so I can't really complain too much."

Get Cape's first album, Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager, was a folksy collection with a made-at-home feel. It proved popular amongst those fond of low maintenance back to basics song-writing.

I hate it when this happens

The new record, Searching for the Hows and Whys, is either an evolution or a completely new direction, depending on how you look at it.

"It's automatically shaped the way I write. The sound's got bigger. I think it sounds like a big leap forward, hopefully people don't miss the DIY lo-fi thing because it still has it's elements there."

"I've grown up three years since the first record was made and a lot can happen in that time, especially when you're playing music everyday."

"It's been 18 months in the making and it's just really exciting to be out on the road next week and have the record out and finally feel like I've moved out of the machine and into the thing that I really love which is touring."

Hitting the road is top of Sam's agenda, but not before a stop off at everybody's favourite collection of unrealistically beautiful people.

"We filmed an episode of Hollyoaks this week. We were filming as Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly in the student bar, which was bizarre."

Student union's? Isn't that a bit below Get Cape. Where Cape. Fly?

"Not if it's Hollyoaks Chester."

Fair point. But the Junction in Cambridge, now that's where all the big names want to be, isn't it?

"It's going to be great, I love the Junction. A lot of my band live in Hitchin so they all know the Junction really well. Cambridge has always been great for drum and bass and a lot of those shows took place at the Junction."

Always the joker

"It's a good fun venue to play, it's a nice size. I like playing somewhere where there's more than a big corporate sponsor and an empty room."

Corporate sponsors are on the list. You don't know about the list? The list of things that Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly is angry about? It includes corporate stuff, lack of Fair Trade, racism, social class, reality TV. It's an intense list.

"There's always been artists that can tell the everyday really well and there's artists that - not trying to belittle other people - that want to look beyond the everyday."

"It's more important to write about what you feel and to be passionate about it than it is to try and be something you're not. I could try and make a record about living in a scummy town and how suburban life is rubbish. Truth be known I wouldn't be able to do it because it's not really who I am."

Talking to Sam is like listening to the person that a lot of us wish we had the moral depth to be. Perhaps I could write songs fighting for an understanding of immigration policies, but that might leave me with less time to make tea and find change for the snack machine.

"Trying to fight for what I believe in has always been a big part of who I am and a big part of my lyrics."

"One of the things that really annoyed me more than anything over the course of the last 18 months was every time someone was like, "Why's he banging on about it, what's he going to do?" It's funny, the reason I got into Fair Trade and things like that is because I found out about it through punk rock."

It's true, and it's often overlooked how often our political views are shaped by the music we listen to and Duckworth is not only influencing his fans but his contemporaries too. Kate Nash recently switched to selling Fair Trade merchandise on Sam's advice.

"Even if five people make change in their own environment then it's still worth doing. to be in the situation where in ten years time if every band that goes on the road is using Fair Trade merch, if that's the only thing that I contributed to, then I think it's a great thing."

Duckworth finishes the phone call by asking about me, a rarity in the current climate of production line interviews - which means that I have no qualms with asking every one of you to see him on tour in the coming weeks.

http://www.myspace.com/getcapewearcapefly