“We had this idea early on that we wanted to make it about the performance, before our first gig we talked about wanting Total Giovanni to happen. It’s gotta be a thing that happens. And because of that we have to be tight. Cos we’re wearing weird outfits and jumping around like dickheads, the music has gotta be tight,” says front-man Vachel, “those elements though, the dancing and the costumes are part of the performance. And that’s how we initially clicked, before the music came along,” Jules says, tête-à-tête.
“We were in a rehearsal room for like a year before we played a gig,” confesses Jules. Joey takes the floor, “That’s why that live set is so tight,” and the band laughs, “It’ll be another year until we put together another one… it’s dance music.” Their effortless storytelling, from one member to the other is carried on by Dave, exemplifying perfectly his statement: “There’s no way I would have stuck around in a band for a year that didn’t play a gig unless it was for my mates.”
When asked about the costumes, Vachel, apparent instigator and mastermind behind the outlandish outfits fields, “It’s that idea of using your stage persona as an extension of your musical persona, and have that space to play – I mean plenty of pop acts did it back in the day, but in a contemporary context most bands just do jeans and a t-shirt and go out there and play their music. One of the things that’s really served us, with being able to sell out shows and play Golden Plains and all that stuff, is that dance music, and getting gakked (read: taking copious amounts of illicit substances), is cool again. It hasn’t been cool for ten years. But it’s actually what the kids want to do now. Five years ago, no one wanted to do that,” Dave says, grinning from ear to ear.
“We all came back from Berlin at different stages in the last five years, I remember when we first came back we were like, ‘There’s something missing in Melbourne’ Kids just wanna dance, and [have] the freedom to dance,” says Joey. “I think that’s why the whole thing has snowballed so quickly for us, we’ve only been gigging for 18 months, but it’s because we decide to bring that energy when we perform, whether or not the crowd’s digging it. We did this gig a few weeks ago where the crowd wasn’t necessarily there to see us, we still had a great time, because the five of us enjoy playing together cos we’re old mates. But when the crowd’s open to it…” Vachel peters off and Jules picks up, “It’s exponential, it just goes so quickly, to see it from the stage perspective is amazingly heartwarming.”
When asked about their gargantuan tour efforts, there’s some humming and ha-ing, showing that their country wide efforts has taken a toll. Dave stops the rest of the band, “Look, you’d be the worst fucking idiot ever if you didn’t get a kick out of someone – a bunch of people even, in the crowd, singing the words. If you can’t get off on that, then fuck off.”
BY NAVARONE FARRELL
