Welcome to “2020”: Hollywood’s latest action-packed disaster movie. Set in a world of hate and prejudice, it swings from ferocious bush fires to a deadly disease in a matter of minutes. If only this “film” wasn’t our current reality. The unfortunate fact is there's no rewind button; we can’t just shout “cut” and act it all differently. We need to learn from this crisis to avoid future, bigger catastrophes. Not only has this year exposed the level of humanity’s inequality, but it has revealed how much that stems from poor leadership. More urgently, it has unmasked the truth about our climate crisis. Even with global lock down measures in place, this year’s reductions in carbon emissions have only just passed scientist’s targets. Now, more than ever, we see the extent that we must alter our lifestyles. We now know just how important it is to continue spreading awareness.
One band who is doing just that is MAWPIT. Based in Cardiff, the trio is made up of guitarist, Jord, drummer Aled, and vocalist Cait. Despite having only released one track, the group are showing remarkable amounts of promise; ‘Nature’s Curse’ was definitely the right track to choose as their debut single. Through the voice of mother nature herself, it recounts MAWPIT’s distress at Australia’s horrendous bush fires in January. The band have begun by proving to the world they have no trepidation when it comes to writing about political issues.
They have also demonstrated the unique blend of influences that go into their songs – another thing which sets them apart from other bands. Whereas Jord and Aled were brought up on punk and rock music, Cait’s background is in pop, soul and jazz. In ‘Nature’s Curse’, this has given her the song writing ability to perfectly capture her sadness and frustration. The gentler verses are a lament to our planet’s destruction, whilst the chorus is filled with rage. The band’s alt-rock instrumentation is kicked up a gear as Jord’s punk-infused guitar riffs fill the song with energy and passion. This atmosphere is only complemented by Cait’s cries of “You burn me down!”. The bridge section is the most harrowing, formed of rapid guitar chords and theatrical lyrics. The song will stay with you for days.
With a line like “Your greed will be the death of you, and you’ll be the death of me”, MAWPIT’s stance on the environment is clear. However, I wanted to chat with the group about why this issue meant so much to them and learn a bit more about their band…
1. First of all, tell us a bit about the origins of your band.
Jord: “Aled and I grew up together in Pembrokeshire and were in a couple of bands together in our teens. After finishing school, Aled moved to Cardiff to study and I went to Bath Spa university where I met Cait on our music course. We were in a few bands during that time and found that we worked pretty well together.”
Cait: “After uni, Jord and I wanted to start a new project together. I started writing a few song ideas which we then worked on over the summer. The writing was going really well, and we were eager to start taking the band seriously, so we decided to ask Aled to join as our drummer and MAWPIT began!”
2. How did your music taste change as you grew up?
Cait: “My musical history and taste in music is very different to the boys. I was brought up on indie rock & alt rock, but pop was always my guilty pleasure. My singing teacher introduced me to jazz and show music and that’s when I started getting into soul music too. My taste expanded again when Jord and I became friends as he introduced me to new music I’d never heard before.”
Jord: “My parents were pretty into music, so I had a fairly good education whilst growing up. My dad was primarily into punk music and my mum was into grunge and post punk. I was pretty well acquainted with bands like Nirvana, The Clash, The Smiths and Sonic Youth from a pretty young age. Around my mid-teens is when I became really adventurous and found most of the contemporary bands that I listen to now. Uni was the time I think my music taste really expanded where I got into loads of different genres and I’m still discovering new things to this day.”
3. What genres (and eras) of music do you mostly listen to today?
Jord: “I listen to quite a range of stuff now honestly. The stuff that I listen mostly to contemporary grunge, punk and hardcore bands like Dinosaur Pile Up, Blood Red Shoes, DZ Deathrays and Drug Church, but the list could easily go on.”
Cait: “I mostly listen to pop music, especially if it has electronic, soul and jazz elements. Listening to pop music inspires me to write catchy and singable melodies and keeps me thinking of new chords and harmonies to experiment with. I also like to listen to indie rock and alt rock bands from the 90’s onwards.”
4. Talk us through your writing process. How long did it take you to end up with such a roaring end product?
Cait : “I started writing ‘Nature’s Curse’ after Jord and I visited Scolton Manor (Pembrokeshire) last August. Jord told me that many of the trees were cut down which upset me because in Australia, thousands of trees were being burnt in the bushfires. It sparked me to write a song about global warming & deforestation from the point of view of Mother Earth. The song started as a piano ballad and then I taught Jord the chords and he wrote his part for the song.”
Jord : “After Cait showed me the song on piano, I decided to write a strong riff without making it too busy in order to avoid detracting from the emotion in the vocals. This led me to write the main chorus riff with those Nirvana-like bends to give space for the vocals. I then experimented with different fuzzes and distortions for the guitar and bass tones that would complement each other. I think what makes the song so big is the harsh contrast between the roaring chorus and the dream-like ambience of the verses, as I use a lot of clean reverb and delay in there.”
