Without a doubt, The Naked & Famous are the NZ pop phenomenon of 2010, with a number 1 charting single in โYoung Bloodโ, and now a chart-hogging album in Passive Me. Aggressive You. Gary Steel โ Witchdoctorโs Music Editor โ spoke with the groupโs co-leader Thom Powers back in May, as they put the finishing touches to the album.
Witchdoctor โ Are you still recording your album at the moment?
Thom โ Weโve just finished two more tracks this weekend gone, last minute things that ended up being singles, to send away to get mixed. We finished a lot of stuff towards the end of last year, programming, electronic type things. We had these demos. The bulk of the writing was quite a way back. And then we did some sessions at the Lab just over a month ago. Theyโll be sent off really soon to get mixed by a guy named Billy Fish in Los Angeles. Heโs in a weird position, heโs kind of in Garbage but heโs not. He doesnโt play with the band, but heโs part of their studio process. Heโs just finished working with Muse and then heโs going to us! This is the first thing weโve had mixed by anyone else. Our latest single โYoung Bloodโ, that was mixed by him as well.
WD โ I was going to say itโs very broad strokes.
Thom โ Yeah, very big eh. We recorded all that ourselves, all the recording and producing was us and, and then we sent it away to him, and gave him a rough concept, like โwe want these โ80s reverbs hereโ, and itโs quite fun, because things like that you can leave up to them, itโs not going to come back with a different effect on it, itโs going to come back with some kind of creative thing on it, or a way of doing it that you wouldnโt have done, and itโs like โwow!โ Itโs a bit of a surprise, getting them back, itโs quite thrilling.
WD โ Is he doing stuff that you guys donโt have the technology to do, or is it more that he has that sense of turning something into a realโฆ
Thom โ Both. Actually both. Coz heโs usingโฆ like nowadays lots of mixes are done totally within the box, which is entirely within the computer, you can use all your electronic plug-ins, which is just ways of compressing and EQing and all that kind of stuff, and thatโs great, but analogue gearโฆ heโs using a lot of real stuff, you know. Heโs got a proper home studio, which is identical to Butch Vigโs. He works with Butch Vig, they do all these things together, so they have identical setups. His studioโs amazing, and the quality of what he can do is far greater than anything we can afford to do. We canโt pay to go and sit in a studio and think โletโs try thisโ. Heโs like โI know what to doโ.
WD โ How did you hook up with him?
Thom โ We just went hunting for engineers, because we really wanted this album to be an album mixed by someone, produced by the band, and possibly take it overseas. We just wanted a more hi-fi sound and a bigger sound.
WD โ Is the band now signed to Universal rather than Round Trip Mars?
Thom โ No-no, weโve just got a P&D deal with Universal, so they just distribute us and help us market things. But no, weโre not signed to anyone, we just decided not to do it on Round Trip Mars, we thought weโd do it ourselves. Weโre still an indie band butโฆ I donโt know if weโre lucky, or if we worked hard to get to the position of having relationships with Universal and people like C4 and stuff. And weโre still independent. Itโs an interesting position to be in, I wonder if people will give a shit about it.
WD โ How do you think the bandโs changed since the first two EPs. Is it a really different band?
Thom โ Yeah, definitely, because when we started it was just Alisa and me writing songs, going to Aaron, engineering them, help us with producing, and then we sort of got a four-piece band together, and practice just down the road actually, at a studio called 203. Itโs full of cockroaches, and piranhas. We feed the cockroaches to the piranhas. Thatโs gross. So we had this four piece band with a bit of production, and decided at some point that Aaron should come on stage and bring that production stuff that heโd done on the record on stage, and we thought this is a cool thing weโve got going, weโve got all the electronic stuff that we had, that we thought we couldnโt do live, and then we started writing all the album stuff to thisโฆ thought we could do all this stuff we couldnโt do before, we can have layers and layers of crap, we can launch off triggers and loops. So itโs turned into a bigger production thatโs more in keep with the kind of music we were listening to as well, like TV On The Radio and Nine Inch Nails. Itโs quite a big sound, lots of layers, very cool production values. So we started writing with this 5-piece thing and then we picked up a new rhythm section, because our old one left, they moved on to other things. Weโve still got a friendship, still on good terms, just life circumstances. Ben the bass player is actually working round the corner at Neil Finnโs studio. And Jordan the drummer is off doing lots of drumming work, heโs a bit of a session musician. So we found these two friends from highschool, and now itโs much more of a band, as opposed to Alisa and I just doing what we were doing. Now Alisa and I will write demos, toss them back and forth between Aaron and I, and then weโll try it as a live band and weโll see what works and what doesnโt work. It gets tailored by all the different steps; everyoneโs involved on all these different levels, and itโs a really great system we have. Itโs really easy to do stuff, because itโs like weโve got a new demo, and theyโll learn it and try it out and change the tempo or add a couple of fills in the practice room and take it back. Itโs a pretty well oiled machine now, a really comfortable thing to work with and everyone really likes the roles weโve got in the band. We have heaps of fun and weโre all really good friends, and it feels like a tight little band now.
