Beat Magazine Online

Chris Tucker

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:17:50 +1000

Chris Tucker makes quite an impression. He has been in far fewer movies than you would think, no more than a dozen, but it feels like more, because each of his roles is so distinctive. The biggest of these roles was as the fast-talking Detective Carter in the Rush Hour trilogy. He made his name in the films, not to mention his fortune – the third instalment made him the highest-paid actor in Hollywood. Thanks to this success, Tucker now works only when he wants to, as in David O. Russell's eccentric indie flick Silver Linings Playbook. All of this spare time has given him the opportunity to his first love – stand-up comedy.

“School was a scary place for me,” he says. “Trying to get my homework done was hard, and I would daydream a lot and get into trouble. I used to host talent shows, and I guess you'd say I had an epiphany when I got my first laugh. I was the last person to figure out that I was funny, but once I knew I could make my friends and teachers laugh, I knew I was in a good place, and that's what I wanted to do.”

At that young age, Tucker idolised comedians like Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor. “Those guys took the path from stand-up to acting in movies,” he says, “and I decided I wanted to do that as well, but the path eventually led back to stand-up, back where I started out.”

Tucker's earliest comedy memories involve watching scratchy bootleg recordings of Eddie Murphy stand-up specials. “When we first got cable down on my street, we didn't have it, but my good friend up the street did,” he says. “They had to lay down the cables for you to get it in your house, and they hadn't got to us yet, but my good friend had it and recorded Eddie Murphy's Delirious from HBO. He brought it down on a VHS tape and let us watch it, which we did, over and over again. When we finally got cable, I used to watch Delirious and Rocky III over and over again. I got into Richard Pryor a bit later in life, but Eddie Murphy was my first comedy love.”

In the early stages of his career, Tucker was something of a loose cannon, making his name with profane and hilarious performances on shows like HBO's Def Comedy Jam. While time hasn't exactly mellowed him, he is definitely older and wiser these days.

“My goal is for everybody at the show to have a good time,” he says. “If I do cross any lines, well, I don't think it's going to be too much. I mean, I talk about my own experiences in the show, and I get a bit of stuff off my chest, but it's not really about that so much. I tell a lot of stories in the show, I do a lot of characters, and I talk about the state of the world. It's just about jokes and being funny.”

Many stand-up comedians say that they are constantly switched on, always looking for new jokes and bits, but Tucker doesn't concern himself too much with this. “If I'm not on stage, I'm living my life,” he says. “Something might cross my mind and I'll try to remember it in some kind of way, and when I get to the comedy club that night, I'll try and bring it up. I'm not on all day long. I mean, I'm observant and quiet most of the time, and I only turn it on when I get on stage.”

It's important, however, to put as many new jokes as possible in each night's show. “If it's fresh to me, I deliver it better,” he says. “I don't like to do the same routine over and over – I want to feel what I'm saying and believe what I'm saying, because if I feel that way, the audience will believe it too."

One of Tucker's earliest and funniest Def Comedy Jam bits was based around the idea that America would never, ever have a black president – I'll spare you a transcript of the whole thing, but look it up, because it's funny as hell. I ask Tucker if he still reflects on that joke in the Obama era, and he lights up.

“Yeah, I do!” he says. “I have a whole bit about President Obama – it's really good stuff. Back then, the idea of a black president was really far-fetched, but now we have one. My comedy has evolved in that time, and so have I, and so has the world. It's cool that I can talk and joke about that now, about how much things have changed.”

A few years ago, Chris Tucker travelled to Africa on a humanitarian mission, along with former president Bill Clinton. It was an eye-opening trip, as the pair took in the scope and beauty of the country and its people. All in all, the mission was a wild success … except for the time that Tucker started a riot in Ghana.

“We were in a shopping mall, and a guy there gave me a drum,” he says with a nervous laugh. “I didn't have anything to give him, except for a couple of hundred dollars in my pocket, so I gave him a hundred dollars, and when people saw, it turned ugly. I walked away with the drum, and as I did that, other people started to surround him and a big fight broke out.”

At that point, it was clear that everyone had to leave – the Secret Service stepped in and hustled Tucker to the car, where Clinton was waiting. Needless to say, it was awkward. “The Secret Service told him what I'd done, and he turned to me and said: ‘Tucker, why'd you do that? You could've asked me for change! You almost started a riot here – I wasn't done shopping!'” If comedy is pain, then on the basis of experiences like this, Tucker has no shortage of A-grade material for his show.

From here, our conversation turns to the subject of Tucker's film career. He appears in movies only infrequently – Silver Linings Playbook was his first non-Rush Hour role since the ‘90s. It seems that these days, he is in the privileged position of only working when he really wants to.

“I always look for something different from what I've done,” he says. “When Silver Linings Playbook came along, I was really interested, because it was a smaller role, but it was a really fun and important one. Something like that was great, because it showed a different side of me. I'm always looking and searching for roles that are different.”

In the film, Tucker plays Danny, Bradley Cooper's best buddy-slash-sidekick, who has a bad habit of constantly escaping from a mental institution. “I just thought he was a fun character, because he kept popping in and out of the movie, popping up,” Tucker says. “He had a serious side to him as well as a funny side, and I knew I could play both. The timing of the movie was perfect. A lot of people don't know a lot about mental illness, so it was good to be able to come at that as well.”

When Tucker read the script, he approached director David O. Russell directly and asked for the part, and Russell hired him without so much as an audition. “He's really creative,” Tucker says of his collaborator. “I love the way he works, because he's so involved – he knows exactly what he wants. It's great to work with someone like that.”

For many of his fans, Tucker's most memorable roles is one of his earliest – the affable stoner Smokey in the comedy flick Friday. When fans meet Tucker and talk about the film, though, they are surprised to learn that the two are nothing alike – for one, Tucker does not share Smokey's preference for herbal refreshments.

“Sometimes people are disappointed,” he says. “They want that character that that they've seen in the movie. They'll call me by the character's name – they scare you! They call out ‘say that line!' and I'm like ‘I haven't seen that movie for ages, what line?!'”

Some fans are let down by the fact that Tucker doesn't want to get high with them, but he's pretty sanguine about the whole thing.

“I want people to know the difference,” he says, emphatically. “I was acting – that wasn't me. I don't want to influence people in that direction, and make people think that it's all fun and games. Some people are disappointed, but I guess it's a compliment, I played that character pretty well if people think that he and I are so much alike.”

BY ALASDAIR DUNCAN

CHRIS TUCKER performs an all-ages show at The Plenary on Tuesday June 11. Tickets through Ticketmaster.

Earl Sweatshirt

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:01:38 +1000

Earl Sweatshirt returned from two years at a Samoan reform school with a new song called Chum last year, but instead of a howl of triumph celebrating his freedom, we heard him sounding unusually vulnerable. “I'm indecisive, I'm scatter-brained and I'm frightened,” he admitted, finishing the final verse with, “Been back a week and I already feel like calling it quits.”

It wasn't the Earl Sweatshirt we were used to. His first album, Earl, was a parade of monsters: “This is my zombie circus, you better get a fuckin' ticket.” That line was delivered by frequent guest, collaborator, co-pilot and big-brother figure Tyler, the Creator. Together they pretended to be vampires and devils as well as serial killers and rapists, not seeming to realise or care that there was any difference between fantasising about being John Wayne Gacy or Count Dracula.

EarlWolf was another of those monsters, one they formed when combined together, a two-headed angry teenage misfit who hated the world because it was full of homework and parents who were either absent or overbearing. The skit where Earl's mother tries to wake him up for school by saying she won't make him breakfast if he doesn't get out of bed, to which he replies, “I can fix myself breakfast, I'm 16!”, might be the most perfectly self-aware satire of teenage rebellion ever recorded.

But Tyler's last album, Wolf, wasn't about annoying old people, taking the piss out of himself or playing Halloween dress-up as Satanists and rapists. Reviews called it “deeper” and were surprised to hear him sounding “remorseful”. Tyler found more mature things to rap about, just like Earl, who told the New York Times that after working in a crisis support centre in Samoa as part of his counselling and talking to victims of sexual abuse it wasn't possible to write songs about the subject any more, “if you have any ounce of humanity”.

“I think I speak for me and him both when I say it happened naturally cause it was just like outgrowing it,” he says of the change in his and Tyler's music. “Like, enough shit had happened to the point where we didn't have to rely on that or have to go there, because there was other subject matter. There's other very pertinent, very personal subject matter for us to touch on.”

While he was in Samoa Earl had to talk to therapists every day and take educational courses, but he also found time to read Richard Farina's novel Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me, (“I fucking love that book, like I read that book like 10 or 11 times”) and learn the basics of playing piano (“I just try and find chords that I think are cool”). Those experiences are part of what's going into his next two albums, Doris and Gnossos, the second of which is named after the main character of Farina's book.

He's eager to have the releases ready and a little frustrated by performing with Tyler on his current Wolf tour and getting bigger reactions when he pulls out the old stuff. “I'm having a lot more fun performing now,” he says, “but I just really want this album to come out so the crowds can be familiar with it when I play new stuff cause I'm not sick of the old stuff, it's just that at this point I'm transitioning out of wanting to play it all the time.”

The EarlWolf shows, which they're currently touring around the US before they come to Australia, feature Earl and Tyler performing a joint set, with backup from fellow members of Odd Future Jasper Dolphin and Taco as their hypemen. “There's like a tentative setlist but me and him have a bunch of songs that we've done together. Like, I have solo shit, he has solo shit, so it's just a mixed bag of all that stuff.” If it's anything like the footage on YouTube of them performing together it's likely to be chaotic, featuring them changing their mind about which songs they want to do halfway through and Earl having to talk Tyler into doing Tamale, the goofiest, bounciest and least mature song on Wolf. “Yeah, that's the most fun song in the entire world,” Earl says. “We played that two times last night.”

