While at the Aussie BBQ at CMJ last month, Larry Heath caught up with Melbourne electronic outfit Clubfeet to talk about the CMJ experience, working with Dimitri in Paris, Crystal Fighters, playing in front of Dangermouse, the definition of “Vacation”, music videos, their upcoming album and more…
How has the New York experience been treating you?
It’s been amazing. We had our first show at Pianos at 1am on Monday Night, and we had half our band arrive at quarter past 11 on Monday night from Australia, from a 24 hour flight, and we all went straight to East Village Radio to dance out the front while Plant, the label we’re on, were playing our tunes, pounding out through the sound system, as part of their show the Delancey Music Service, and then we went to the gig! Everyone was so wired and strung out, it was awesome. So that was the first night. From there we’ve played 2 shows every day for three days in a row. It was a hectic but amazing start.
We’re just keeping our heads above water, having a good time. Doing what you meant to do in New York. I don’t think you have a choice. It’s like a black cloud that descends above you, and subconsciously it works its way into your blood stream. We’re all complaining about lack of sleep, but in reality we’re having the best time.
You called this tour the “American Vacation” but it doesn’t seem like much of one does it?
*laughs* I’ve never been on a tour that’s actually a vacation! It’s the biggest misnomer of all time!
I was with the singer Sebastian, and we were pitched up at a party on the lower east side the night before last, and when we walked in The Knocks – these massive electronic DJs – were playing an unreleased Clubfeet demo from two and a half years ago. And we looked at each other and went – I know that song!? How the fuck did they get that!? I think one blog had ripped it off the Myspace in 2009 and blogged it and these guys had it. It was surreal, amazing.
This is the best song I’ve ever heard!
Where can we get it!? I wish we’d wrote it!
So it may reappear in the future then?
It may have to.
You have worked with quite a few other artists over the years, I know you just remixed a Crystal Fighters tracks and Dimitri in Paris remixed “Last Words”… How do these come about?
It kind of depends on each one, and each one’s a bit different. Like the RAC Maury remix of “Last Words”, he was a fan, contacted us and said he wanted to do it, and for the tokenest fee of all time… like no money. So that’s how we were able to do that with him. And we’d been fans of Crystal Fighters for so long, and we reached out to them through someone in Australia, and they said “yeah… we guess you can do one… but lots of people do remixes… maybe we’ll use it…” But they ended up loving it and it became one of their featured remixes. We actually caught up with them in Melbourne, and every time they were on radio in Australia they were like “we love Clubfeet!”.
Remixes are awesome, because they help you connect with fans of different genres, and with bands full stop, when you do remix swaps.
I don’t even know how the Dimitri one came about, but he’s built it as his official comeback remix… we’re hi-fiving our two thousand selves. We listened to him all the time back then!
One of the latest projects you’ve been working on is the collaborative art project between yourselves and Sydney videographer Alex Goddard, “Gold on Gold”. The first few tracks has been released already… how did it all come about and what can we expect from you in the future?
He’s an old old mate of mine from Perth, and then moved to Sydney. An awesome filmmaker. He approached us and wanted to make a video, asked us to cover the film stock as he wanted to film it on Super 8, but said he had a model he wanted to shoot… stuff like that. And so we jumped at the opportunity and said “Do it!” And we loved it. It turned out so great.
So we started thinking about what we’d do with the rest of the record, we liked the first one so much. So we decided to create a series of videos that a aesthetically linked and have a vibe, and basically it’s a dream come true for us. Goddard just does it, and gets beautiful models to take their clothes off and dance. And he’s a super talented dude…
So that’s the genesis of it. We started it and thought we may as well do a whole record worth… make a big thing of it. And now it’s been going so well that we’re probably going to have to push it out a little bit, and that’s a good problem to have…
The rest of the year, after you finish up this tour and leave LA, what’s it holding for you?
We’ve got to finish our new record. The French Horn Rebellion dudes, who we did a remix swap with and we’re matey with, they’re coming to Australia over New Years, so we’re going to hang out with them and maybe do a few co-writes, take them surfing and things like that. But everyone’s saying we’ve got to finish our record, so we should probably do that first!
I’ve heard nothing but great things about the French Horn dudes. Very much enjoyed a chat with them earlier this year.
Well Robert’s here actually, he came to watch the show and is hanging out. They’re really nice dude. We’ve been blessed with the sorts of people we’ve worked with… We’re at the Aussie BBQ man! Everyone’s nice, having a few sangas… a few beers…
These sorts of events – the CMJs and SXSWs in general – are such a good chance to be at a level playing field with everyone in the music industry. It’s a bit of a comradery, is what I’m trying to get to…
Yeah it’s like that on every level. It’s at a roots level – you have 10 minute changeovers, and your gear is splashed out on the same field where all the punters are watching the band, in that sweatbox. You all work together to make sure everyone gets their shows up. There’s no wings or roadies around. We’re all just people who want to make music, and that’s what it’s all about.
It definitely strips everyone back to their core. If you don’t have your musicality together, it shows straight through. And Robert from French Horn was saying how last night they played Brooklyn Bowl, and because it was a Kitsune secret show, only like 100 people turned up and normally they’d fill the venue, like 600 people.
At CMJ, you’re competing with so many other gigs, and you’ve got to play to people who don’t necessarily know who you are, you’re not playing to the converted. You’ve got to work with what you’re given!
And it’s never so much about how many people are in the crowd, but who’s in it.
That’s exactly right. Just because there are 10 people in the crowd doesn’t mean you’re not supposed to play the best show you can.
We did a show the other night. It was supposed to be at 1am, and we ended up playing at 3am… and there were tops 50 people in the crowd. But it turned out Ezra from Vampire Weekend and Dangermouse and Julian Casablancas were all in the crowd. We didn’t click the limo at the front was for those sorts of people… Dangermouse had produced the band who were on before us.
You’re in New York, you never know who’s in the crowd!
Here’s hoping you get a call from Julian for some remix opportunities!
We’d go back in time and hi-five our 2000 selves… and bring back Dimitri in Paris and hi-five again!
