ONE ON ONE: AN INTERVIEW WITH CAMERON SANDERSON!

I’M DANNI BAKER AND THIS IS HIVE MAGAZINE. I AM HERE TODAY WITH CAMERON SANDERSON! HOW ARE YOU DOING?

Hello! I’m alright, how are you doing?

I’M GOOD THANK YOU! TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF THE ‘PLACE YOUR BETS’ TOUR, HOW HAS IT BEEN SO FAR?

It is! It’s been very very fun. Honestly I think the thing that really pulls it through is the people that come, you know, to multiple shows, the ones who are at the front, and those are the people that make it really special. It feels like a family, very much feels like a community. It’s been really beautiful for that for sure.

YEAH. AS YOU KNOW I AM NO STRANGER TO YOUR SHOWS! BESIDES THE PEOPLE, WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE THING ABOUT PLAYING SHOWS LIKE THESE AND BEING ON THAT STAGE?

It is just always the people! Connecting through singing together, seeing each other, hanging out afterwards. The show would be nothing without the crowds that is what makes it special to me. Performing is almost like a by-product of that. Performing is fun though!

WOULD YOU SAY THE PEOPLE SORT OF FUEL YOUR PERFORMANCE?

Yeah of course, 100% they make it! I need energy to fight and they definitely give me good energy, especially this time. This time round I have really prepped, I made sure I have been running every week, doing exercise to make sure I could give the people as much energy as possible, I could actually keep up this time!

DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE SONG TO PLAY LIVE?

I do love ‘Best Card’, purely because it has this punchiness to it. It has that punch, it has such a kick. It has this strong, powerfulness to it. It’s good.

YEAH, SORT OF SIMILAR TO THE CHORUS OF ‘TO MAKE LOVE AND TO BREAK IT’, WHICH IS ONE OF MY FAVOURITES LIVE FOR THE SAME REASON!

THE SET THIS TIME ROUND IS A LITTLE SHORTER THAN PREVIOUS TOURS. HOW DID YOU DECIDE ON THE SETLIST THIS TIME ROUND AND DECIDE WHAT TO KEEP IN AND WHAT TO ADD/TAKE OUT? I NOTICED A FEW NEWER TRACKS ARE MISSING TOO, SO I AM CURIOUS TO KNOW WHAT MADE YOU COME TO THE DECISION YOU DID WITH THE SETLIST.

I think we wanted to keep it as upbeat as possible. This time we kind of wanted to do all killer no filler sort of thing. We wanted to make sure every song was full of life, very punchy and high energy, so we put a lot of that in the set. Obviously we have certain aspects of the set where it does get more chill, and I know some people weren’t entirely happy with that decision! But yeah, maybe tonight if we are lucky we may squeeze a couple extra songs in depending!

IT HAS BEEN ALL OVER SOCIALS THAT THIS SHOW IS YOUR LAST HEADLINE FOR A WHILE, ARE THERE ANY PLANS? SUPPORT SHOWS? NEW MUSIC? OR JUST TAKING A WELL DESERVED BREAK?

Never a break! No chance in achieving anything with a break, especially with something like this and the work ethic I seem to have burrowed myself into! We have written some new music that is very sonically different to everything we have written so far. It feels like everything is coming to a head in the perfect way, but it is kind of heavier. So I want to take the time to make sure it is right, and launch it properly next year. This will be the last headline show for a while, obviously we will be keeping an eye out for anything that is coming up but we want to take some time, really work on music and when we come back, we will come back stronger than ever, like really strong, like painfully strong, like ouch this hurts to see strong, in the best way!

CONTINUING TO TALK ABOUT NEW MUSIC, I BELIEVE YOU HAVE BEEN IN THE STUDIO WITH DAN LANCASTER. HOW HAS THAT INFLUENCED THE CREATIVE PROCESS AND THE NEW MUSIC OVERALL?

It has been very fun! It’s quite funny we actually have a lot of synergy when it comes to the melodies and things like that. There have literally been times where he has ran a melody and I will sing at the exact same time and we will be like “oh that’s actually a really good one!”. He is a pleasure to hang out with and work with, he’s sick! So to have him kind of meld the songs and the sound with me is so fun. I am very excited about it. I think he is going to have a draft of a song over tonight actually which is exciting! Patreons will hear that first very soon!

YOU HAVE ALREADY MENTIONED THAT WE CAN EXPECT HEAVIER MUSIC, WHAT ELSE CAN WE EXPECT FROM THESE NEW TRACKS?

The first one we’ve got, it has hip-hop influence I’d say in the beat, some elements of hyperpop influence as well. Some midwest guitars because I love the [imitates guitar riff] now that I know how to do the [imitates guitar riff again]. But yeah, just crunchy, heavy, everything you would expect from a Cameron Sanderson track but just punchier!