Watching footage like that of the two of them on stage, clowning and goofing off, Earl and Tyler seem so closely connected that it's weird to hear that they weren't always so tight. But when they first met, Tyler having tracked down Earl after hearing him rap on MySpace, their meeting was underwhelming.

“We didn't really like each other at first,” Earl says. “I don't know, we both thought we were annoying.” Plenty would agree with that first impression, but somehow they got past their mutual abrasiveness and Earl became an essential part of Tyler's posse of skate kids and rap brats. “There was no, like, joining processes,” Earl says of becoming part of Odd Future. “We did songs and then that's how that happened. We just started doing music together. We did Couch and Asthma first out of anything and then it just happened naturally. It wasn't like, ‘All right, man. Fucking jump through this hoop and beat this wizard and you can be down with me and my homies'.”

BY JODY MACGREGOR

Earl Sweatshirt performs alongside Tyler, The Creator at The Palace Theatre on Friday June 7.

Vampire Weekend

Wed, 15 May 2013 22:08:41 +1000

I'm speaking with Vampire Weekend multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij as he enjoys a relative respite, relishing a “chill week” in his Brooklyn apartment before the promotional storm that accompanies the ceremony that is an album's release. That's not to say the madness hasn't already begun to transpire. The band purportedly raised the ire of car enthusiasts with a slow motion lyric clip featuring two burning SAABs. The day before our interview yielded a clip of Steve Buscemi in a top hat singing Modern Vampires Of The City lead single Diane Young a cappela in front of the stone-faced Brooklyn four-piece.

In the clip, it's Rostam who first cracks the stoic facade in the face of Buscemi's madcap antic with a relinquished chuckle. As for the SAAB ‘controversy' (Vampire Weekend seem prone to the most benevolent of controversies), Rostam is sternly dismissive. “We just wait for certain things to blow over, as they inherently will. Certain websites are seeking hits, and they're looking to us to procure them. We don't let that affect us too much.” I offer that the exposure would perhaps benefit the band, no matter how trivial. Rostam doesn't agree. “No, no. I don't see it as beneficial. I see it as a nuisance. I understand it.”

As for the pressure of completing a hat trick of studio albums, following on from the success of their self-titled debut and second LP Contra, Rostam is assured. “I like it, I like the album. I'm not worried about it on any level. There's only so much that you can worry about, at some point you have to let it go.”

The songwriting partnership between Rostam and lead singer Ezra Koenig is taken to another level, with Rostam's classical-leaning pop smarts and Ezra's savvy lyricisms converging to achieve their most accomplished material to date.

“There's definitely a bouncing-off that distinguishes the writing process. Pretty much every song was written either with me making a piece of music and sending it to Ezra and him writing vocal melodies and lyrics on top of it. Or, with him coming in with music and lyrics and the two of us fleshing out the arrangement together. Then later on we would bring in Ariel Rechtshaid, who co-produced the album with me, and our drummer Chris [Tomson] and bass player Chris [Baio]. That was the process for most songs, but maybe there's an exception or two in there.”

While Vampire Weekend's most well-known hits embrace sharp, clean guitar licks, Modern Vampires Of The City shies away from the pop-punk bombast of their earlier work with a spacious, stripped-back ethos. “That's one thing that was a governing principle, minimalism. I don't think the short punky-pop songs defined the previous albums. If you look at the singles, then you might get that impression. But I feel like the albums are much more diverse than punky-pop songs. I guess it depends on how you look at it, at the end of the day.”

The first taste of the new album came in the simultaneous release of Diane Young and Step. Diane Young features Ezra performing an Elvis-like croon over an up-tempo rock‘n'roll number, conversely Step is slow-burning and contemplative. Releasing two disparately styled tracks was a calculated ploy at misdirection, as Rostam explains. “We like this idea that nobody could pigeonhole the sound of the album, because it's a pretty diverse album. We liked the idea that there was no way one song could define the record.”

Though there are many strikingly intimate moments throughout their new release, tracks such as Unbelievers reach a scope befitting of their festival-headlining capabilities. The strive for stadium-sized histrionics is not a motivated one. “If we are, then we're doing it in a pretty risky way,” Rostam offers. Unbelievers is a song that's about living in a world that is inherently conceptual, where the believers and non-believers have to coexist. The song doesn't reveal a tidy prescription as to how that coexistence can come about. It's more simply just describing that world. To answer your question, that doesn't really aspire to a stadium rock sound. But maybe there is something subconscious that's pushing us in that direction.”

Contra was bristling with a sunny strain of pop, most evident on the chirpy Holiday, embracing distinctly Californian qualities from a distinctly New York band. Modern Vampires Of The City, however, is a New York artefact through and through. “It's possible that we're influenced by the fact that our second album was written after travelling so much, and then we came back to New York and relocated for our third album. Well I shouldn't say relocated, what I mean is that we gathered ourselves a little bit and nested ourselves well,” he recalls. “I think that our version of New York is pretty unique to us. Our version of American music is that way too. It's not actually something that we had to think too much about, it's something that happened pretty organically.”

After the subversive use of autotune on Contra cut California English, Ezra's vocals are once again manipulated to the extreme on Diane Young. “It's a natural desire. Since we've been working on music together, we've always experimented with vocal manipulation. I'm talking years before the band began,” Rostam recalls. “In the case of Diane Young, we felt like that section had an interesting arrangement and that the songwriting was strong, but we wanted it to have one more element that was interesting to listen to.”

When Rostam and I last spoke at the start of the year, ahead of the band's Big Day Out appearances, he stated that he was in the process of securing rights for the new album's cover art. The finalised art features a smoggy 1966 New York cityscape photograph by Neal Boenzi, complementing the album's contents greatly. “Yes, we did secure the rights for it. It was touch and go for a second, but we did get it. And I'm very happy that we did. I think that something that we realised was that this whole album could be thought of as a city in itself,” Rostam muses. “That was something we realised after the fact, the album cover was already there at that point. It feels like to us that there was an invisible hand guiding our decision-making.”

The scope a cultural references and nods of acknowledgement contained within Modern Vampires Of The City is mind-boggling, neatly marrying biblical allegories and callbacks to long-forgotten rap hits of the early-‘90s. “We like the idea that our music expresses what we're interested in. We're not just interested in classical music, or just interested in the bible, or just interested in rap. We're interested in all of these things, and we think that it's fitting to make an album that references them all. We wouldn't be true to ourselves if we didn't.”

When I raise the prospect of people feeling uncomfortable with an appropriation of different cultures, Rostam retorts with a measured umbrage. “We would never say that we appropriate anything. The history of all art – if you wanna use that word that way – is appropriating other cultures. That's the history of all creativity. I think it's pretty ignorant when people use that word that way.”

Having produced an established canon of their own, along with a pronounced – somewhat divisive – aesthetic, is it that Vampire Weekend have reached a point where they can become self-referential? “I think the answer to that question isn't very highfalutin – it's yes,” Rostam concurs. “We don't want to repeat ourselves, we are conscious of that. Songs are powerful, evocative things.”

As for the somewhat bizarre prominence of Steve Buscemi in Vampire Weekend's lead-up to the new record, Rostam is, perhaps a little bit sardonically so, thankful for the added Hollywood lustre. “In some ways, we sort of found each other. Chris Baio discovered that he and Steve were related, and Steve wanted to help us out of the kindness of his heart. He felt that we weren't altogether successful in promoting ourselves and wanted to throw some light on the process, if he could. To shine down on us, give us some loving.”

BY LACHLAN KANONIUK

Modern Vampires Of The City is out now through XL/Remote Control.

Seth Sentry

Wed, 08 May 2013 10:32:41 +1000

This interview was initially supposed to take place in early March. If that had happened, the spurs of Seth Sentry's recent triumphs in America couldn't have jabbed themselves into the flank of our conversation, and considering the candour and total jubilation with which the artist speaks of the experience, that would have been a black eye indeed. Thankfully he's practically just stepped off of the plane when we sit down at Beat HQ, and is super animated about the last few weeks as well as his upcoming tour.

“The first show [in the States] that we did was this massive corporate-y Doritos sponsored, Pepsi sponsored event, and it was this big competition,” Sentry says. “They picked three artists from around the world [to compete] and we had to do one song each – after Public Enemy had already played,” he adds drily. “We were drawn first. That was the first gig I'd ever done out of Australia.” The prize was a support slot with LL Cool J, and a performance on Jimmy Kimmel's show. “We had a bunch of other shows which seemed less... not less exciting,” he laughs, “but less stressful. I was less nervous about ‘em, because I had this Jimmy Kimmel thing at the end so I was like, fuck, it's just leading up to that.”

Sentry almost made an idiot of himself when he was meeting the man; the performance stage is in a separate studio to Kimmel's, so he didn't click straight away who this particular man was, advancing to greet him. “Because I'd just done Dear Science and I was all rattled and [thinking] ‘fucking weird', this guy came up to me and was like ‘Hey, congratulations man, well done.' I said ‘Yeah, cool,' shook his hand. I just thought he was a stage guy or something. Then I looked up and was like 'oh, shit.' The other stage hand came up and was like ‘Did he tell you not to fuck up?' [Because] it's all live, it's pretty intense. The chicks there kind of give you the Wayne's World countdown: ‘Five! Four! Three... Go! Don't fuck up!' Don't swear, as well.”

There was a lot of internet chatter about Sentry changing the lyrics of the two tracks he performed – Dear Science and Float Away, both from his 2012 debut LP This Was Tomorrow – to eliminate the swears. “Couldn't say ‘piss weak'. Couldn't say ‘weed'. It's America though,” he says. “Even [in] the late night movies they edit out all the swear words. In Die Hard he says ‘yippie-ki-yay mother clucker.' All the actors do word replacement, like ‘suck my butt' and shit. For real. Which sounds way more offensive to me,” he laughs.

