Album Art for "Love," Cloud Cult's Most Recent Album (cloudcult.com)

But after nine? Seems hard to believe, right? In the case of the band Cloud Cult, it’s a reality.

The band hails from Minnesota and has been active for about thirteen years. The music they produce is of the powerful and spiritual anthem variety, but the wide variety of instrumentation and influence keep it from becoming redundant or overdone.

Listening to their lyrics provides insight into the cathartic experience writing them must have provided. Their ninth album, titled “Love,” dropped earlier this year and they’re currently wrapping up a nation-wide tour.

Before their show on May 11 at the El Rey, I had the chance to talk to the lead singer Craig Minowa about all things Cloud Cult.

Craig provides the earnest and powerful vocals of the multi-membered band (including his wife, Connie). His speaking voice has a calmer tone and an obvious Minnesotan accent, and he speaks with refreshing sincerity. As he drove along the Pacific Coast, he provided insight into life on tour and Cloud Cult’s evolution. 

NT: So “Love” is the band’s ninth full-length album in fifteen years. With a strong history of epic and expansive albums, how does the group maintain inspiration and innovation in order to keep producing music?

Craig: A good part of it comes from never creating a set “Cloud Cult” genre. That way we can make sure we’re flexible enough to keep creating different albums. And I mean, life’s a trip so it definitely keeps giving lots of inspiration.

NT: Oh I’m sure. How has this tour gone so far? 

Craig: Well it’s been a very successful one so far. Most of our East Coast and Midwest dates sold out, and the San Francisco one should by the end of the day. This time we did the East Coast with our kids, who are one and three, so that was a fun new experience. 

NT: So is Los Angeles a usual stop when you guys tour?

Craig: Yeah, whenever we do an album release tour we always come to L.A.

NT: How is it performing in Los Angeles? Is there anything specific you enjoy about the crowd here?

Craig: Los Angeles gets drawn up as being a city with its own personality, like with New York. But really all the Cloud Cult crowds have their own personalities. But there’s also a consistency because everyone wants to be there for the same reason.

It’s always great going to a show and looking out at the faces of strangers but feeling like you’re in the company of friends—people who have your back. It’s comforting going to a city you may only visit once or twice a year but it feels like a family when the crowd is there.

NT: A special part of your live shows is the presence of painters on stage with you who create art simultaneous with the band’s performance. What inspired you to add this element? How did you choose the painters?

Craig: Well it’s been the same two painters the whole time, Connie Minowa and Scott West. Both are members of the band. Scott and I were friends in high school and were in bands together, and then he went off to art school. Connie was just a girlfriend then, and she went to art school too.

Afterwards it would happen that we’d be in an apartment and I’d be writing music and they’d be painting, so it seemed like a natural connection. And we just kept doing it.

NT: Cloud Cult is known for its strong focus on environmentalism. Can you expand on developing methods of producing music and touring that are environmentally friendly?

Craig: Well we started off with a need to have environmentally friendly packaging. It was hard because there was no option for our first album since the music industry wasn’t up on the trend. We had to develop our own models for manufacturing. The tours have been similar. The first ones were a gradual process for finding ways to minimize ecological impact. And it’s grown a lot since then.

NT: The documentary about the band, “No One Said It Would Be Easy,” came out recently and a biography will come out later this year. How has it felt having the band’s history recorded and knowing you’ve done enough to merit some kind of retrospective?

Craig: Well it’s definitely a big honor. Having Mark Allister, who’s an established professor and author, write about us is really nice. We haven’t read it so it feels unrealistic and sort of dreamy. It doesn’t feel tangible quite yet because it was done separately from all of us. Like no ghost writing or anything.

The documentary was different because it was something the band chose to do. John Burgess, the director, is someone we’ve worked with a lot so he had a lot of archived Cloud Cult footage. It was definitely a more tailored process because he would run stuff by us. This is as opposed to the biographer, whom we’ve only talked to once or twice. He made it clear he was approaching it from a positive angle, though. But it’s a less personal experience.

Cloud Cult performs this Saturday at the El Rey before closing out their tour in San Diego and then Austin, Minnesota.

Read more of NT's interviews here.

Reach Staff Reporter Annie Lloyd here. Follow Staff Reporter Annie Lloyd on Twitter here.