Scottish synth-pop trio Chvrches is already in Malaysia! Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook and Martin Doherty are gonna perform at KL Live tomorrow. The concert will kick off Urbanscapes’ satellite shows with Mogwai performing on Nov 30 and Tenacious D on Dec 1.

But before they arrived, Star2 had a phone interview with lead vocalist Mayberry, where she spoke about the band’s unique name, what to expect at the show and their new album.

Check out the interview below:

The world of CHVRCHES

By MICHAEL CHEANG

Let’s get this out of the way. Yes, Chvrches is pronounced “Churches”, but the name has no religious connotation whatsoever. In fact, the Scottish indie synth-pop band only selected the name because “it sounded cool”.

We were trying to figure out how to register an online) domain. We found out that a lot comes up when you search for ‘churches’ with a ‘U’, but not a lot comes up when you search Chvrches with a ‘V’! – Lauren Mayberry

According to the band’s lead vocalist Lauren Mayberry, the members later decided to replace the ‘U’ with ‘V’ when they were trying to establish their online presence. “After we started the band, we were trying to figure out how to register a domain. We found out that a lot comes up when you search for ‘churches’ with a ‘U’, but not a lot comes up when you search Chvrches with a ‘V’!” she said during a phone interview.

Next week, the band that has played in major music festivals worldwide such as Reading, Lollapalooza and Glastonbury will be performing at our very own KL Live. The gig is one of three Urbanscapes Satellite Shows (the others being Mogwai on Nov 30 and Tenacious D on Dec 1) that is part of a month-long series of gigs leading up to the Urbanscapes 2014 festival on Dec 6.

The main festival will feature international artistes such as New Zealand’s Kimbra (best known for lending her vocals in Gotye’s smash hit Somebody That I Used To Know), American indie band Local Natives, 1990s alternative rock staples The Lemonheads, and local acts that include Najwa and OJ Law.

We never really had a game plan or anything like that at first. I don’t think we ever sat down and mapped what we were going to do. But you do get a sense of whether a song is good or not when you’ve written it.

Comprising members Mayberry, Iain Cook and Martin Doherty, Chvrches came about in 2011 when the three of them came together to work on some demos, a collaboration that proved to be so fruitful that they decided to form a band.

“We never really had a game plan or anything like that at first. I don’t think we ever sat down and mapped what we were going to do. But you do get a sense of whether a song is good or not when you’ve written it, and I think that was why we wanted to work together,” Mayberry said.

Although Mayberry shoulders the bulk of the vocal duties, Cook and Doherty also share vocal responsibilities. All three play the synthesiser, while Cook also plays the guitar and bass, and Doherty takes care of the samplers.

Chvrches released its first song, Lies, online in September 2012, before following up with an official debut single, The Mother We Share, in November 2012, and landed a recording contract with independent label Glassnote Records a couple months later.

The Mother We Share was subsequently featured in the opening video for the 2014 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in Glasgow, Scotland earlier this year.

Still, it would take a while before the band’s debut album, The Bones Of What You Believe, was finally released in September 2013.

“We had other jobs at the time, and we were also self-producing the record, so it took more time to make the record,” explained Mayberry, adding that they were surprised at the critical acclaim the album got.

“It did surprise us. The band’s become a lot more popular since it came out, and we’ve been playing more venues in the last year. But we try not to think about it too much.”

On the upcoming KL show, Mayberry said that anyone who has listened to the band’s record should have a good idea of what to expect. “We brought our own light show with us and I hope that will add a bit more atmosphere as well,” she said.

After its KL show, Chvrches will continue touring until the end of December, after which it will be taking a long-deserved break.

“We’ll probably start working on our new album in the middle of next year. We haven’t started writing it … we’ll just try to approach it the way we did the first album and see what happens!” she said.

> The Urbanscapes Satellite Show With Chvrches will be held at KL Live on Nov 19, 7pm. Tickets: RM167. Take note: Satellite Show tickets will not give you access to the Urbanscapes Festival on Dec 6.

R.AGE is the official print partner of Urbanscapes 2014. For more information on the event and how you can win passes, click here.