A few viewers also proclaimed that Sentry was miming, which the artist says isn't true. He's not too hung up on these detractors though. “I was pretty happy with how it looked,” he says. “They gave me in-ear monitors, which is the first time I've used them. It's weird, it's a funny feeling. It helped so much with pitch and stuff, I think I'm going to start rocking them, forever.”

While in Texas for the competition showcase, Sentry and DJ Sizzle (his turntables man) got about and sampled the cultural wares, putting up some great photos on Facebook and Twitter. One depicted the two boys chowing down a barrel of seafood that was emptied onto the tablecloth of a restaurant. “It's a particular restaurant that does that, it's not like every restaurant you go to in Texas, like a McDonald's, they bring out a...” Sentry mimes the delivery of a heaving platter of Mickeys and winks, “'There ya go, scumbag.'” But the adage that everything's bigger in Texas was more often true than not. “The ribs! We got ribs at one place and it was like the fucking Flintstones, you know what they whack on the Flintstones' car?”

For Sentry, Facebook isn't just a place to post pictures. He starts conversations with fans, replies to questions and genuinely interacts. It's a wonderfully sincere effort. “Yeah, but [fans] put effort into buying my album, showing interest, they actually go on YouTube and ask the questions, you know what I mean? I'm just giving back what they've put in. That's why I really like going on my Facebook, it's a nice place to be. There're some other dudes, even in this country, that have got Facebook pages that are just horrible places to be. There's so much racism and homophobia that's just rampant there, and everyone's fighting and shit.” Still, he doesn't treat his fans with undue delicacy. Shortly after Sentry posted a status about his excitement in playing his first ever underage show in Melbourne, a fan questioned whether the artist had forgotten his One Night Stand gig a few months before. ‘Pretty sure that wasn't underage & wasn't in Melbourne', Sentry replied. “That's just ‘cause I'm a smartass though,” he laughs. “I handle it as if, to me, we're just hanging out in this gathering, and if someone says something whack I'm going to hit him up.”

The YouTube questions that Sentry refers to are part of a little series of clips he's got going, in which he reads out queries from fans and then responds, explaining his angle. The audio is accompanied by walk-throughs of video games; Sentry is a total gaming geek. “This is the thing, right, that people don't realise. They think ‘Oh yeah, yeah, he likes video games, like he's a fan of video games.' I'm really fucking good at video games, and I want to just prove that to people,” he says with a smirk. “I've wasted so many years doing that shit, I may as well have something to show for it.” Sentry didn't bring back any gaming paraphernalia from the States, but he did pick up a couple of new bobble-heads. “[I got] Doctor Doom and Deadpool, they're comic book characters from Marvel. I don't even know why I collect them; they don't bobble, they just sit in their box on my shelf, above my windowsill. Some of them you can get [in Australia] but, you know. Just doing anything in New York makes it cool.”

As aforementioned, the Melbourne leg of Sentry's upcoming tour will include an under 18s show. At first he didn't think there was a market for such a thing but through interaction over the Net, he's realised he most certainly boasts a fan base within the demographic. “We've done all-ages gigs in Adelaide, and there's fucking kids. Like proper kids. Which is awesome,” he attests. “People send me footage of their kids singing along to Float Away, with the swear words in it and shit. I went to an under 18s Living End show, it was the first gig I ever went to.” My first gig, as I don't mind admitting, was Hanson. “I used to think they had the hottest drummer,” Sentry responds. “Me and my mates were like ‘Whoa, this chick is banging!' And then it was a dude. This is pre-internet, so the avenues for looking at hot chicks were very limited.”

It turns out that Sentry's own drumming skills are rather inferior to Zac Hanson's, despite what the clever cutting in the Dear Science clip may have led you to believe. Same goes for the other instruments his alter-egos are playing, too. “Can play bass, not very well. Can play guitar, not very well. Harmonica, I don't think anyone can play well, can they?” Chris Wilson can. “Yeah, he can. It's a cunt of an instrument, there's no frets, you don't know where the fuck you are. And I feel like a lot of the time, people think they can play harmonica but they're just sliding around until they get to the note. I can play piano, I skipped a book in piano. [My teacher said] ‘Yeah, you're not going to need this book.' I was like ‘Yes, see ya later Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.'”

The Dear Science clip is based on a YouTube video which is definitely worth looking at, by the way, if you haven't already (it's had 23 million views): ‘this drummer is at the wrong gig', uploaded in June 2010. Sentry shows it to me with glee.

The under 18s gig will be at Ding Dong Lounge on Saturday May 18, but the big boy show will be on Friday May 17 at The Forum. Sentry's never played there. “No, fuck no! It's a big venue, man. Nerve-wracking. It's a fucking cool venue. I saw Aesop Rock there – he's my favourite rapper. He was with Kimya Dawson, unfortunately. I'd never heard paint dry until then.”

BY ZOE RADAS

SETH SENTRY plays the Forum Theatre on Friday May 17, and an under 18s show on Saturday May 18 at Ding Dong lounge. This Was Tomorrow is out now.

Neutral Milk Hotel Confirm Harvest 2013 Appearance

Wed, 08 May 2013 09:15:33 +1000

After wild speculation in regards to the freshly reformed Neutral Milk Hotel and their Australian tour plans, the band have let slip that they will be heading our way this November for Harvest.

Adding dates to their global itinerary this morning, the band's official website now lists appearances at this year's three Harvest Festivals.

The Melbourne leg of Harvest 2013 takes place on Sunday November 10.

Spring Breakers

Tue, 07 May 2013 15:15:45 +1000

Until recently, Harmony Korine has been the underdog of a fiercely independent, provocative subculture of American cinema, along with filmmakers like Vincent Gallo and Larry Clark. A skater, painter, author and photographer, his films have been decidedly on the experimental and performance-art end of the spectrum – apart perhaps from the very verite Kids, which he wrote when he was 19.

There followed four resolutely non-commercial features: Gummo, Julien Donkey-Boy, Mister Lonely, and Trash Humpers (about degenerate oldies who hump trash); all lo-fi films set in low-income enclaves, about low-brow things like fucking, skating, drinking, drugs and casual violence.

And then Spring Breakers happened: his fifth feature, his first commercial success, and about as different aesthetically to his previous work as Chaplin's Great Dictator is to A Good Day to Die Hard. At first glance, you'd be hard pressed to see Korine in this film, for all the slick, high-def visuals, production values and big-name stars (Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, James Franco). “Yeah, I can see that,” the writer director accedes.

Spring Breakers a candy-coloured cultural nightmare, in which bikini-clad babes cruise the streets of Miami on scooters in slow-motion, straight out of a rap video. Jacked up on coke, brandishing machetes and fake guns, they rob a diner like it's part of a video game; bare-breasted, they jiggle under-phallic yard-glasses waiting to be showered on.

“There's elements of the visual style of rap videos that are kind of sifted through – like a cultural mash-up, or an impressionistic reinterpretation of those things, of that culture,” says Korine. “It's a meshing and a melding and a blending and a kind of mutating of all of those things.”

Korine's entry point was his passion for the trap and drill subgenres of rap (he worked with Skrillex on the soundtrack, and cast one of his all-time favourite rappers, Gucci Mane – “I just called him in prison and asked him to do it.”).

“You know I never wanted to make a movie about spring break,” says the writer-director. “It's almost more representative of this idea, and of this thing that's more fleeting. And then the film becomes something more of a crime story – about the underworld, the gangster culture, gangster mysticism. All that stuff [is] beach noir: the coke houses, the guns, the shoot-outs; the menace and pathology under the palm trees at night. The rotting yachts, the dirty swimming pools, the Glocks and the spinning rims and the cocaine and the baking soda.”

This violence and consumerism, he says, “is something that's completely linked to American culture. It's part of the fabric here, it's part of the mythology [of America].”

In this respect, Korine follows in the footsteps of Brian De Palma's American nightmare Scarface (explicitly referenced in the film), in which Cuban immigrant-on-the-make and wannabe gangster Tony Montana, assessing '80s Florida, says: “In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, you get the women.”

But while Spring Breakers features another Tony, in the form of white-boy rapper, dealer and wannabe gangster Alien (James Franco), the action belongs to the four party-hard girls who arrive on his patch of turf for spring break. In the real world and in the movie world, some terrible violence would befall these girls, but in Korine's world, they cut through the scene like a razor through butter, moving with a sinister kind of amorality (apart from Faith, who as per her name, proves too pure), untouchable. What does it say about the American dream that these girls are the ultimate predators?

If Korine is making a point here, however, he's not talking about it. “The girls were always meant to be almost unreal in some ways – almost like cosmic gangsters or like shape-shifters. They're more like characters out of a video game, or something.”

The writer-director displays a disdain for self-analysis that's persisted throughout his career. Spring Breakers may strike the viewer as an allegory for America or a cautionary tale, but Korine insists that the film “is not an indictment or an essay”.

“I don't ask myself any questions. I just make movies, make things, mind my own business, play basketball, eat tacos. I do what I want to do. I entertain myself. I just don't want to know anything about why I do anything…I have no desire to know any answers. I never have. I'm more curious about the questions…I don't think there even are real answers. I think people just fake themselves into thinking they know real meaning. But I think life means everything and nothing.”

This philosophy may be the one thing that underpins Korine's body of work, and gives it its distinct flavour: the rapid and unflinching juxtaposition of the sublime and the ugly in one place, with no judgment. There's a point in his directorial debut, Gummo, where one of the characters – in voiceover – says that all he sees is darkness and despair around him in the world. Then Gummo – in narration – says, “the world is beautiful, really it is.”

I ask Korine where his particular philosophy on life comes from; he responds with the predictable conversational shrug. “From skateboarding, from movies – just everything. From hanging out with convicts, running away from home, living on a rooftop, to having a daughter myself. Hey man, it all comes from everywhere – it's life, you're just a conduit to it. I don't question it, I just let it hit me – and then I'm like, BAM!”

