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Read our Cut Copy interview and win hot swag

Posted 4/8/2008 1:08 PM by Cameron Cook

Tags: rock, electronic, pop

Back during SXSW, we caught up with two thirds of totally awesome Australian electro-rock band Cut Copy (that would be vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Dan Whitford and multi-instrumentalist Tim Hoey), right before the band DJ’ed a crazy weird house party. We had just heard their new record In Ghost Colours for the first time, and we were completely blown away: we had been monumental fans of their first album, 2004’s Bright Like Neon Love, and the new one exponentiates on the theme of late nights and early mornings as experienced through a haze of alcohol and various narcotics, only with way more slightly experimental leanings. Kind of like if CAN had continued in the vein of their one disco hit “I Want More” and made dance music for the hip kids of the future. Speaking of, last week In Ghost Colours debuted at #1 on the ARIA charts, which if anything gives us a tad more hope for the fate of the universe.

Now, before you read our interview with Dan and Tim (after the jump, of course), we want to offer another tidbit to you, the loyal RCRD LBL reader: we’re giving away two prize packs to two of you guys. In it you’ll find a Cut Copy tote bag, a copy of In Ghost Colours, and these rad Cut Copy 3D glasses so you can admire the album’s artwork in all its trippy glory. All you have to do is join our mailing list if you haven't already (email field to your right) and email contests@rcrdlbl.com with “CUT COPY CONTEST” in the subject line. Winners will be chosen randomly. Good luck!

Download: Cut Copy - Hearts on Fire (Joakim remix)

Download: Cut Copy - So Cosmic

Stream more at the Cut Copy RCRD LBL page 

Why did it take you so long to put out your sophomore album?

Dan: The first record got released in Australia quite a bit of time before it got released in the States, and then it got released in the UK. So we ended up touring for quite a long time, probably more than and average band would for a record, spaced out over a period of about a year and a half. For In Ghost Colors, we actually recorded everything quite quickly, and I guess the slow part was bringing a producer in, trying to find the right person, and once it was all done, agreeing on how and when to put it out. It made us realize, as far as scheduling goes, that you have to consider all of the different territories where it’s going to be released. We just wanted out shit out, man! But labels these days are concerned about piracy, and if you put something out in one country, it’s on the blogs like, the next day.

What do you think are the main differences between Bright Like Neon Love and In Ghost Colours?

Tim: I guess with this record, we got more into psychedelic pop music, you know, when pop music gets a bit weird. So there is that underlying pop sensibility that represents the Cut Copy sound, but we were just listening to a lot of different stuff, from ‘70s MOR stuff to like, Krautrock, Animal Collective, stuff like that. When we were touring [in support of Bright Like Neon Love], we were part of so many different musical landscapes, playing in America with Franz Ferdinand, and Mylo in the UK, so I think we were just trying to take all of that in. But at home, we would listen to lots of ELO and Tangerine Dream. When it came time to start writing, we just handed around mixtapes of music that we had been listening to, and that seemed to be the common theme between the three of us. Certainly working with Tim [Goldsworthy, co-founder of DFA and producer of In Ghost Colours] enhanced that, wanting to take it in a spacier direction. It’s probably not as immediate as the first record was.

Is that spacier direction where you got the name of the record?

Dan: I think the name of the record definitely reflects the sound of the record. It’s probably us just trying to find words that describe the music. You can almost interpret “ghosts” as the people we’re inspired by, so “In Ghost Colours”—it’s like we’re possessed by these relics from the past or something [laughs].

It’s just funny because the first record was so straight-up electro-rock, which was so popular at the time, and it’s just interesting to see where the band will go from there, because after that album came out, all these bands like Van She, The Presets, MSTRKFT followed with a similar sound. So, I guess that wasn’t really a question more than it was a statement [laughs]. So let's talk about “So Haunted”—why did you choose to lead with that single? It seems like the most poppy song on the album, almost a throwback to the first record.

Dan: To me, “So Haunted” is more out there, more of a statement track then some of the others on the album. It just combines the guitar textures of shoegaze pop music, and even some Kraturock, that noisy single note thing, combined with lush vocal harmonies. The achievements in the tracks that I really like are combining things and getting them to work, when you didn’t really expect them to. It almost strange that “So Haunted” works, to me [laughs]. Some times you feel like you’re taking the piss, making a song from different styles, and different parts of music, and somehow it comes together and works. You almost feel surprised sometimes.

Are there any other songs on the record that you have that same sentiment towards? How much of the record do you think was born out of the experimentation that comes with making an anticipated sophomore album?

Dan: I don’t think we were really thinking about doing our sophomore record, or being really conscious of our audience or what people might think of it. We just kind of did it for our own benefit, the experimenting, and trying things out. The first track, “Feel the Love”, is another weird combination of things, and “Far Away” is another one, though it’s more of a disco track. A lot of the enjoyment comes out of creating something that works.

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