Cramptons Get Into The Grooves

Dylan & Elliot Cramptno SAT13APR24

rom Basie and Bacharach to Beyonce, from The Beatles to Benny & Bjorn, the fine art of writing a truly great song has at its core one simple question.

Does it move you?

And if it doesn’t bring a tear to the eye, well, at the very least, it better make you want to move.

For brothers Dylan and Elliot Crampton, the magic of a head-spinning 45 was instilled in their burgeoning souls from a very early age, thanks to the sort of hippy parents who believed that being schooled in classic rock’n’roll was possibly more important than studying quadratic equations. Now, Quodratic Equations, that’s another matter…

With a string of solo and band releases over the years, the brothers’ latest Whale headliner as Mute The TV on Saturday, April 27th is looking like yet another sell-out, and so we asked Dylan and Elliot for a few tips on writing a timeless rock classic. And being the happy young minstrel boys that they are, the duo promptly obliged…

The Cramptons’ Five Easy Steps To Writing A Kick-Ass Song

1. Don’t Force It
Don’t try too hard or try to force it; that rarely leads to anything joyous or natural. As our dear old mum always says, songwriting is a lot like breaking wind; if you have to force it, then it’s probably… Well, you know. When a good idea – a sweet melody, a great riff – does start to happen though, you’ve got to run with it and try to finish the song as soon as possible. The spark at the core of the song should always remain spontaneous and fresh…

2. Hit That Chorus. Hard.
This maybe only applies to certain genres and certain kinds of songs, but in the very wise words of the late, great Tom Petty, when it comes to writing a catchy song, “Don’t bore us, get to the chorus!”. And we second that emotion. If you want it to be a hit, your song better hit the listener early, and hard. Seemed to work for The Beatles.

3. Get Back To Basics. Always.
It’s so important to get the basics right first. If the song holds up in its stripped-back form, then it’s probably a strong foundation to build upon. Then you can embellish it with whatever production and instrumentation takes your fancy. Nothing will really work though if you don’t have a strong foundation to begin with. Any fancy production or instrumentation is just lipstick on a Nickelback song. So, getting a good melody, good lyrics, interesting chord progressions and a good structure, they’re all vital building blocks to a great song.

4. You Don’t Need Bells & Whistles For Rock & Roll
Don’t get too stuck on not having the best recording equipment in the world, or the best engineers, producers, the best studio, etc. There are a lot of hit songs out there that don’t necessarily sound that good, but because of things like the performance, the emotion, the meaning behind the song, etc, it still connects with people en masse. The Kingsmen’s Louie Louie is a complete shambles of a recording, and that only adds to its natural brilliance.

5. Make Songs You Want To Hear
It’s so easy to get lost in trying to please an audience, trying to figure out what others might like, but it’s only when you write the song that you want to hear that true magic can happen. Do it for you, not what you think will be popular or what you think people want to hear. If you’re true to yourself, people will instinctively recognise that your aim is true. Just ask that Yorke fella.

You can find out more about the Cramptons music here, and grab yourself a Saturday, April 27th ticket at The Whale right over here.