BY DEE JEFFERSON

Spring Breakers will be released in cinemas from Thursday May 9.

2013 Splendour In The Grass Sideshow Roundup

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:21:47 +1000

After the festival sold out in under an hour, the Splendour sideshows are now coming in thick and fast.

So far, the full list of Splendour artists who will be trekking down to Melbourne from Byron include:

Airbourne, Saturday July 20 - The Corner Hotel

Daughter, Tuesday 23 July – The Corner HotelSurfer Blood, Wednesday July 24 – The Corner Hotel Haim, Thursday July 25 – The Hi-FiEverything Everything, Friday July 26 – The Corner Hotel

Wavves, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Saturday July 27 - The Corner HotelJake Bugg, Sunday 28 July – The Corner Hotel

FIDLAR, Monday 29 July – The Corner HotelPalma Violets, Monday 29 July – Northcote Social ClubMs Mr, Monday 29 July – The Hi-FiLaura Marling, Tuesday July 30 - St Michael's Uniting Church

Cold War Kids, Tuesday July 30 - The Hi-FiVillagers, Tuesday July 30 - The Corner Hotel

Passion Pit, Tuesday July 30 - The Palace; Wednesday July 31- The Hi-FiJames Blake, Wednesday July 31 – Palais Theatre Darwin Deez, July Wednesday 31 - The Corner HotelOf Monsters And Men, Saturday August 3, Sunday August 4 - The Palais

Stay tuned to Beat for more sideshows as they are revealed.

Poison City Weekender Returns For 2013

Thu, 02 May 2013 14:45:23 +1000

Poison City's annual Weekender festival is back again for 2013.
Headlining the festivities will be beloved Melbourne foursome The Smith Street Band, joined by international guests making their debut Down Under, Joyce Manor, Cheap Girls and Cory Branan.

The lineup also features Blueline Medic, The Nation Blue, Luca Brasi, Hoodlum Shouts, White Walls, Lincoln Le Fevre, Arrows, The Bennies, Deep Heat, Milhouse, Grim Fandango, Jen Buxton, Infinite Void, Clowns, Postblue, Apart From This and Pinch Hitter with more acts still to be announced.

This year The Weekender takes over the John Curtin Hotel on Friday September 6, Corner Hotel on Saturday September and The Reverence Hotel on Sunday September 8. Tickets go on sale on Friday May 10. Hit up their website for more information.

Lil B 'The BasedGod' Announces Debut Australian Tour

Wed, 01 May 2013 12:04:15 +1000

One of the most prolific and captivating artists of our era will be performing in Australia for the very first time, with Lil B 'The BasedGod' announcing an extremely rare live appearance to take place in Melbourne - a move that is sure to please our local TaskForce contingent.

Releasing an insane amount of mixtapes over the past few years, Lil B has amassed a following like no other. Abound with arcane terms, a cult-like mythology has grown to surround the young rapper as he cultivates his sprawling internet presence to spread unabashed messages of positivity.

Lil B's adopted tabby Keke also made history as the first animal in hip hop. Listen here.

Lil B 'The BasedGod' performs at The Hi-Fi on Thursday June 13.

Splendour In The Grass 2013 Lineup Revealed

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:25:26 +1000

After an unprecedented bout of rabid rumour-mongering as to who will help break in Splendour In The Grass's lush new digs at North Byron Parklands, we can finally reveal who will be heading our way for our largest winter music festival.

The full, very tasty, lineup reads as follows:

Mumford & Sons (Only Australian Show)Frank OceanThe National (Only Australian Show)Of Monsters & MenEmpire Of The SunBernard FanningThe PresetsTV On The Radio (Only Australian Show)KlaxonsFlumeBabyshamblesPassion PitBirds Of TokyoJames BlakeArchitecture In HelsinkiLaura MarlingMatt CorbyDraphtMystery BandFlight FacilitiesPolyphonic Spree (Performing Rocky Horror Picture Show)Boy & BearFat Freddy's DropCold War KidsThe RubensSarah BlaskoDarwin DeezYou Am I (Performing Sound As Ever & Hi-Fi Way)HermitudeHaimAirbourneThe DronesMs MrGurrumulEverything EverythingClairy Browne & The Bangin' RackettesCloud ControlPortugal. The ManDaughterSomething For KateWavvesChet FakerSnakadaktalRobert DelongUnknown Mortal OrchestraWhitleyFidlarJake BuggThe BamboosSurfer BloodDeap VallyPalma VioletsAlpineLittle Green CarsVance JoyJagwar MaVillagersViolent SohoDune RatsPVTThe Jungle GiantsCub ScoutsArt Of SleepingThe GrowlTwinsyThe ChemistSongsMitziAlison WonderlandYolanda Be CoolWhat So NotXaphoon JonesD-CupOtologicPeking DukTyler ToucheBad Ezzy

Splendour In The Grass 2013 takes place at North Byron Parklands from Friday July 26 until Sunday July 28.

Local Natives

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 22:59:53 +1000

Ryan Hahn speaks with the smooth Californian accent of one of the guys from the Corey hotline. He and his bandmates Taylor Rice, Kelcey Ayer and Matt Frazier make up Local Natives, the trail-blazing indie rockers (or psych folkers, depending on which frothing review you read) who first plotted their roots at an Orange County high school.

The band's debut album Gorilla Manor (2009) was famously named after the sharehouse in which the guys first kicked about and cut their musical teeth, and after it was released by FrenchKiss in the States, the group was compared to the likes of Arcade Fire and Vampire Weekend. New album Hummingbird (released in January) still bats these forces around but there's a growth there which invites listeners to engage with a healing process, proffered with full but not frenetic choruses and haunting, lilting background vocals. And, necessarily I guess, it all happens in the most weirdly democratic way.

“Especially when we're writing, we all just kind of play whatever we're inspired to work with at that moment,” Hahn explains over the phone from LA. “There's songs that I play drums on, and Kelcey plays guitar, or bass. We just switch often. It's fun... you can't have an ego about it, you know. We all just try to contribute what we can.” To make sure a particular message isn't diluted, they try to ensure fidelity to the original lyrical idea: “We try to keep [lyrics] as personal and from one perspective as possible. We always bounce ideas off each other and if there's something that's not clear, or if something is like, kind of cringe-inducing, then we pick it up and iron it out that way. But oftentimes it is from just one person's perspective.”

First single Breakers was released in late 2012, and features this fantastic trilling guitar which makes you think of marimbas but played on clams, and rising and falling vocals in the background like a bunch of whales. Hahn's description of the band's approach to singles and their own ways of listening seems at odds with the single-serving Spotify way, but it obviously hasn't hurt them any. “It's a weird thing selecting singles or whatever, for a band like us,” he says. “I guess we're not really into that game. I think we're just more concerned with making an album as a whole, just because that's the way we tend to listen to music. We just want a collection of songs that we're really proud of – and if a few can be played on the radio, then, cool.”

Other stand-outs on Hummingbird include Heavy Feet, which features a very tom-heavy drum pattern, and as you listen through it becomes apparent that distinctive drums and especially auxiliary percussion (like handclaps) are a giant component of Local Natives' sound. A tom or snare on all four beats of a bar, followed by total breaks in percussion while guitar or harmonies burst through unaccompanied, is part of that ‘Afro' style which the boys have also been linked to. “Matt's our drummer but I love playing drums,” Hahn says. “When we write songs we'll demo them out before we bring them to the other guys, a lot of the time. For me, for my songs at least, I like showing my drum ideas when I show the guys. I feel that's just like the nature of our band, and being multi-instrumentalists.”

One of the tracks Hahn penned is Black Balloons, which he describes as one of the “angrier” on the release. It's a beautifully written lament with a driving hi-hat pattern, and the airy and slightly unusual harmonies typical of the band singing, 'Black balloons form/into a poison cloud'. It's immediate but not rushed. “That one kind of came from a place of frustration, maybe with a person in my life,” says Hahn slowly. “A person that I just found to be – ” and he laughs before continuing, “ – pretty loathsome. Just interacting with this person. When I was just toying around with the song, and toying around with the melody, those lyrics came to me really quick.” Unfortunately he can't say exactly what kind of keyboard is playing the deep fuzz notes that go with the bass' minor thirds in the wicked second half of the song, and that's because Aaron Dessner is the Grand Poobah of fantastic gear and you couldn't possibly recall every little thing the guy fired up during recording.

The tale of how Local Natives landed Dessner as producer for Hummingbird is one Hahn seems to enjoy telling, and you can hear the awe in that sweet surfer voice as if it had just happened yesterday. “We were already writing quite a bit [for the album], and then we got this call from a booking agent, that The National was asking us to go on tour for a bit,” he says. “They were just one of those bands that I think we just couldn't say no to. We went out and we had an awesome time; Aaron really went out of his way to welcome us. And we kind of just became buds.” Dessner put it out there that he'd like to work with the guys on their album, and they of course gladly accepted. “In a lot of ways, he definitely became like this older brother-type figure that we could be honest with. In the studio, we could be really up front about ideas. It was just a really good working relationship,” he says.

About that keyboard: “Honestly, I wish I could answer you, but we had so many keyboards! Aaron ... had vintage keyboards and awesome organs and stuff, and certain things we hadn't even considered. So we had the song, we had instrumentation, and then it was like okay, let's plug a few of these in and see what happens if we layer a few of these.”

Considering the group was so tight and that they'd made Gorilla Manor happen almost entirely on their own, Hahn reckons that they were initially “sceptical” about bringing anyone else in. “Our first record we really basically did in a garage, and then this time we got to go to Montreal to a full professional studio and [also at] Aaron's place, he had some really quality gear. And it felt like in some ways we'd become professional musicians,” he laughs, and adds, “...a few years after the fact.

