Sermon (Seekae Remix) by ThTch

So how’re you feeling about 2011 so far? We’ve passed the halfway mark of the year and you guys have been pretty busy, does it feel like you’ve accomplished a lot?

“We’re feeling great! It’s been a lot of work, but it’s given us the chance to travel and play all around the country and overseas which has been fantastic. We feel like we’ve accomplished a fair amount, but there’s still a long way to go.”

You guys were in Europe for a while, right? What was that like? Any highlights of the trip?

“Europe was tip top. We spent the majority of our time in England, but it was great to play in France as well. The highlight would have to be when Alex was accosted by a young Liverpudlian lady after a show, turns out he’s wanted by women all over the globe.”

What’s the reaction to you guys outside of Australia like? Both with fans and other artists that you might have a kinship with.

“The reaction was surprisingly good compared to what we predicted. Our first show at The Great Escape festival in Brighton was to a room full of about 250 people who seemed to get mad jiggy with it. We also played a headline show in London with a few artists we were into, Klaus and Lapalux, which was ghetto-ambientastic.”

What are the advantages, do you think, of touring overseas than in Australia? Are there just more audiences over there than in Australia?

“Well, for us this was really just testing the water, so I don’t think we’ve seen the full advantages just yet. It’s easy to see though that in Europe alone there’s an abundance of festivals and people seem more open to an electronic style of music as well, perhaps as lot of it originates from there. There certainly are more people in Europe, but I think it’s the vast popularity of genres over there that are still quite niche here that makes playing there different.”

How do you feel like your fanbase has grown here over the last couple of years? Do you take notice of growing audiences and bigger venues with each tour and think that that’s cool?

“We’ve been really lucky to see our fan base grow over the past few years, and it’s exciting to hear people wanting us in places like Adelaide and Perth as well. The most enjoyable part is when people actually recognize the songs in the opening chords, I think that’s what’s made us realize that we’re becoming more well known.”

I suppose it would vary from musician to musician, but do you ever get sick of your own songs? Or perhaps ‘grow tired’ is a better term. When you’re performing live are you finding little tweaks and improvisations to them to keep the songs fresh for you guys?

“It can become as you say ‘rather tiresome’ performing the same songs over and over again, but when you’re on stage it doesn’t seem to affect us too much. We try to vary the songs as much as possible for both the audience and us, plus when Alex is playing drums he often serves us a few improvised treats. George also saves a fire alarm sample on his MPC for special occasions.”

On that, how have you felt about +DOME and the reactions it’s received from fans? Obviously it’s hard to remove yourself when you’re making it but what’s your take on it now?

“It was a record that took us over a year and a half to make and a intentional effort to move away from The Sound of Trees Falling on People, so we were initially quite nervous (and sick of it) when we released it. Looking back on it now, we feel proud with how it’s turned out, and the general reaction seemed to be a positive one which is great.”

Have you guys been working on new stuff for another record?

“Whilst we were in England we worked on a few new ideas, but unfortunately nothing eventuated into a finished track. Once we’ve finished this Australian tour we’ll get right back into it, we promise!”

In the mix you guys did for inthemix there was a whole lot of really interesting selections from great bass producers like Objekt, James Blake and Mount Kimbie. Do you take a lot of inspiration from that scene?

“Definitely, their production is absolutely phenomenal and it’ll take us years to reach that status which I think is what keeps us inspired by them. For +DOME we focused a lot on production techniques, and the bass-heavy scene coming out of London played a big part in that. At the same time we draw a lot of inspiration melodically from acts such as Arvo Part, Ochre and recently a lot of Indonesian Gamelan music.”

Is there a comparative scene to that here in Australia, do you think?

“There are a lot of things happening here in Australia that follow in the footsteps of the Europe scene. Venues like Tone in Sydney and groups like Collarbones and the Oneofour collective are doing some impressive things at the moment.”

Seekae on tour this August:

Friday 19th August – The Zoo, Brisbane
Saturday 20th August – The Metro, Sydney
Friday 26th August – East Brunswick Club, Melbourne
Saturday 27th August – The Bakery, Perth

Tags: Australia, Interview, inthemix, Kitsune, Remix, Rice Is Nice, Seekae, Sydney, The Touch