Ahead of the Australian release of his debut solo LP," Fly Yellow Moon", I had the opportunity to chat to Guillemo
ts' lead vocalist Fyfe Dangerfield about his favourite music, past experiences at SXSW, and mythical creatures…

Hey Fyfe, thanks for taking the time to talk to us at the AU review.

Not a problem!

So you’re just about to release your first solo LP, "Fly Yellow Moon" – can you tell me a bit about what led to this album being recorded?

It was just one of those things that just came about really, there was no plan or anything. In 2008 I’d written various songs over the year, and I saw a lot of them as very acoustic – and even if they weren’t acoustic I saw them as straight ahead, in a way – I just liked the idea of trying to get into the studio and record stuff and see what happened. 

So there wasn’t a big decision for me to make my first solo record. But it worked really well in the studio, and then we had the record after those 5 days – so we thought we’d polish it and put it out. 

I understand you worked with Adam Noble again on the solo record?

Yeah, well Adam has worked on both the Guillemots records, and he’s someone I really love working with – so I called him and asked if he wanted to come into the studio for 5 days, and yeah, he did a great job – but again, it just happened really.

There certainly is that feeling of spontenatity in the album – it’s a very diverse record. Was that merely a byproduct of the fact it happened naturally?

I suppose so. I mean we didn’t think about anything too much. I think we just wanted it to have a very natural, “demoey” spontenaity to it. And I think that there were one or two tracks that we spent a little more time on – but generally it happened very quickly. And even the way it sounded, it was almost a conscious decision to be produced in a non-producing kind of way.

We wanted the instruments to sound how they were – keeping away any modern gloss, or anything like that.

In Guillemots, you’re well known for using interesting instruments such as typewriters and electric tools – did anything like that make a sneak appearance into the album, or does it remain bare bones throughout?

Not really – it was quite liberating to be able to not have to worry about that, to do something that is strictly guitar, bass and drumming. 

With it so stripped back, was it a more relaxed recording process than recording a Guillemots album?

Yeah I suppose so – certainly more relaxed than the last album ("Red"). But it was just quicker, really. And while I love working with the band, it’s sort of easier working with yourself, too. You know how you want it to sound, and you just do it like that. But they’re both great ways to work and the solo record was definitely a fun one to make.

What influenced the lyrics this time around?

It was influenced by what was going on in my life I guess – same as anybody. It’s not a record about anything in particular – but there’s a general consensus that it’s pretty upbeat, and then there’s some down moments too – so I’m not sure really. I think that’s for other people to take what they want from it.

Moving back in time, is it true you started out your career writing choral compositions?

No, not at all really – these things get skewed a bit when they get written about. I mean I’ve done this, in particular when I was 18, 19 - but I’ve always loved and been about the pop songs, and being in a band. I guess it just happened a few years before Guillemots became well known, so people write about it that way. But I was in a band before Guillemots, and then I spent the time in between writing more songs and trying to get a new band together. 

Then I met Greg, our drummer, and that was the start of getting Guillemots together. I guess it always sounds funny when it seems like I’ve come from the classical world, because it’s not the case at all.

So the band before Guillemots, that was Senseless Prayer?

Yeah that was when I was 16, that was my teenage band with a terrible name. But we did the John Peel sessions and stuff, and met him – so that was great.

In 2008, Guillemots performed a live set to David Lynch’s iconic film Eraserhead. Can you tell us a bit about that? It must have been a massive undertaking…

Yeah that was great – but it wasn’t a massive undertaking at all! It was all improvised, really. I think we had one rehersal, where we got used to playing along with the film – but yeah it improvised, and it was really fun. 

Would you do it again?

Yeah I’d love to. We love improvising, but it is quite hard to do in a live situation, because when you’re improvising by yourself it’s totally natural, you’re not worried about it being boring. But when you’re at a gig, if you’re playing on a stage for 10 minutes, just playing around, people will start getting bored. 

So it’s great doing it to a film, because people are focused on the film, and the music just sort of seeps into them. Which is much more of the way you want people to hear your music anyway. It’s an ideal way to improvise.

Well you’re always welcome to do it down in Australia! I still can’t believe you guys haven’t made it down here yet!

Yeah we’ve never been able to make it work. I’d really love to go, I hear great things - so I hope on the back of this record I can pop on down. 

Are you going to be touring Fly Yellow Moon quite substantially?

I’m not sure – I won’t be playing loads, but I will certainly like to get to a few places. But I’ve got to balance it with the Guillemots, so we’ll see really. 

I hear you guys are working on a new album?

We’re writing at the moment, haven’t started recorded. Hopefully in a couple of months we’ll start recording – I’m really excited about that.

Coming up next month though you’ll be returning to SXSW in Austin, TX, where Guillemots played back in 2006. What was your first experience there like?

It was quite mental really – I don’t remember much, it’s all a blur. I just remember it being an awful journey getting there. We were supposed to be getting in at lunchtime, and then going to this Radio One BBQ to relax, have a few drinks, do a few interviews – and then play that night in the same place that The Flaming Lips were. In a tiny little pub, we were one of the supports.

But we ended up missing it all. I think we started the day flying in a tiny little airplane – there was like one seat per aisle. And there was some announcement – “Oh we’re sorry Ladies and Gentlemen, but the computer system on the plane seems to be FAILING at the moment, so we need to reboot the system…” And I’m afraid of flying anyway, so there’s this guy saying that the plane is failing… and then by the time they’d fixed the problem we’d missed our connecting flight. So we had to drive from wherever we were to the festival, in this awful hot, sweaty van. So we missed the BBQ.

I think we got there just in time, the doors were already open – we had just enough time to check our instruments. And it turned out that 20 of the keys on the keyboards weren’t working – something to do with the plane being so cold. And we were being broadcast live on Radio One. Ah, it was just one of those nights where we just looked at each other, said “we’ve just GOT to get through this” and then I think we just went to bed straight afterwoulds. 

I think after that we did have some good nights out. But I don’t remember an awful lot. Just that it was pretty full on.

So I imagine you’re hoping not to get onto a single engine airplane this time around?

*laughs* Hopefully not, hopefully not.

Looking into your other connections, your brother has a band called The Courtesy Group, with whom you’ve played with from time to time… could you tell us a bit about them?

Yeah I used to play in the group all the time, and we made the record a few years back – which is out now. But then because of the Guillemots I had to step back from it. My brother loves bands like the Stooges, so there’s plenty of that sort of influence in there.

Other than The Courtesy Group and yourself, who should the world be listening to at the moment?

I’m not listening to loads of stuff at the moment, but I really love the new Wild Beasts record. It’s a really good record. It doesn’t sound like anything which I think is great. So much thought has gone into it – from little things, to the sequencing of it, the way tracks run into each other is nice. And I heard a new track by The Besnard Lakes the other day which I really liked. They put out some lovely music. 

I couldn’t agree more on both counts. And on that note, I’d like to bring you our final question for the evening – and this comes courtesy of contributor Angie Douglas of the AU review -  You have a song called “Firebird”, which is another name for a Pheonix, what is your favourite mythical creature and why?

Wow. It’s a good question. I just don’t know… Maybe the Loch Ness Monster? Not that I think that is exists. But I don’t know really. I just wish some of the creatures from Japanese animation – things like Spirited Away, I wish they were real. I think they’re my favourites… but they’re not mythical creatures. I don’t know enough about mythical creatures, really.

Well I think that’s as good an answer as any. We’ll leave it on that, thanks again for chatting with us, and look forward to seeing you in Texas!

Cool, cool! See ya there.

Fly Yellow Moon is in stores and available on iTunes now.