“It felt like Aaron was just more personally invested [than other producers they'd considered]; it just felt like much more of a personal thing,” he says. “And sometimes it's good to have an outsider maybe tell us when we're going too far into our own heads. It's good, to sometimes have that outside voice.”

To kick off the Hummingbird launch, Local Natives got a coveted spot to play in-store at Amoeba Music, in Hollywood. “It's like one of the last remaining awesome, awesome record stores,” Hahn says warmly. “It's pretty massive; there's one in LA and there's one in San Francisco. They have bands play on this tiny stage and then people basically stand in the aisle next to all the records and CDs and stuff. It's just a really cool thing that they do and I've seen some really cool bands play there.” Some of the really cool bands that have played there recently include the Milk Carton Kids, Cold War Kids and Yo La Tengo.

When they get to us, though, you won't have to stand next to CD racks but can bask under the stars and stony statue gazes of the Forum Theatre. It's going to be super interesting to see how the boys decide to present their tunes live, when they don't necessarily stick to one instrument each while recording: will they be leaping around, swapping things, picking things up, putting things down? “Yeah we're trying to, as we speak, figure out how to play some of the songs live,” chuckles Hahn. “There is a kind of trading off. Last time [in Australia] we played Laneway and it was the first time playing in Australia period. It was honestly – I guess it sounds like I'm just pandering to you – but it was just such a fun tour. And I think we're really stoked to come back and play Australia again.”

BY ZOE RADAS

LOCAL NATIVES play the Forum Theatre on Saturday May 18. Hummingbird is out now through Liberator. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.

Phoenix

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:43:25 +1000

It's a few days until French giants Phoenix headline the Saturday night of this year's Coachella, and they're up to something. Speaking from the festival grounds, guitarist Laurent Brancowitz apologises for being a bit excited before revealing that the band are busy preparing some “secret stuff” for their festival appearance. Something to rival hologram 2Pac? “We thought about having a hologram of Mozart, but we couldn't find footage of him,” Laurent retorts with a chuckle.

As the many thousands at the festival (plus many more thousands streaming online) found out, the “secret” was a surprise visit from soul superstar R Kelly – joining the band for a mash-up of his Ignition (Remix) and their 1901, into verses of I'm A Flirt over new Phoenix track Chloroform. It was all pulled off with Phoenix's goofy brand of cool.

A fortnight prior to my interview with Laurent, Phoenix made their first live appearance in over two years. In that time, the band have been busy putting together their new LP Bankrupt! – the follow-up to the Grammy-award winning success that is Wolfgang Armadeus Phoenix. “We spent so much time in the studio for this last record, so going out, seeing these places and travelling is exciting for us. We have too much work for too small amount of hours, so we are excited but very tired,” he states, with excitement clearly overriding any fatigue.

Wolfgang Armadeus Phoenix took the band to tremendous heights, to the point where they take top billing at the world's biggest festivals and pack out stadium-sized performances. The lofty live settings, however, haven't influenced the band in terms of crafting stadium-sized anthems on Bankrupt!

“We always have in mind that we will play the songs live, so for us it is important that they are playable by human beings. But we never think about music designed for festivals or stadiums. Usually that is really bad music. We tried to make our best album ever. Some moments on the record are pretty massive-sounding, but there are some moments of intimacy,” Laurent reveals. “Musically, the extremes are more extreme. But when we play them live they have a new meaning. It's difficult, but it's our job to combine all those things and make something that has balance. What I think takes us the most energy is combining things that usually wouldn't work together. It's creating a new chemical reaction with different elements.”

Lead single Entertainment is buoyed by vintage synth tones, with many aspects of Bankrupt! following suit with various nods to ‘80s pop. “It wasn't a conscious move, but we realised that we were taking all these elements from music we were listening to when we were kids,” Laurent ponders. “I think on this record we weren't obsessed with the perfection of the mechanism of the song, but more with the charm of the song. The charm has a lot to do with the memories of childhood. These things resonate in a special way. Prince, Madonna, and all the music we listened to as kids, we were attracted to the elements from that period. But there was no conscious decision, and it's only one part of the spectrum of the album. We have elements of every part of the history of mankind, I would say.”

Though showcasing vintage pop styling, Bankrupt! embraces some touchstones of modern electronic music. But it doesn't come from a desire to emulate current trends.

“Our goal is to create new trends. It sounds pretentious, but that's our goal. If we were paying attention to what was happening around us, we would just be followers. There are a few things that are too good to miss, but I'm not too obsessed with what's happening in our field of activity, which is music,” Laurent states wryly.

Within the space of a few weeks, Phoenix performed on American television institution Saturday Night Live, headlined a night at America's biggest music festival, and were invited to perform at Jay-Z's Made In America Festival. So how did Phoenix become one of the few contemporary European bands to make it big in the USA?

“I actually have no idea why. Perhaps it is some kind of misunderstanding. Maybe it's because we have worked a lot for a very long time to achieve what we have in mind. But I have no idea what people expect from us, no idea why they accept us at these big festivals. We always have the feeling that it must be a typo. What I do know is that we were lucky enough to start doing music before YouTube, so we had the time to be very bad and improve without too many people noticing how bad we were,” Laurent laughs self-deprecatingly.

Soon after Phoenix unleash Bankrupt!, their compatriots and friends Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (Laurent performed with both in the early ‘90s group Darlin') will be releasing a lil' old album called Random Access Memories.

“We have the same goal – to make the universe a better place,” Laurent says on Phoenix's and Daft Punk's shared prerogative. “I really like the fact that both of our albums are being released in the same period. It reminds me of the good days of popular music with a lot of good albums coming out at the same time, and this friendly rivalry. But it's more friendly that rivalry – we've known each other for so long that it would be stupid to be rivals.”

As for when we can expect Phoenix to showcase their new material live in Australia (presumably, but not hopefully, sans R Kelly), Laurent reveals we can expect some news sometime in the near future. “We finished our last tour in Australia, and we talked about this album while we were in Byron Bay for a few days. For us it has a special meaning,” Laurent beams. “We are working on returning right now, but I cannot tell you when. But I can tell you it will happen. Very soon hopefully.”

BY LACHLAN KANONIUK

Bankrupt! is out now through Liberator.

The Drones

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:30:27 +1000

The Drones' career has played out in three acts: the first came with the band's conception in Perth, the bastard offspring of The Gutterville Splendour Six. Featuring original members James McCann and Rui Pereira alongside notional leader Gareth Liddiard, The Drones begged, borrowed and stole its way into the gutter of Australian underground rock. The second act came with The Drones' break-through album, the award-winning Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies Will Float By. A rapid succession of national and international tours followed and, when Pereira left the fold in late 2006, it seemed The Drones were in danger of burning out in an incandescent rage, just like the fiery conclusion to one of the band's songs. And now, with the band's latest record, I See Seaweed, released to yet more critical acclaim, The Drones' blend of dirty-swamp blues and Liddiard's brilliant literary lyrical expositions has become a feature of the Australian rock'n'roll landscape.

Speaking from his home in Nagambie in regional Victoria, Gareth Liddiard is typically laconic when he recalls the more frenzied times of The Drones' earlier years. “It's not something you tire of in a sense, except maybe in hindsight. If you go on a long tour, the first week and a half is really fucking hard, and you don't like it,” Liddiard says. “You get no sleep, and you're always on the move. It's like Race Around The World, but you've got to play gigs as well. But after a couple of weeks, something inside your brain changes, and you can just do it. You really love it, and you just become a fucking animal, and you start telling people to fuck off. You want something, and you take it, and if something's in your way, you barge through it. But when you get home, you have to do the dishes.”

I See Seaweed is the first Drones record since 2008's Havilah. In the intervening period, Liddiard found time to release his debut solo record, Strange Tourist. Liddiard concedes that there's negligible difference between his solo compositions and a Drones record. “For me there's nothing – it's the same thing,” Liddiard says. “If I call it The Drones, and then I went out to play gigs, then people would be weirded out because The Drones weren't there. To get a certain sound – to sound like you've got a band behind you – you've got to have a band behind you, and if you don't want to sound like you have a band behind you, you don't.” With his characteristic honesty and occasional caustic commentary, Liddiard critiques the entire concept of a ‘solo' record. “I hate the word solo because: what does it mean? The dictionary meaning – ‘that was a solo record'? So although Adalita and Glenn Richards and a bunch of people put solo records out that year, but I was the only one who put a solo record out because I did it all myself. Ultimately it's me unaccompanied, or it's just more Drones shit. That's the way I see it.”

While paying tribute to the influence and contribution of his Drones band mates – guitarist Dan Luscombe, bass player Fiona Kitschin and drummer Mike Noga – Liddiard concedes that he provided the prevailing artistic and production direction on I See Seaweed. That said, Liddiard doesn't consider himself a control freak – certainly not in the manner of the more precious auteurs of yore. “Not really ... but maybe to a degree,” Liddiard muses. “I don't believe in committees – what's that saying: a committee makes a camel, and an individual makes a racehorse. I don't believe in committees, but I do believe that everyone has to have space to be themselves. For example with Dan, I only need to tell him what key the song is in. But I kind of have to steer the ship – it's control, but not control freakiness.”

I See Seaweed is the first studio recording to feature the piano-playing talents of Steve Hesketh. Hesketh, whose piano skills have been embraced previously by You Am I, The Mess Hall, The Bamboos and a host of other Australian bands, had originally joined The Drones for their most recent Australian tour; it was a natural decision to invite him to join the band. “Steve did that tour we did after the DVD release. Part of that was him playing with us in that warehouse and doing a bunch of stuff that we couldn't ordinarily do,” Liddiard says. “A piano is great thing for that – a piano can be quite bare, and it doesn't complicate things, so it's more useful than a synthesiser or a Hammond. And he's awesome to have around – he's hilarious.”

