The Cribs Reveal Plans for Hiatus - But Ryan Jarman Can't Stop Writing

The Cribs have revealed their plans for their current hiatus -- though frontman Ryan Jarman [pictured] tells Spinner he doesn't think he's going to be able to stop working.

The band played its last gig at Reading Festival on August 28 ahead of a planned two years off -- but Jarman says he can't stop penning tunes.

He confesses, "I can't help writing songs, and the only reason I write songs is 'cos I buzz off 'em for a few weeks after I've written it, and that's the only reason that keeps me going."

The singer elaborates, "Every single day, when I wake up in the morning, before I get out of bed, I spend about two hours just laying there self-loathing, and that's where most of my inspiration from.

"It's not even from drinking or a hangover, I've been like that for years. I just wake up with a severe serotonin depletion and it's so difficult to get up with, but I have so many mad thoughts, real mad thoughts, and it's quite dark, but I'm glad that I still do that."

As for actually taking a little bit of proper time off and maybe going on holiday, Jarman's bandmates scoff at the idea.

Drummer and the singer's brother Ross Jarman opines, "Ryan hasn't been on holiday since '97, something like that."

But his frontman brother insists he has some plans that don't involve songwriting. He tells Spinner, "I may go on holiday in the New Year if I get chance, but I've got all these ideas.

"I've got all our old recording gear in my basement [of the London home he shares with partner, singer songwriter Kate Nash], so I'm going to get it all fixed up. It's all vintage gear, so it's all temperamental, but I'm going to get that all up and running and become a bit of a scientist in my basement."

The cult indie rockers had been touring almost constantly since the release of fourth studio album, 'Ignore the Ignorant,' which came out in September 2009, before their Reading swansong.

As for when the four piece outfit do get back into the studio together, singer Jarman says that the songwriting process has changed since former Smiths guitar legend Johnny Marr joined the group.

He enthuses, perhaps stating the obvious, "He writes really good parts and really good riffs."

But he adds seriously, "I kind of worry though, as me and Gary [brother and bassist Jarman] are both kind of control freaks sometimes. We really grab the bull by the horns. It's good, because Johnny can be writing riffs, and we just jump on that and turn it into songs."

Jarman adds that that won't happen though until they decide the Cribs time off is up.

He concludes, "Ultimately, we still like to write songs all in the same room at the same time with our gear plugged in, that's where the spontaneity comes in. You need and element of spontaneity in your record, you can hear if a record is written on a laptop, you can hear it in the music."