WD โ How do the songs come about? Does one of you take the role of the lyricist and melodies, or a combination?
Thom โ Yeah itโs kind of a combination of the two. Itโs sometimes dependent on whether you get on a roll. Like if you get a cool verse and chorus idea and just lyrics will come to you and you end up sticking with that until the final thing andโฆ
WD โ So sometimes itโs like a chorus that you write a rough lyric for, and you get an inspiration later on for something to change that with.
Thom โ Yeah, but it depends on whoโs coming up with the initial idea, like one of the tracks on the album was pretty much entirely Alisa, she just had the chorus, and the lyrics, and I buggered around with that, Aaron and I, and then some of them have been entirely me, the whole song, same thingโฆ But then there are some weโve written together, half a verse each, so it really changes, but Alisa and I do all the lyrics and vocals.
WD โ Are you coming more from an electronic background or are you more of a traditional musician?
Thom โ Iโd say electronic background for me, and the same for Aaron, who grew up listening to lots of dance music. Like he was into records and playing techno 12-inchers when he was about 16. So he comes from an entirely dance orientated background. I grew up to bands, alternative music, Massive Attack, and stuff like that. So I come from a more standard rock upbringing, like the rest of the band. Same with Alisa, she listened to things like Smashing Pumpkins, stuff like that. So I guess we come from typical alternative rock musician backgrounds. But I got into the idea of songwriting very young, I liked the idea of putting together drums and guitars, so I didnโt go into a room and sit down with an acoustic guitar, I was really intrigued by learning how to work layers and getting ideas down. So even though I play guitar live, I wouldnโt say I was a guitar player. Alisa feels the same, she considers herself more a vocalist than a singer in a band, more of a working songwriter. I think itโs also a reflection of the fact that weโre interested in the studio creating things and making music and moving on to making new music โ the studio process is to us the pinnacle, itโs why we got into it music, why most people get into music, they donโt go to live gigs to hear bands for the first time when theyโre growing up, they listen to their favourite albums. Iโve always considered that the pinnacle.
WD โ So the live thing is just an add-on to that?
Thom โ From where weโre sitting, coz everything exciting about what we do comes from the studio, the written songs are fantastic to play live. Playing liveโs more instantly gratifying, itโs heaps of fun and getting an audience reaction is wonderful, but even when thatโs done and the real achievement and sense of โwowโ, is when you look back at a song that you may have produced well. Especially when a fan says โthat song was amazing blahhh!โ Anything like that is like wow, cool, that affected someone. That thing I stressed over.
WD โ You mentioned influences like Nine Inch Nails. Who are your main influences, or the people that inspired you?
Thom โ I think popular alternative music is just collectively amongst us all. That’s what we listen to as a band and what weโre interested in. Things like TV On The Radio and Yeah Yeah Yeah and Hot Chip. Itโs popular music, and to some super pretentious indie dickheads itโs pop sellout rubbish, but to most people on the planet itโs alternative music, even if it is part of popular culture. Thatโs where we sit. We like popular culture music, a big umbrella of heavy metal and hip-hop and post-rock stuff and literally listen to anything, weโre pretty open-minded about whatโs good.
WD โ Some of your styles and sounds and melodies go back to classic โ60s popโฆ
Thom โ Itโs really cool how people have said that before, itโs something a couple of people have mentioned, and itโs always been like really eye-opening to us, because weโre not massive retro enthusiasts. You know when that happened in the early 2000s when the Strokes came out and everyone went โoh the Beatles again!โ There are all these young kids who were born in my year, 1987, saying โwe grew up listening to the Beatles and the Stonesโ and itโs like rubbish, you grew up listening to the Spice Girls and Hansen and all that. But in saying that I think we all do listen to a bit of older stuff, and I remember when I was little listening to Led Zeppelin andโฆ We havenโt done our research as far as looking backwards, but I worked in a record store for quite a while, so I know about heaps of stuff. You pick up bits, you know aboutโฆ but I donโt have a massive library, collection.