With I See Seaweed, Liddiard is again in colourful literary mode, his lyrics a pastiche of observations on historical dramas, contemporary fuck-ups and the flawed attributes of political leadership. Grey Leader, in particular, reflects Liddiard's frustrations with those who purport to construct our political agenda. “It's pretty general. It's just about leaders being fuckwits – they're all idiots, they're all egomaniacs and they're all hypocrites,” Liddiard says. “There is that line in the song: ‘while the big kick the small down the street'. That happens all the time. And I had Tony Abbott in mind because he's such a douche. Whether it's Tony Abbott or Kim Jong-il (laughs). It's a pretty general song.”

But while Liddiard admits that every line in every one of his songs has an underlying meaning, he's content to let the listener explore each lyric's meaning for themselves. “They mean something to me – every line in there I could tell you what it means, but I don't want to, because that's for the listener,” Liddiard says. “Music's great like that – you could be listening to something in high school, and you could listen to it this week, and because you're older and have more experience, you'll hear something new that you didn't hear before. You can't do that with books and films so much because you can't watch or read them that many times.”

While Liddiard could never be accused of being a flag-waving nationalist, it's arguable that The Drones is a uniquely Australian band – not just the parochial aspect of Liddiard's lyrics, but via the sense of space that the band's music conveys. And on A Moat You Can Stand In, The Drones create a sound that conjures up images of X, Rose Tattoo, Cold Chisel and The Radiators destroying eardrums at the Bondi Lifesaver in 1979. “We weren't really trying to get that sound. I just wanted to get a song! If we played that song in a pub we'd get bashed. People say we sound like Oz rock or pub rock, but at the end of that song it's so noisy that we'd be turfed out. We were going for a wild sound, that's all,” Liddiard says.

Having travelled all over the world, Liddiard concedes he has a sense of national identity – but it's practical, not ideological. “In the practical side of things – linguistics or sharing the same sense of humour,” Liddiard says. “You feel that when you come back from France. There are a lot of subtleties that Australians have, and that makes me feel Australian, but I'm not parochial or nationalistic. Humans come from the world, so I feel more worldly than an Aussie Oi Oi Oi!” he laughs.

On Why Write A Letter You'll Never Send, Liddiard embarks on a 19th century letter writing experience, dictating his observations on the world at large in the manner of a long-winded stream of conscious. “The old letters were written as a stream of consciousness. They were as much about the receiver as they were about the person writing it,” Liddiard says. Though definitely not nostalgia for the past – and no letter-writer himself – Liddiard does lament the absence of subtlety and emotion in modern electronic communications. “They don't do it with emails anymore, but they would put a bit of humour in it, throw a bit of vaudeville in there – you manipulate the reader, and you show off a little. So it was written like that. These days, that's lost. You don't get that anymore, which is a shame.”

With such a rich literary quality to his lyrics, it'd be easy to see Liddiard picking up the proverbial pen and composing a novel, replete with the bastards, murderers, convicts and deluded leaders who've found a place in his musical stories. That, however, isn't on the horizon. “No, I just write songs – that's my thing. I wouldn't want to do prose or poetry if it's not accompanied by music. It's a specific thing unto itself, and I think I have the knack now,” Liddiard says.

In fact, there are far more pressing things to do when Liddiard and The Drones are having downtime – like mending fences – than sit around waiting for artistic inspiration. “As you get older you get busier, and you have to start compartmentalising parts of your life – whether it's work, family, friends, music, whatever,” Liddiard says. “I'm too busy fixing a fence or an alternator, or shit like that. You've got to do that shit – you've got to live! And it's not as sad as it sounds either – I remember reading Patti Smith when I was younger saying ‘there's no inspiration anymore – I just work', and I thought that was a bit dry. But it's actually better. You learn to appreciate just what life is. It's just the weirdest thing that ever happened.”

BY PATRICK EMERY

Photo credit: Ben Clement

THE DRONES play The Forum on Friday April 26 supported by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. I See Seaweed is out now.

ATP Release The Bats Grows Bigger

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:13:29 +1000

Release The Bats Melbourne, ATP's all-day Halloween party extravaganza, has just announced the second round of artists added to the lineup.

One of the most influential New York rock bands, Television, will come to Altona to perform their Marquee Moon album in full. This will be their only Victorian show. Also joining the bill is the solo project for 21-year-old American Balam Acab, with his haunting and mysterious record Wander/Wonder in tow, and the Rowland S. Howard Tribute, pieced together by Mick Harvey and including friends, family and collaborators covering music from Young Charlatans, The Birthday Party, These Immortal Souls and Rowland's solo albums.

The new additions join The Breeders, The Jesus Lizard, Fuck Buttons, Total Control and more.

Release The Bats takes place at Westgate Centre and Grand Star Reception in Altona on Saturday October 26. Tickets on sale at atpfestival.com.

Tool

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 06:57:41 +1000

Unwavering in their often industry-counterintuitive resolve for over two decades, Tool have risen to the ranks of one of the most worshipped rock acts on the planet with their ornate brand of progressive metal. In the week ahead of the outfit announcing their welcome return to Australia, I spoke with drummer Danny Carey in the AM before being connected with vocalist Maynard James Keenan in the PM. The one proviso of conducting the interviews was to avoid the question of when the next Tool album will arrive. But as Danny and Maynard reveal, the band is currently putting together the pieces for the long-awaited follow-up to 2006's 10,000 Days.

Maynard, of course, is speaking from ‘the bunker' (his studio located at his Caduceus Cellars) in Arizona. Foremost to his triptych of musical outfits, Maynard's passion is winemaking. He has just completed the pre-filtering process and is about to commence the bottling process at the time of our interview. Such is the commitment to his vineyard, Maynard tours and records only when a break in wine season allows it.

“It's more about being a slave to the sun and the rain. There's a specific schedule that you're on when it comes to harvest and processing, and making music can be scheduled around that because making music isn't necessarily seasonal. It does flow with moods, that's for sure. You can't really force art. But with the wine, you're definitely on a clock,” he muses. “It's great. It's nice to be in the midst of that chaos and navigate it wide awake.”

The music world has changed dramatically since the release of 10,000 Days, with the focus shifted from the commodity of the album to the commodity of the live show. Despite the current climate, we can still expect Tool to deliver in terms of the holistic album experience. “It's funny, I grew up with vinyl and that was the medium, and of course there was the embarrassing thing called the 8-track too. But vinyl was the main medium,” Maynard reminisces. “But even back then, I remember looking at the 8-track and thinking, ‘This is kind of awful', because you don't get all the fun images with it. With the album you could have the double gatefold with all this extra information and images that leant themselves to what was going on with these particular songs, you could find out who wrote what, who performed what, who mixed what. It was always a nice complete package, literally and figuratively, with vinyl. I feel that, these days, that is missing with the iTunes experience,” he rues.

“Yeah it's kind of tricky. The market definitely has shifted,” Danny assesses. “When we first got signed, we did live shows to sell the records. Now we do records to sell the live shows because there really isn't that much money in record sales anymore. We still have the old school approach of making albums. From the beginning, we never did singles, only albums. We've always been kind of archaic in our approach to the system, and I think people are hungry for that. People can still sit down and listen to a whole record, and that's how I picture our fans.”

“[The album and the tour] are still hand-in-hand depending on the project,” Maynard adds. “There are some people who make a living performing live, but there are definitely a lot of people that rely on their digital presence to pay the bills. I kind of find a happy balance of that with Puscifer. I think both points could be easily argued. My touring schedule is wrapped around my winery activities, or I just don't tour at all. I put out things digitally, and I still do vinyl with all the projects because I just like that medium.”

Also included in Maynard's current extra-curricular activities is the upcoming release of his biography. “If you read the Motley Crue biography, it's what you would expect – craziness, hostility, drugs, breaking things, fun times. They're not the biographies I end up getting into,” Maynard states. “I lean toward more story-oriented biographies. Not like a diary of sorts, those can be kind of boring. But I do find that the process is interesting in terms of legacy. You don't want it to be airing dirty laundry, because that is boring. You want it to find the positive aspects and influences, then highlight those. I'm working with a writer friend of mine – I've known her for decades. She's the older sister of one of my best friends from high school. We're going through it and putting in all the information then sifting through it, working around it like you would a song.”

Tool's fanbase is quite like no other, and as such, the intense fan-led discourse on Tool's body of work is like no other. “I guess some of the best chefs in the world have many layers to what they're presenting in front of you,” Maynard says in relation to the dissection of his work. “There are definitely nuances to what you enjoy in that dish, many layers and experiences depending on your palate. That's what I gravitate towards – that execution of art in general – whether it be a chef, a winemaker, a painter, a filmmaker. I guess it would come naturally that I would want some of that represented in whatever I do.”

The upcoming Tool tour will see Maynard follow up Soundwave-oriented Australian appearances from A Perfect Circle and Puscifer. As for the rhyme and reason of his touring schedule, Maynard is typically wry. “I base it on my back. Whatever the back can take. Whatever set we're constructing, whether it's A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, or whatever it is I'm doing, you have to consider the age. Again the internet, people don't realise what's happening, and we're quickly closing in on 50. We've been doing this for a while. That's the danger with some of these projects, you see people out there, some ageing rock star trying to do the powerslide. It's embarrassing, just don't do the fucking powerslide. Do something else. Present your strengths, not your weaknesses. We've already heard about your weaknesses.”

It's at this stage the phone operator interjects to state there is time for one more question. I ask Maynard if he thinks he is a funny guy. “I wish I was. I wish I was funnier. And the act of wishing that makes you not funny. I think there are people that have a natural timing and natural ability to be funny. I tend to think of myself to be more like the idiot radio announcer in Good Morning Vietnam who thinks he knows funny.”

BY LACHLAN KANONIUK

TOOL play Rod Laver Arena on Saturday April 27 and Sunday April 28.

