• NME.COM
  • Wednesday, 3 December 2008

NME News

Sonic Youth man guests on Cribs album

The Cribs

The Cribs

Lee Ranaldo brings his spoken word to the table

Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo has made a guest appearance on The Cribs’ third album, which they are currently mixing in New York.

Speaking to NME.COM at their studio, bassist Gary Jarman said that Ranaldo has been a long time hero of the band, particularly for his spoken word skills.

“I had a book of his poetry that I really liked called ’Road Movies’” revealed Jarman. “When The Cribs first started we wanted to be a spoken word band, but none of us really could get our heads round doing it.”

And Jarman admitted the band were apprehensive about meeting with Ranaldo.

He said of the indie veteran: “He’s the king of the spoken word. We didn’t really know what to expect but he was a really friendly, nice guy.

“We just had one day in a studio in New York and we all played live together in the studio, which was really fun. He did five different full-length things and we all went through it together choosing our favourite parts. He knew what he was doing, the way that he works is really impressive.’

The Cribs will finish mixing the album this week, and will return to their hometown of Wakefield for mastering. As previously reported, Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos is producing the follow-up to 2005’s ‘The New Fellas’.

--By our New York staff.
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