The los boys (and girls)

Los Campesinos! are the sort of scrawny indie hopefuls people used to make cruel jokes about in the ‘80s. You can tell that irritates them a bit. On their new single, ‘The International Tweexcore Underground’, they drop sarcastic digs at such sacred alt.-nation cows as Sarah Records and Beat Happening’s Calvin Johnson. This is a bit like Morrissey accusing Oscar Wilde of being a pretentious nonce with a ridiculous haircut.

“Twee is the word people have been using around us,” sighs frontman Ollie (like the rest of the group, he’s adopted Campesinos! as a second name). “Which strikes us as really lazy. It’s like, okay – so we have men and women singing in the songs. But so what? Get over it. Twee is just such a knee-jerk response.”
The seven members of Los Campesinos! have just finished university (vocalist Ellen has a degree in medicine) but, backstage in Dublin, they look like they should all still be in school pants. In a dimly lit band room above Whelan’s, they’re a picture of youthful enthusiasm.
“We were at the Junos, the Canadian equivalent of the Mercurys last week and we got to meet (Final Fantasy frontman) Owen Pallot,” says guitarist Gareth, exuding the sort of ‘can you believe it?’ excitement new artists usually reserve for anecdotes about running into Bruce Springsteen or Elton John. “He was accepting a ‘Best Album’ award for Arcade Fire, who were on tour. We only got to go at the last minute because Feist couldn’t make it so the record company gave us her tickets.”
There’s a Canadian theme running through the band’s short history (Los Campesinos! incidentally, is Spanish for ‘the peasants’; the band chose it because they liked the way it rolled off the tongue). One of their first gigs was opening for Toronto indie supergroup Broken Social Scene.
“Usually they don’t have support bands because they play three hour sets,” proffers bassist Neil, a rosy-cheeked lad who looks all of 12, “but, because we share a record label, they said we should open for them in Cardiff. The problem was, they still played three hours so all the people who stayed until the end missed their bus. There was one guy, who missed his train and had to spend the whole night wandering the streets. We got him on the guest-list for our next show, and now he’s a huge fan. So it ended well.”
On the recommendation of Broken Social Scene frontman Kevin Drew, the band hooked up with Canadian producer David Newfeld, decamping to the Ontario town of Trenton to record their debut record. As yet untitled, the album is pencilled in for early New Year release.
“He’d just opened a new studio in a converted church. We were the first band to try it out,” Ollie enthuses. “Actually, it wasn’t quite finished when we arrived. So we spent the first few days doing DIY, helping to finish it off. The church was in the middle of nowhere so it was a bit creepy. But not half as creepy as Trenton itself. People there... well, they were a little old fashioned. To be honest, it was like being in that town from Twin Peaks. Obviously, this is fantastic when you’re making your first album.”

'The International Tweexcore Underground’ is out now on Wichita.