Paramore

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:57:43 +1000

It's been a rough couple of years for emo rockers Paramore. 2010 ended with brothers Josh and Zac Farro leaving the band in acrimonious circumstances, a development which could have devastated the young band given Josh's key roles in songwriting and the band's musical direction. However, sitting across from me in a suite at one of Melbourne's grander hotels singer Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York and bassist Jeremy Davis appear positive, happy, and in control as they prepare to release their self-titled fourth studio album.

“It feels different this time in a good way,” says Williams, diminutively sitting on her legs curled up against the corner of a couch. “I think the three of us are in a place where we've grown up this much together and we're just really happy with how the band is working. It's just less tense. We're doing so much work for the album release and it's just nice for things to be good within the band. If that's not working then it makes things, like when we have to do interviews or we have to do photo shoots all day, strange. We're in a good place and it's new and exciting to feel positive about how things are working.”

The trio are quite open about the experiences of the last few years, and the internal ructions within the band have left each of them to examine what it means to be bandmates. “It's like any relationship, you figure out when to be there and when to leave people alone,” says York. “We're finally finding out our dynamic and what each one of us needs. In that way we've definitely grown a lot. We try and help each other and keep each others' spirits lifted.”

Davis agrees as he sips at his cola, citing the external scrutiny that can put pressure on relationships. “I think that any relationship that people are watching has added stress on it that may not need to be there. I feel like we're pretty good at that though, especially now. It's just a learning process, really. Beforehand we didn't really get that. As far as the band goes with people leaving and people wondering what's going on, I think it's just been good for us to have the support from our fans to say, 'Take your time, we love you guys, we're here for you.' We've just had the support from a distance and that's been good for us," he says.

“I was 16 when we started touring and we just never stopped,” says Williams. Taking some time off since 2009's Brand New Eyes proved daunting. “The first few months I had no idea what we were doing. I kept thinking maybe we shouldn't be taking this time off, we should already have the record written, and then I realised it was about how it was going to feel in the long run. We had to take care of ourselves if we wanted to be able to serve Paramore properly. We felt we were pressuring ourselves, but everyone just waited for us to be ready and that's what made us feel so confident.”

The trio also to had to find their feet when it came to writing for the new record, as Josh Farro had taken a great deal of the band's songwriting experience with him. “We basically didn't have any sort of a set pattern or routine for this record,” recounts York, who took on a far more significant role in the writing process this time around. “It was frustrating because you want that, you want to figure out your way of doing things. There were times where we had to surrender and I'd just pick up a ukulele or pull up an organ sound on the computer. Sometimes I'd be like, 'When have I ever played the organ?' but those would be the times when something random would hit us.”

A key feature of the album is York joining Williams in the songwriting role. It seems that no-one in the band, including York himself, were quite sure what the end result would be, but Williams is effusive in her support of his contribution. The two worked together and apart to craft the songs on the album, challenging each other by regularly bringing ideas from left field to the table.

What gradually emerged were 17 tracks in which the three are obviously personally invested. “That's why there's so many songs,” says Davis. We love them all.”

Williams agrees. “It's hard to pick a favourite. Every song feels different. We were just in different places throughout the whole process. Things were growing, life was happening, we were inspired by different things the whole time. So now when I listen to the record it takes me back to those moments. One day I might really be into One Of Those Crazy Girls or I'll listen to Part Two and remember how it felt at the time," she says.

The feeling of connectivity to the music is what led the band to choose to lend the band name to the new album. “Naming a body of work is really challenging,” says York. “Hayley was just like 'I was thinking we could self-title it?' And Jeremy and I were like, 'We can do that?' It was the most incredible thing. It's a statement. It's to let people know that we have arrived and this is who we are. We're so proud to be in this band and we've never felt more proud to fly the banner of Paramore. It's a new season.”

The album was produced by Justin Meldal-Johnsen, a former musical director for Beck and Gnarls Barkley. Meldal-Johnsen, known affectionately as JMJ to the members of Paramore, helped the trio to identify the heart of their new songs, attempting to support and enhance rather than meddle or change. David has stated that Meldal-Johnsen helped the band “paint the exact picture" they wanted.

Despite the success of Paramore, given their relative youth and the events of the past two years it would be easy to forgive Williams, York and Davis for being a little nervous about the public reaction to their new music, but there is none of that to be found. “I think for the first time we're okay with people saying and doing whatever they want,” says Davis. “It has been a struggle for each of us at some point to realise that people are going to say whatever they want. Making this record we were thinking, 'Alright, let's try new things.' We just wanted to make something we're proud of, and we are. We're always doing it for our core fan base, the ones who've been up the front at our shows since the start. But I think there's definitely something here which may make people who weren't into us before think, 'Hey, I like this record. I didn't listen to your old stuff, but this is good'.”

“You have to trust people,” asserts Williams. “You have to trust that your fans are growing with you and they'll enjoy more than just candy. Sometimes you have to feed them a meal. We had no real plan or no real idea of how it should sound or how it was supposed to be. We just let it happen and it was good. There were days when we tried to force it, where we said, 'Okay let's write another loud, riffy, guitar-driven Paramore song' and there were days where that just didn't work. You have to let inspiration lead you. We don't want to force anything, we just want to let it happen. We need the music to speak for itself.”

“We're so proud of where we're at,” Davis sums up. “The boat is already floating, the plan is just to stay in it and see where you end up. You don't know what's around the corner. It's exciting and we don't know where we want to take it. We just always want to be able to play shows for fans and make music that people care about.”

BY JOSH FERGEUS

Cover and feature photo by Ben Clement.

Paramore is out now on Atlantic/Warner Music Australia.

You Am I Announce Album Reissues, National Tour

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 10:16:04 +1000

Two decades into an illustrious career, You Am I have announce a re-issue of their first three records Sound As Ever, Hi Fi Way and Hourly Daily, as well as an accompanying national tour.

Still calling each other friends and bandmates, Tim Rogers, Andy Kent, Russell Hopkinson and 15-year-veteran 'new guy' David Lane are celebrating their double decade digits with what is set to be a hell of a bash at The Forum, where the band will perform Hourly Daily and Hi Fi Way back to back.

The re-issues are out on Sony Music on Friday May 24.

The Forum on Saturday July 6. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster, on sale Tuesday April 16.

The xx

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 09:38:48 +1000

The xx's music has a hushed and intimate quality, and it often sounds like a private conversation between two lovers in the small hours of the morning. They are best appreciated late at night, but unfortunately, that's not how festival timetables work, and when they toured Australia a few years ago, they found themselves paying shows in the scorching afternoon sun. “I remember feeling very exposed!” singer Romy Madley Croft tells me with a laugh. “I was wearing a lot of necklaces, and a lot of black, and my outfit sort of absorbed the heat, which was a bit uncomfortable. I'm very grateful that now, we've reached the point where we can play at night.”

When the band return to Australia, they will be playing their own headline shows, and doing so under cover of darkness. “I'm really excited to be coming back,” Madley Croft says. “We're really excited about the new show. We've spent a lot of time on getting it just right.” Of particular interest is the band's new lighting setup. “It sort of reflects the artwork for Coexist – it's a very engaging part of the show, and I think it adds to the experience,” Madley Croft continues. “It brings something new, and it's something that you wouldn't get just from listening to the album. We're very happy, first of all, that we get to come back and play in the dark, but also that we get to show off this cool and beautiful thing to people.”

As far as their live show is concerned, The xx are very conscious of the need to constantly evolve and change. Anyone who's seen them more than once will know that the songs are ever-shifting and changing beasts, with new and surprising elements coming out in every performance. “That's one of the things we really try to do,” Madley Croft says. “We were rehearsing today, working on various different versions of the songs, working on connecting passages to blend them all together. We always want to put on a different show to what people would have seen the last time we came. We want to keep evolving, and to keep it interesting for ourselves as well as the people who come to see us.”

The xx's second album, Coexist, was released last year to great acclaim, and Madley Croft tells me that the inspiration behind its title came from a very peculiar place. “What happened is that one day, we saw a puddle of oil and water on the ground,” she explains. “It was really beautiful, and I spent a long time staring at it, because I was really fascinated by the rainbow on the surface. I wondered why it was that way, so I researched it, and found that oil and water don't mix, they coexist – that's where the name of the album came from. The artwork for the album reflects that effect, that iridescence. I love the idea that these two things that don't mix can still create something very beautiful.”

Madley Croft shares vocal duties in The xx with her friend Oliver Sim, their voices intertwining to haunting effect on the band's gossamer-fine songs. One particularly striking thing about their songs is the ambiguity of the lyrics – they sing about love and loss and heartbreak, but do so without ever mentioning gender. This does not happen by accident. “We don't like the lyrics to be too specific,” she explains. “We like the idea that the songs are about ‘you and I'. Whether you're a boy or a girl, and whether you like boys or girls, you can fit yourself into the songs. We never mention places or times for that reason. We like to keep it quite open to interpretation.”

While The xx could generally be considered a shy bunch, Coexist sees them coming out of their shells a little – some of its tracks, like Sunset and Reunion, even hint at a love of clubbing and house music. “I've always loved those things,” Madley Croft explains, “but we were on tour so much between the ages of 19 and 22 that I never got to do them. “When we came back from touring and had our time off, we caught up with our friends and went out a lot and did normal stuff. Jamie spent a lot of that time DJing, and he got really into house music at that point, and I guess I did too. It just felt very natural to start putting those sorts of sounds into our music. It's fun for us. Our live show has developed into something much more upbeat, which is also a lot of fun for us.”

A short while ago, a sample of The xx's song Intro showed up on the Rihanna track Drunk On Love. While you wouldn't make any immediate connection between the two artists, The xx were thrilled to hear their music in this new context. “We're such fans of Rihanna's,” Madley Croft says, “and when it came out, we were really excited. She's one of the artists who inspired us when we were younger – she and Beyonce. It's such a different way of making music, when you get to that massive pop star level – it's very different from what we know – and it felt very interesting to be a part of that. We'd love to write for pop stars like that one day.”

