Shaant Timothy – Cute Is What We Aim For Interview

“Drama doesn’t follow me, it rides on my back” – Does this remind anyone else of the days when we had no worries in the world, and listening to good music was our number one priority in life? Cute Is What We Aim For have been around for as long as I can remember, and despite the numerous band line-up changes, and having been in hibernation for over a year, they still to this day initiate the same reaction they did all those years ago. Although now technically a solo project for frontman Shaant Timothy, he is still able to deliver the classic precious hits such as “Moan”, “There’s a Class For This” and the legendary “Curse of Curves” with as much passion as the band instigated when they first came about. We were able to chat with Shaant at the MOD Club in Toronto to find out what happened to the rest of the band, why he has been hiding for the past year and what is next for Cute Is What We Aim For!

Introduce yourself.
My name is Shaant from Cute Is What We Aim For and I sing.

So, how has the tour been so far?
It’s a dream, I never thought I’d have the opportunity to do it again, and now that I’m sober I am able to retain every last second of it. I couldn’t be more satisfied with the way things have been going.

How long have you been sober for now?
Ten months! And counting.

Congratulations! Good for you. So, Cute Is What We Aim For have been going for a long time now, how do you stay enthusiastic and inspired to keep going? Do you ever get tired of it?
Thank you, I appreciate it. I did for a while, that’s why I had to take over a year and three months off, and just kinda realise what it’s like to be a real human being. You know I went from being 18 in my bedroom, to being 19 in London, and then at 20 being able to buy my own home. It was quite a world wind and I didn’t really take the time to appreciate it all. Every day is something new, and every show brings along new challenges, it’s exciting.

So now you are back on the road quite a bit, how do you deal with being away from loved ones?
My biggest worry is that I’ve been away from my puppy, well he’s a dog now.
Aww!
I’ve never been away from him for more than three days, and this is day number four now. I’m trying my best to cope, I get to see him on Monday. My mum’s looking after him, and she’s got a huge farm, so he’s well looked after. As for family, I call them all and tell them things are going well.

So the band have had a lot of line up changes and now you’re riding solo, how do you think this has affected the music?
Well I think it’s better, we play the parts of the music that was written. We don’t play just random riffs and random drum parts. I don’t do anything different on the vocals. We play what is there and what people like the band for. If a band has songs, with tons of people supporting it, and then the song is randomly changed, they’re gonna be like “woah I didn’t sign up for that”.

What do you think went wrong with the previous line up?
We were just too young. It was just immaturity and not knowing how to handle pressure. And I was always the oldest, everyone else was always two or three years younger than me, so it was difficult to control, especially with major label pressure. The responsibility is daunting, because every last thing you say is nitpicked. I’m still trying to develop into a man. I’m only 23 and I’m talking about my career.

How did you go about finding new band members? Was it through friends or did you audition people?
It was all done through mutual friends. I’d let people know on the down-low that I needed new people to work with and that’s how it came about. I like the idea of auditioning random people though because it’s a great opportunity, and no one walks in just because they are friends, thinking that you don’t have to get to the bus on time, or is like ‘I’ve been in this band for about six months OK, I know how this works’ and it’s like ‘No buddy’. But I mean having members through mutual friends, everyone understands and respects it at first. I like to lead, I’m never the type to diminish or put anybody down. I like to have the attitude of ‘Follow me, let’s go and do great things together!’

Do you think you are a bit of a control freak? ‘Do this, or else?’…
No more ‘or else’, just do it. I don’t really have to say to do anything now though, everyone just does it. We know what we need to do. We’re paid to play, we load in and load out, we’re not allowed on the bus until the trailers closed and until
I’ve talked to every single person at the show. We do what we do. The biggest issue I have is that Pat, our bassist, leaves fucking Hot Pocket wrappers everywhere [laughs] That’s the biggest qualm I’ve got, so we’re doing really good right now.

Do you miss any of your old band members?
No, no no!

