Interview by Tony Gaskin

Formed as Rattlesnake Remedy in 2001 and signing to BEM Records in 2005, the band toured extensively. As Kerrang! Magazine stated “Being the hardest touring rock band in the UK has turned them into one of our very finest.”

2008 saw a hiatus from touring, and brought a prolific and experimental writing period. With this came the genesis of a style which dances effortlessly between rock, blues, tribal, folk and psychedelia.. A transition that led to their reincarnation as Caduga.

Due to release Kidnap the Sun in late 2011, Caduga present a new sound, bound together by eccentric harmonies and poetic lyrics, that is as sophisticated and dynamic as it is gritty. An album of extraordinary diversity, it journeys through dark, menacing depths, groove orientated highs and vast, serene spaciousness. A striking contrast of light and dark, down-tempo earthy rhythms and intense crescendos, Kidnap the Sun brings a vibrant new dawn for rock music."

I had this press release land in my inbox and having seen Rattlesnake Remedy, I had always wondered what had happened to them, now I knew! Well I took this opportunity to get in touch with the band to find out more about their metamorphosis and was invited down to see them at their rehearsal rooms as they prepared for their come back gig. Most of the answers were provided by  vocalist Lee Stone with the odd heckle thrown in by other band members!

Well, first question has to be, where have you been? Going great guns as Rattlesnake Remedy, great reviews, praise from all areas so what happened?

Two main reasons. First was the name. We found that when people heard the name that automatically assigned us as being in a particular genre like Poison or Crue, secondly we’d been together so long we felt something was missing and needed a fresh start.

The thing is we continued touring for longer than we should have and it eventually became a tour which didn’t mean anything, we weren’t pushing an album or anything, there was no new material recorded and it seemed kinda pointless in the end.

It was either change the name or kill each other!

So you decided you were going to change the name, what came next?

We kept on writing but we change how we were doing it, we started writing and playing the new material acoustically so the stuff started coming out more melodic, not so heavy.

The writing you started back then is what’s now developed into the new Caduga album, Kidnap the Sun?

Yeah we just wrote and wrote. The thing is we’ve been able to take our time and not rush things, get it exactly how we want it.

Will the people out there who remember RR but aren’t aware of your new persona notice much difference?

There’s not a huge difference, it’s not as if it’s Sabbath one minute then Abba the next, but because of the way we put the songs together acoustically, transferring that to the electronic scenario the music’s slower. It’s more about listening. The old album was full on R’n’R , now it has more melodies and the lyrics are more interesting to listen to and I think people will appreciate that. We’re really buzzing about it.

Would it be fair to say it was a more grown up and mature album then?

YES! (A resounding yes from the entire band!)

When you’re young and just starting out, you want to emulate your hero’s and so you are influenced by them. Now we’re older and have the confidence to not worry if we sound or write like someone else, we just writing to be ourselves not anyone else.

Is the album finished and when can we expect it to be released?

It’s all finished and we’re looking at releasing towards the end of the year, maybe October/November. There’s a couple of tracks up on our Facebook page for people to listen to and obviously if you get yourselves to a gig you’ll be amongst the first to here the new stuff!

Talking of which, you’re comeback gig is at the HMV Institute in your hometown of Birmingham, how you feeling about that?

Lee – To be honest, for the first time in a very long time I’m feeling a little nervous! It’s been a while, but we’re all really looking forward to it

We are as well! Well thanks guys for taking time out of your rehearsals to talk to Midlands Rocks, we’ll see you on Saturday!

http://www.caduga.com/

Caduga headline at The HMV Institute in Birmingham on Saturday 6th August 2011 with support from Signify and Terasunda.