Having just released his unexpectedly brilliant debut album ((un)), and touring Australia for the first time this September with Parklife, we had a chat to the maestro of “wonky pop”, Dan Black… while he was sitting on a street corner in Paris – where he just so happens to live! Ah, the life of the musician.
So how long have you lived in Paris for?
Three years now, I think?
Did you move there for creative inspiration? What’s the story?
Kind of! It was a combination of things. The band I was in before I was solo (The Servant), most of our touring and success was on the (European) continent, outside of the UK. So we were always here, and varying things pulled me into Paris, and so after a while I gave in and accepted that I lived there, rather than consciously going – “I’m moving to Paris!”
You do hear of a lot of great artists, finding refuge in Paris or Berlin for creative influence. Always good to see!
Part of the appeal was certainly the mythic, legendary idea of leaving your country and exiling yourself. Paris, or Berlin.
Y
ou’ll be leaving Paris very soon though, heading over to America for a tour with Robyn and Kelis. I imagine this is your biggest tour in the US so far?
Oh yeah. For sure. We’ve done big festivals and shows, but for a tour.
Is it something you’re excited or apprehensive about? What’s the feeling?
Oh I completely relish it! I mean, I’m slightly nervous … I’m a huge fan of Robyn and Kelis, but slightly nervous if there’s going to be any diva action! It could be quite intense backstage. But in terms of doing the shows, and meeting them and being on the same bill. I can’t wait. I relish it with glee!
Speaking of the big festivals, you’ve got Lollapoolza next month, too!
Yeah, that’s amazing. Can’t wait for that too. When I was a kid, one of my favourite bands was Jane’s Addiction, and obviously Lollapoolza was started by Perry Ferrell way back when I was a kid. And I remember when it was first happening thinking it seemed like this far off, hard to imagine thing of wonder. And now I’m playing it! So it means quite a lot on a personal level.
It’s the place where dreams come true!
*laughs* We’ll see! It could be a nightmare!
So in Australia, your album is just about to be released, and we’re hearing Symphonies feat. Kid Cudi on the radio down here, rather than the original version. Was that a deliberate decision?
I think that people just started playing it (on the radio) before we even had a deal for it! So it was kind of dictated by that. It would have been kind of madness to then give them something else! If you want to play that, play that! I love the song!
Did Kid Cudi come to your Parisian basement to record the track?
Sadly no. It was very modern and internet based, and he did it in New York while I was in Paris.
So we’re all very excited to have you down here in Australia for September – I know it’s obviously your first time here as a solo artist, but have you been here before?
I have actually! One of the many skeletons in my closet, I used to be one of the collaborators on a thing called Planet Funk, and they did a short tour of Australia, 4 or 5 years ago, and so I came then with them. To be honest with you it was a bit of a nightmare, the schedule was incredibly tight. So we went straight into shows the day we arrived, so there was no time to get over the really quite extreme jetlag. So I ended up not sleeping for nearly the whole time. And kind of went slightly mad. So at the moment, I’m looking forward to coming out to finally have a positive non-horrific experience of Australia to right the memory I have at the moment!
Well Parklife is a great festival, such fun, you’re with fantastic company – Missy Elliot and Soulwax and all those guys.
I know! It’s incredible!
What can people expect from your live show? How does ((un)) translate on the stage?
Well it’s the age old quandary of, how do you make electronic music engaging and live. I mean I make music in computers, so to make that something that’s happening… one of the things I most dislike is when you see somebody playing and they’re hunched over a laptop and they could be e-mailing their grandma or something! So there’s three of us, including me, and between us, the main thing I have are these things called launch pads, which are like these grids of lights that point towards the audience.
So I can control the sounds and effects while I’m singing at the same time. And then the other two play sometimes live guitar, live bass. Sometimes percussion. Sometimes one of them has a keyboard that he Velcros to his crotch so he can rip it on and off. So it’s simple, basic. With the album, there’s a degree of … detail… that when we play it live we strip it away so it’s slightly more savage and direct. But still with the spirit with what the album is about.