I THINK IF YOU HAVE DIFFERENT STYLES IN YOUR MUSIC IT DEFINITELY OPENS YOU UP TO PERFORMING WITH DIFFERENT BANDS, AND ALSO MEANS YOU CAN APPEAL TO MORE PEOPLE, LIKE THERE’S SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE I GUESS.

Yeah, I mean we’ve always been influenced by the heavier bands in general. I literally saw Linkin Park when I was four years old, so yeah it makes sense. I think I was scared of going in that direction for a while for whatever reason. But like I grew up with black walls, my parents are goths so I don’t know why I waited so long! I’ve just finally started to say feck it we are going all in! Dan was the one that kind of got that out of me, he was like “what are you scared of? What’s going on? It sounds good!”. I’m anxious, don't get me wrong, but I’m excited.

DO YOU HAVE A DREAM BAND TO SUPPORT/PLAY A SHOW WITH?

Honestly I’ve been so busy being in it, trying to make ends meet that I never really get time to think about things like this anymore. It sounds sad and deep but I don’t get to think about the dreams anymore. You have to just grind and hopefully the dreams will come eventually because you’ve been doing that for some time. I know who I’d wanna write with which is really off on a tangent. It’s really hard to think about supports. I think Enter Shikari are definitely a dream one because they are legends. What they do with their sound is mental. Whenever I talk to anyone about melding genres I always go straight to them and get them to listen to them. Yeah that would be cool. I guess it depends on what the sound does. That's the interesting thing. I love pop, I love rock and I do love metal, but who we support kind of depends on the sound.

LAST WEEK YOU PLAYED THE MOON IN CARDIFF, AND IT UNFORTUNATELY CLOSED DOWN THE NEXT DAY. THERE HAVE BEEN LOTS OF GRASSROOTS VENUES LIKE THAT ONE THAT HAVE CLOSED RECENTLY AND IT IS REALLY SAD TO SEE. I WANTED TO ASK FOR YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON IT AS AN ARTIST WHO PLAYS GRASSROOTS VENUES. WHAT DO YOU THINK SHOULD BE DONE OR CAN BE DONE TO HELP THESE VENUES?

I mean this is another thing where I have mad respect for bands like Enter Shikari as they are constantly talking about this stuff. Yeah all the venues are going. They are the backbone of any independent artist's work. So yeah without them we are just fucked. It is so sad to see them keep going, especially the over 14s ones. I don’t know what can be done, not to sound defeatist. Obviously there’s things you can donate to, you can talk about the cause and things, but I am concerned about it. Without those venues you can’t build a fanbase it is scary. You just have to keep talking about it, raising awareness and going to shows. Realistically just going to shows is the main thing you can do. With the climate we are in right now people are not as interested in spending money and going out, but just turning up you always have fun! Sometimes I’ll buy a ticket to a gig and being fully transparent, sometimes I’ll be tired and be thinking I don’t want to go, but every time I still go and it is always so much better than I could even imagine and I’ll be glad I went.

100%! I ALWAYS TRY AND GO AS MUCH AS I CAN AND IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO SHOW LOVE TO SMALLER ARTISTS TOO. I ALWAYS TRY MY BEST TO BOTH AS A WRITER AND JUST AS A GIG GOER IN GENERAL.

Genuinely people like you are the backbone of live music. Covering this kind of stuff, putting it out there you don’t realise how much you are helping people like myself so thank you. Truly.

I REALLY APPRECIATE YOU SAYING THAT THANK YOU! — 2025… WHAT CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE FROM YOU? ANYTHING FOR PEOPLE TO LOOK FORWARD TO?

I mean yes. Definitely things to look forward to. The main thing happening right now is creating the best music I have ever made by a landslide, getting that out and building everything up to the point where we can’t be ignored any longer! We keep pushing for it all and it is working, and everything that comes from that and builds around that will fall into place. Yeah the main thing is new music, honestly I am debating a full rebrand but I’m not sure, we are in the middle of figuring everything out. The new music with Dan producing it is going to be a big step either way.

FINAL QUESTION, WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WOULD LIKE TO ACHIEVE BY THIS TIME NEXT YEAR?

Everything. No I should probably give a proper answer but just everything! I have a little notepad where I keep my goals for the next year and I’ve already started writing it down and I am going to keep writing them so yeah. Everything. I have quotas and things I want to hit like an entrepreneur in a way. I just want to reach more people, just be as loud as possible. I want to talk about important things like causes and stuff in my lyrics, talk my real shit, probably talk more about issues close to me like racism and things like that.

THOSE ARE DEFINITELY REALLY GOOD GOALS, SUMS EVERYTHING UP REALLY WELL! THANK YOU AGAIN FOR BEING HERE WITH ME TODAY.

Thank you!

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