5. Why did you choose 'Nature's Curse' as your debut track?
Jord: “I think it just felt right as it was the first song, we learnt to play all together as a band for our first practice. ‘Nature’s Curse’ felt really strong in the practice room and I think the chorus is a good memorable hook which is great for first time listeners.”
Cait: “This song really means a lot to me. When I hear it or we practise the song in the band room, it brings back that feeling I had when I wrote it. The message behind the song is powerful and I think the music and sound matches the feeling the lyrics give the listener. We wanted to start our journey as MAWPIT with a big and loud debut track and ‘Nature’s Curse’ was the track to do that with.”
6. The song was inspired by the Australian bush fires in January. How did you feel when you saw them on the news?
Cait: “It was terrifying. When I saw what was happening the words of Greta Thunberg, ‘our house is on fire’ were echoing in my head. It felt like nature was in pain, screaming at us.”
“My sister has been living in Australia for 2 years and returned to the UK a month before they started, but her fiancé was still living there, and some of our family lived there as well, so it was scary knowing that what we were seeing on the news was their reality.”
7. How important do you think the role of music is for changing people's opinions?
Jord: “I think it’s very important as music can really have quite a large influence over the people who are really paying attention. In my opinion, a song is almost like an invitation to reflect upon a subject that’s being addressed. By writing about important topics in music it can really help people reflect on the message of the lyrics, especially if they’re combined with a catchy melody or are written to purposely stand out from the rest of the music. Music just adds that extra dimension to spoken word that makes the overall message more memorable, therefore making it more encouraging for the listener to take notice and broaden their horizons.”
8. Do you think one of the responsibilities of having a platform is to speak out about world issues?
Cait: “Definitely, it’s very important. I think some artists or influencers feel their followers might not agree with their views, but I think you should stand up for what you believe in especially when it’s an important subject. It’s been amazing to see people with big followings on social media using their platform to support the BLM movement and giving black people a bigger reach so they can be heard.”
9. Which musicians inspire you through the way they stand up for what they believe in?
Cait: “I’m inspired by Miley Cyrus and Marina Diamontis. Cyrus started the Happy Hippie Foundation to help the LGBTQ community and youth homelessness and she also uses her platform to raise awareness to climate change, veganism and feminism. Marina uses her lyrics to question underlying issues in humanity, ‘To Be Human’ and ‘Savages’ are good examples of this.”
Jord: “I think for me Kurt Cobain will always be up there as one of my main inspirations. His music and attitude taught me to use music to channel strong emotions; to stick up for the oppressed and to never be afraid of addressing more personal issues like mental health.”
10. Do you think our time in lock down will ultimately benefit the environment or make our situation worse?
Cait: “I hope it will make it better… but I think the majority of the population will go back to our old ways and eventually things will get worse.”
Jord: “Yeah, the majority of people will probably be just as ignorant as before sadly, but I do believe there are a few people who have been taking a bit of notice. It’ll be interesting to see how people’s attitudes will change post lockdown.”
11. What do you think are the best things individuals can do to help protect our planet?
Cait: “Switching to a plant-based diet, choosing eco-friendly products over wasteful plastic and purchasing less overall. Humans have become quite materialistic, greedy and wasteful and we buy more than we actually need.”
12. How far do you think the music industry has to go in terms of lessening its environmental impact?
Jord: “I think it should go as far as it possibly can considering the positive influence music can have on individuals and communities. As music tends to bring a lot of people together physically, I think that the push for cleaner festivals in recent years is an amazing step in the right direction! It was amazing to see mainstream giants like Glastonbury having such a huge improvement in the attendees disposing of rubbish and tents. It’s really encouraging to see more music lovers being more responsible.”
13. What is your opinion on extinction rebellion?
Cait: “They get a lot of hate and, although I understand why, if you step back and look at the bigger picture what they stand for and represent is good and we need more of it. I support their actions and their methods regardless of the bad press they get.”
Jord: “Yeah I agree with Cait. However, most of the opposers tend to complain about the most banal and minimal things to try and debunk the protesters actions, the Bristol College Green incident for example was laughable... At this point I think more drastic measures are required to actually get people to listen and think nowadays. I’m all for the Extinction Rebellion.”
14. Should we expect your music to be politically orientated? What other topics are MAWPIT going to be covering?
Cait: “Well, so far only one of the songs I’ve written for this band is not lyrically political. So yes, more politically driven music from us is definitely on its way! Our next single will be a feast for thought and you can expect more themes on the environment as well as feminism, politics, animal rights and body empowerment.”
15. Finally, can you give three reasons why people should check out your music?
Cait & Jord: “Our music is inspired by and addresses meaningful topics and important issues in today’s society that we are truly passionate about. As well as being creative lyrically, our music is filled with catchy melodies and powerful sounds. With every song brings a different emotion, perspective and thought-provoking narrative.”
Make sure to keep up with them on:
‘Nature’s Curse’ is available on all streaming services.
Cait, Jord and Aled continue to show their activism through their pledge to donate 100% of ‘Nature’s Curse’s profits on Bandcamp to the Black Lives Matter movement.
That was a really well written and thoughtful interview. Very impressed.