If you could host your own festival who would headline and who would support?
I just thought of Oasis immediately, but I’m not sure about headlining. Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers would headline, and then I wouldn’t care who supported.

When you’re not on the road, what do you do to keep yourself occupied?
Writing. I write a lot. I did nothing for over a year, and I realised you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. And I realised that I don’t feel as comfortable anywhere, doing anything other than right up there on stage with a mic. I’ve done the math, and I’ve definitely kissed more mics then mouths. Maybe I’ll use that in a lyric for a song [laughs].

Let’s play word association.

Music.
Shoes.

Fans.
Brick wall.

Chicken.
Purse.

Amsterdam.
I love lamp [laughs]. Anchorman, ‘I love lamp’, ‘Are you just naming things?’

Alcohol.
Illegal.

Touring.
My lifeline.

Michael Jackson.
Unfortunate.

Band mates.
Who needs them? [laughs] Everyone’s gonna be like ‘Who needs him? Fuck you’ Band mates, respect.

FIFA World Cup.
Unity! Global unity. It makes me really happy knowing that a sport can really pull together the world. I mean you could be just standing outside of a pub and there is a Brazilian flag and it’s like ‘What of it?’ It’s like nothing before. I was thinking about this in the van earlier today actually, with the Olympics there is so many different sports. Some people like certain sports and not others. But with soccer, everyone’s on the same page. But yeah I love the World Cup, I think it’s amazing!

Lady Gaga.
Lady fucking Ka-ka, I hate her. Everyone else thinks they could never pull it off, looking at runway shows like ‘Why does she have a fox on her head in a cage?’, you know they do really elaborate shows. She rocks it and everyone’s like ‘what the fuck?’ and then she gets famous. It just really bums me out because she doesn’t do anything. She works with some amazing writers, and OK her dancing is good but I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be this shallow, but once she took off her sunglasses I was like [screams] “EURGH!” [laughs] Good God. I wish I had some of her confidence though, if she could give just some of it to me. Everybody thinks she’s so appealing and she’s not. I mean, we were all discussing like ‘How much would it take for you to sleep with Lady Gaga?’ And my amount was up there. Because I have this whole thing called dignity and I wouldn’t do those things, let alone with her.

England.
Miss it, miss it a great deal.

Is there anyone you would like to collaborate with?
Dead or alive? Freddie Mercury. He is the best rock singer of all time.

What about cover songs?
I’m trying to do “Dead and Gone” by TI and Justin Timberlake. But it’s hard as hell. I’m trying to record it right now for a compilation and it’s a daunting task with me rapping.

What’s the craziest experience you’ve had with the fans?
Honestly, I think the craziest thing is that people still come out to the shows and support. I think anyone who has ever listened to the music and not gotten sick of it is pretty crazy, in the best way possible. I’m pretty thankful to have some crazy people in my life… as long as they don’t touch me. Like grabbing at me [laughs]. After shows, I say to like groups of people when it gets ridiculous ‘Listen, ladies! If I were to do this, I’d be in the back of a cop car. So don’t do it to me!’

How do your USA/Canadian fans compare to UK fans?
Oh man, I always tell people my favourite place to play in the world is the UK. No one’s too cool for school, no one cares what anybody else is doing, they’re there to have a great fucking time and that’s it. The energy’s amazing and just how polite people are. And the British ask about the music – ‘Oh you do this in the chorus’.

Any plans to visit the UK?
Yes. I wanna go this year. Later this year hopefully.

Sex Drugs or Rock ‘n’ roll?
I’ve said ‘no’ to two… so Rock ‘n’ roll.

Who will win the FIFA World Cup?
Don’t ask me that, I don’t wanna be held responsible!
[cough] England.
Oh… USA.
No Shaant, England will win the World Cup…
Yeah, I agree USA are gonna win [laughs].

For more information and updates on Cute Is What We Aim For, check their MySpace here.

Interview by Tanu Ravi