BY ALASDAIR DUNCAN

THE XX play at Festival Hall on Thursday April 4 and Friday April 5. Coexist is out through Remote Control.

Wil Anderson

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:33:18 +1000

“In my shows the last couple of years, I talk about changing my mind about things. It's that sort of thing like Julia Gillard and what she did as a lawyer and what Tony Abbott said 20 years ago. Fuck, 20 years ago I thought Wham! was the best band in the world,” laughs Wil Anderson, in what would become such an absorbing conversation that in writing about Anderson rather than quoting him I am actually disgracing journalism (once again).

Seriously, this article will be quote-heavy, because I think you all know enough about Wil Anderson by now that reading any bio or useless accounts like “oh he's so busy with all these shows” is really wasting your time. Anderson is a bright thinker and an extraordinarily fascinating interview subject, and while the interview was scheduled for 10-15 minutes, nekminnit it had run over half an hour.

Goodwil is Anderson's 18th show at MICF, and as per usual, it's completely new material. His show last year evolved over the 178 shows he performed around the world, so Goodwil is still a work in progress.

“Justin Hamilton put it really well. He said by the time you get to the end of the tour, it's like the greatest island ever invented. It's got housing, luxuries resorts, parasailing and skydiving – whatever you want to do. It's the most beautiful place in the world and you know how every part of it works, and then for some reason you decide to swim to a completely deserted island and start again from scratch,” he laughs. “What you've got to remember, is that the really cool island you were on, it was originally a deserted island too and you had to build it up from scratch. But going from the end of the tour, where your show is at its absolute best, to the start of the tour where obviously by the nature of the fact that you're trying it for the first time, it's at its most underdeveloped.

“But there's a couple of main themes that seem to be developing through [Goodwil]. One is the idea about a lot of the shitty things that happened to me last year and I kind of run through those things but from the perspective of – my approach to life is pretty optimistic – and so I found it very interesting to talk about that idea of how hard it is to be positive when actual shitty things are going wrong and how you deal with that. I sort of transition from that idea into that idea of: ‘But really? In the grand scheme of shitty things?' These are very much first world shitty things. We can't let gay people get married because it'll devalue our marriage. I'm quite passionate about talking about why people are so angry about things that will cost them nothing. It's fascinating to me. The thing that I'm really obsessed with: everything is feedback and outrage now.

“As soon as something happens, everyone's outraged. We're all on our fucking phones all the time, and I'm a part of the opinion business – I make my living doing that – I guess what I'm trying to reconcile is, I don't want to be one of those people that says, ‘I'm allowed to have opinions and no one else is' but there's a part of me that says, ‘They should all be spend more time thinking about these things rather than reacting to things'. In the old days, if you wanted to complain there was a process…in the old days you had to be genuinely outraged about something because you were like, ‘Alright I'm gonna write a letter, and I'm gonna find the address to send it to, and I've got an envelope, and I'm gonna buy a stamp', and by the time [you go to send it] you're like, ‘Ah fuck I'm not that offended'. I'll just move on and life will be fine.

“It's so easy for people to complain these days and I feel like we've gotten into this cycle of complaint and apology. All those issues are things that run through the show…the thing I'm really passionate about in this stage in my life – and it's a bit harder to do [as a comedian] – because comedy is really easy to be black and white: ‘women are like this, men are like this' but as you get older, here's what you realise – nothing is black and white. Nothing. Everything is grey.”

Considering Anderson's vast experience, I asked him what the most important quality is when crafting a new show.

“The most important thing, from my point of view anyway, is that I have to find something that I'm as interesting in talking about nine months from now as I am on the first night I'm talking about it. Because if I'm not interested in talking about it, then the audience isn't gonna see that. I'll give you an example of what I mean by that. There's a piece in my show at the moment that kills. It gets a round of applause every night. I've done it for two and a half weeks and I'm already bored of it. And it kills. As soon as I have a piece that's more interesting to me, that I can replace that with, it won't be in the show anymore. I know I can make people laugh, I've been making people laugh for a long time. The difference between someone doing RAW Comedy is, someone doing RAW Comedy doesn't know they can make people laugh. They want to know they can make people laugh. So they're going out there going, ‘All I want is laughter'. Well I've heard people laugh before. I want to hear them to laugh for the right reasons or I want them to laugh that they didn't expect to laugh at, or I want them to laugh at a concept that they didn't know it was a concept you could talk about in comedy or if I am talking about something that I haven't talked about before.

“I want them to be laughing at it for a different reason ‘cause I have a different perspective on it. For me the most important thing is finding out what it is that I actually want to talk about. I consider my shows essentially a nine-month conversation with myself: where my life's at, where the world's at, and what I'm thinking about the world. And then I try to make that funny. So I never think, ‘Here's a funny story or this will be a funny thing'. I trust that once I find out exactly what it is that I want to be saying, that I have built up the skills over 18 years to be able to make that funny. The funny is almost like the icing on the cake – you've gotta work out what the cake is first before you can add the icing or it's not gonna match properly. When you first start out, all you want to know is, ‘Am I funny? Can I do this?' After a while – I've done this professionally for 18 years – something works, then the challenge is, ‘How can I do something that is better or more complex or more advanced than I did last year?'”

While Anderson elucidated the importance of finding his own material interesting, with such a curious mind, almost any topic can be transformed into a routine.

“What I've been trying to talk about is that everyone has the right to express their opinion and I think it's great that people believe different things, however, we've got to a point that we think every opinion in equal and in some things that's a dangerous thing to believe, particularly in the area of science. To use an example, if 95% of climate scientists in the world believe that climate change is an issue, maybe I don't know more than them because I've read a blog,” he laughs. “I'm not saying it's true even, I'm just saying areas like that we should trust experts. In the US there's been big stories because people aren't getting their kids vaccinated because Jenni McCarthy and fucking Rob Schneider are telling them not to. I'm getting medical information from Deuce Bigalow Male Gigolo. That's the sort of stuff I'm interested in talking about in the show.”

BY NICK TARAS

WIL ANDERSON is currently performing his show Goodwil as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival at the Princess Theatre until Sunday April 21 (except Mondays) at 8:45pm (5:15pm on Sundays). Tickets range from $45 - $35 and are available from Ticketmaster and on the door.

Flume

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:13:17 +1000

It's ostensibly a day off for Harley Streten, the Sydney producer who, under the moniker Flume, experienced flashpoint ascension in the past year – to the extent of being one of the biggest acts in the country at this point in time. Our first superstar producer? Streten is speaking from LA. He's in the midst of an extensive US tour, selling out shows in New York, San Francisco and more. When he returns from America, Flume will be taking his live show around Australia for the first time. The tour includes two sold-out performances at Festival Hall, one of Melbourne's most sizable venues.

While the feat is by all means impressive, it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who has seen Flume at one, or many, of his omnipresent-level appearances at our country's biggest music festivals. Streten pinpoints last year's Splendour In The Grass as the moment where things began to get crazy.

“Things have been going on the rise for so long that it's insane. The craziest part was doing my first proper festivals, encountering my first fans. That's when my mind was going, ‘Holy shit. What is going on?' It was that Splendour thing. It's not so much that I've made it, because I still don't feel like I've made it. But it was Splendour when I thought that shit was getting serious, that this was something I'm going to be doing for a while,” Streten beams.

Producing for a number of years under various projects, Streten struck gold with the pulsing electronica featured on Flume's debut EP. “I wrote all the Sleepless EP tracks in a week, just with a creative burst. I didn't know whether they were any good or not, you can never tell if your own tracks are good. I wasn't really sure if people would be into it. It wasn't until [Sydney label] Future Classic got onto it that I realised the Flume thing had potential, and I realised that this is the sound I should go for. Then I just experimented,” he recalls. “The songs on the album are quite a bit different than the EP too. I think of it as Harley music, rather than Flume music – the music my brain wants to make.”

Despite Flume exploding globally, Streten still manages to strike the balance with his other concurrent projects – evident at the time of our interview. “It's fucking hard man. I've actually got a What So Not (Harley's project with fellow Sydney product Emoh Instead) remix open at the moment. Here's my situation in LA: we've got this remix for Calvin Harris and Example that they want us to do. So I've come up with this thing in the past few days, and set aside some time today, but fucking waddaya know, Skrillex wants to hang out today. I can't say no to that. So I'm going to go around to his house after this and hang for a bit, then I've got two hours to work on the remix, then grab dinner and head to the gig. Literally all my time is either taken up by press, gigs or music. But that's cool, it will be nice to get time off to focus on both projects and be creative again.”

Deftly navigating trends in electronic music, Streten now finds himself as somewhat of a conduit for Australian music fans' exposure to global movements. “I do take notice of trends, and I do like some of the trap stuff that's coming out at the moment. It's not so much Flume, but What So Not as an ambassador for trap in Australia. We just did three weeks of heavy touring around Australia, playing half trap, half 128 sets, and the kids were going nuts for the trap music,” he reveals.

While Flume's success has been tremendous and rapid, Streten won't be coasting off the spoils of victory anytime soon. “I don't see writing music as a work thing. I look forward to it, it's a fun thing for me. I get so much pleasure and joy out of it. I just want to keep writing music. I've got this kind of sound and people are into the music, but I don't want to write another record that caters to that sound. I feel that with the first record I tested a lot of people that wouldn't really be into the genre, and pushed the musical boundaries a little bit for a lot of people. I want to not play it safe and hopefully do it again with the next bunch of releases I do,” Streten forecasts. “I feel like we've got Australia on lockdown, but now it's time to spread out to Europe and the US. Just make this thing as big and good as possible.”

BY LACHLAN KANONIUK

Flume plays Festival Hall on Thursday May 2 and Friday May 3 with Chet Faker. Both shows are sold out.