WD โ To me the chorus of โYoung Bloodโ reminds me of a track from the early โ80s by Kim Wilde, called โKids In Americaโ.
Thom โ Yeah, I think I know it.
WD โ Itโs not the same, but it does reminds me of it, the anthemic thing.
Thom โ Thatโs really cool, thank you, thatโs awesome. I see music I like in new music all the time, even though the relation might not be there, itโs just the fact that I like it, it creates the same emotional response I guess.
WD โ And also, you said Nine Inch Nails, and I canโt see that in your music at all, so itโs there, but something thatโs influenced you, but doesnโt necessarily come out in the music.
Thom โ Iโm thankful when itโs that, when your influences havenโt dictated what you sound like. You can get so worried about having done something original.
WD โ Does the new stuff sound like hits to you?
Thom โ Itโs really hard to tell properly, because youโre closer to your music than anybody else, and you think much more about it than anyone, because you know how every bit of it was put together. Um, thereโs definitely songs on there that weโve decided we should put that as a single. Like โYoung Bloodโ, it was very natural, just wrote a song and thought this sounds like it could be a single, letโs produce it like that, and finish it up like it is a single. But there are definitely tracks on there that have no chance in hell of being a single, which Iโm really happy about. Iโm happy about both aspects. Iโm happy that weโve got songs on there that donโtโฆ one called โThe Sunโโฆ Itโs a monotone vocal all the way through, itโs really intense and it sits on the โCโ for the whole song. Iโm happy with all the extremes on the album.
WD โ What are your plans around the release?
Thom โ Weโd love to do a tour in New Zealand. Looking at Australia, thatโd be great.
WD โ Youโve not done that before?
Thom โ Weโve been to New York, and thatโs all. CMJ, and that was crazy, doing the real band thing. But that was a showcase type thing. Weโd love to get overseas, but we donโt have any immediate plans to, weโre just investigating at the moment.
WD โ You must have quite a few fans from overseas whoโve found the band on MySpace and so forth.
Thom โ Definitely. Strange places, too, like Iceland. Last week we had a Canadian radio station wanting us to do a phoner for the debut of โYoung Bloodโ on some rock station. I think more in Australia than anywhere else, weโve had a bit of TV play there.
WD โ Have you thought of trying to get โYoung Bloodโ on True Blood?
Thom โ [laughs]. That would be genius. Always investigating that kind of thing. These deals are the only ways to make any money in the music industry anymore.
WD โ You have infrastructure?
Thom โ Weโve got Paul McKessar and CRS managing us. And that by default also means Campbell from CRS. But Paul is our day-to-day manager, the guy who does things for us when he doesnโt want to. [laughs]
WD โ No five year, long term plan?
Thom โ Yeah, get the album done and then maybe look at doing a five year plan. Getting out of New Zealand gives you a five year plan โ or two years, thatโs how long a band would tour an album for overseas.
WD โ You guys are all early 20s, mid 20s?
Thom โ Yeah, early 20s.
WD โ First band?
T โ Just highschool bands. This is our first real band.
WD โ Are you all from Auckland?
Thom โ Alisaโs from South Auckland, and the rest of us are from Rangitoto College. We all knew each other at high school. We werenโt close at high school, we were friends butโฆ Aaron and David are a year below, and Jesse was the year above, but heโs the same age as me. We werenโt like high school buddies, but we knew each other. So Alisa is definitely the odd one out.
WD โ You met Alisa in the course of events somewhere in Auckland?
Thom โ Alisa and I actually met at MAINZ, we both dropped out to do this. MAINZ drop-outs. And Aaronโs a MAINZ graduate, so heโs a qualified engineer, and I think Jesse and Dave are still studying, biology. Heโs going to be a scientist. He collects bugs. You know those plate displays, he can do that, heโs qualified to do that. And Jesseโs studied and whatnot, but heโs just kind of working, and doing the band now.
Hello, young blood has a very sad end, why is it so?