luke mcgarry

Klaxons’ first big single was picked out of a Pynchon novel but at least one member of the band likes Philip K. Dick better. Keyboardist/bassist/vocalist James Righton speaks on a borrowed cell phone while hitchhiking outside a prison in Crescent City, California.

L.A. RECORD—for the record! You’ll never guess what we’re doing—this morning we arrived in Crescent City, and we splintered into groups of two, and the rest of them just got in a car and they’re heading off somewhere and me and Hollywood here are standing with our thumbs out, waiting to get picked up. And no one’s picked us up! It’s a big decision because Crescent City’s got one of the largest correctional facilities in the U.S., so everyone thinks we’ve just been released from a correctional facility or we think the people picking us up were just released. But we’re gonna get out of here no matter what!
That’s probably the town motto.
We’re just on the side of the road with our thumbs out. They got lifts after ten minutes and we’ve been waiting. We’re thinking we might have to get a little sign as well saying SAN FRANCISCO.
You’re the only band I ever interviewed while they were hitchhiking.
Yeah, I bet. We spent all morning trying to figure out different ways of leaving. We tried to rent a car, but apparently there are no cars in Crescent City. Then we thought we could get a boat—oh, here we go! This guy just stopped—our first stop. He looks really nice. It’s a Dodge Ram.
Do you often find yourself hitchhiking outside prisons?
I’ve never done anything like this. On our days off, we like to have a bit of fun. Our tour manager took us to Crescent City thinking we could go whale watching, but all the whales migrated, apparently. So we’re migrating ourselves. I don’t know where we’ll end up. As long as we get to San Francisco by 10 AM tomorrow, or it’ll just be Amy Winehouse playing on her own.
Is she hitchhiking too?
I bet she’d be up for it.
What did you do on your other days off?
I was absolutely out of my mind in L.A. for days. Me and Jamie completely lost it. It was our first time there. We just had a lot of fun.
Did you wake up in the street or the gutter or the back of a police car?
I woke up in the Osbourne’s house. What was that about? I was at the end of the bed speaking to Sharon about LipoZap, which is a new form of liposuction surgery. She was lovely, though.
What did you think when she started that fight with Iron Maiden?
I like that—she’s feisty. She’s got an opinion, certainly.
What’s the most American thing you’ve done on tour so far?
This is pretty American, to be honest—the all-American road trip which you hear so much about in England. That you see movies about. But frat parties, too—we want to find out what those actually are. They involve chugging and rituals and lots of boys all together doing things, right? Like what we’re doing now is the closest thing to an American frat road trip. It’s definitely the most American thing I’ll ever do.
The tour is still young.
The other two are just pranging out back in Crescent City. They said they wanted to basically… survive. But you gotta see America! We spend most of our time traveling overnight, so we haven’t really done a roadtrip. We’ve been asleep. Now we’re making up for it.
Which state is your favorite between Texas, California or New York?
I’ve only been to two—we’re going to Texas in September. Seems like a serious place, from what I’ve heard. A lot of fun.
And then you can go to Mexico, too.
And get our American green cards. We’ll have done the road trip and gone over the border to get fireworks.
Let us be the first paper to wish you luck on your illegal immigration.
Will you sponsor us?
We’ll marry you.
We’re up for it.
So do you still like music?
I love music, I love road trips—we love America! I’m bored of talking about music. It’s all we do every day. Every fucking person who comes up to us after a show is like, ‘You know, I’m in a band, too.’ Fucking great! The last thing I wanna do is spend more time with fucking musicians. I wanna meet more Americans.
Like frat boys?
And hicks! I don’t know if there are any hicks in this state. Is Crescent City in California? We’re going to make it to San Francisco—I’m confident. But if you know any people who can get us a lift, give us a call.

KLAXONS PLAY SUN., APRIL 29, AT COACHELLA AT THE EMPIRE POLO FIELD, 81-800 AVENUE 51, INDIO. 7:10 PM / $85-$249 / ALL AGES. FOR COMPLETE LINE-UP AND OTHER EVENT INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT WWW.COACHELLA.COM.