Well it sounds it’ll be a good show!
It SOUNDS better than… no really that’s not true *laughs*
We’ll talk a bit about the process of putting the album together now.
Sure!
Was it very much you hunched over a computer in your Parisian basement, or did others come to help out along the way?
It was as you described it pretty much. Having been in different bands and projects for years, I wanted to do something that was totally selfish. It had gotten to the point where everything we did felt like a compromise. As opposed to a group of people coming together with the same vision, it always felt like – what can we do that will make everybody happy. Finding something that everyone could live with. So I was tired of that. So I wanted to do something that was the opposite. And I’d gotten to the point where I felt confident enough, and had the right skills or chops or whatever to get what was in my brain out into the world. And I though, let’s see if it’s possible. Let’s do the whole thing on my own! So yeah, I did that. Basically me, one winter, in Paris, in a cellar. Where I live, my apartment’s in a very old part of Paris, and the building itself is like 300 years old, with a stone walled cellar. I was down in that, going slowly crazy, but at the same time, getting out this thing that I wanted to do.
When you bring out another album, would you do it the same way?
Like most things, there were pluses and minuses. I think the pluses outweighed the minuses. Over the last month I’ve had a little breathing space to start writing for my next album, but prior to that, all this year while on tour, particularly in the states, I’m been putting together loads and loads of collaborations, and writing sessions, the absolute opposite of what I did on the album. Most of it being for other artists. Through my album I’ve had a lot of people come to me, very pleasantly, and wanting me to help them write, or do production, so I’ve been doing loads of that.
If I hadn’t of done that, I’d be very much like “I want to do this album with other people”, but now I’m doing that so much that it’s nice again when I’m starting to write my own album that I go, “oh yeah, I can just sit on my own and be super selfish again!”
Particularly now, with technology putting so many tools out there, doing everything in your laptop, I quite like the fact that it’s a bit like the old idea of being a painter, or a sculpture in a garage, pursuing one man’s vision. I like the fact that I can do that now with a big wide canvas, where I can make whatever I want. And there are not many artists that are doing that. Either they’re making songs and they want to work with other people to help them realise their songs, or if they do that on their own then they tend to be making sonic dance music. So I like the fact that not many people are doing it solo.
So I think I might.
But having said that, ask me again in three months when I’ve gone mad and won’t want to get lost again! But I think I’m going to try and make it while I’m touring about, and do it with a couple of people along the way. The wonderful thing is that I have my studio in my bag! So if the moment strikes, if Missy Elliot says “catch ya backstage by the toilets!” I can say “quickly, sing into this mic!”
And you’re at Austin City Limits later this year, too, where plenty of that happens!
Yeah. And I was in Austin earlier this year for SXSW. It was so amazing, I had such a brilliant time. I can’t wait to get back to Austin, it’s unique!
Oh totally! You’re bombarded by so much amazing music there.
Exactly! Is this hell, or is this heaven?
It’s a bit of both I think! The more you drink the more like heaven it becomes.
*laughs* That’s true for many things! The funny thing was, I’d already done so many festivals and tours in Europe the year before, that when we came to do South by Southwest, I was like “oh, not another festival! I’m tired of all this !” But despite my jaded miserablism, I still left there going “this place is amazing!” and I had a brilliant time. I don’t know about in Australia, but in Europe, festivals can have a not very hidden sense of the fact that there’s always violence not very far away. But in Austin, there was never any sense of that, even in the most horrifically busy part. It always felt like, even when people were even at their most messed up, there was something calm and chill about it!
The music brings the people together!
*laughs* Exactly!
Well thank you for talking to us today Dan!
Thanks for talking to me!
And we really do look forward to seeing you when you’re down here for Parklife in September/October.
Awesome, can’t wait! See you then!
Don’t miss Dan Black when he tours Australia as part of the annual Parklife extravaganza!
Dates are below, and tickets are on sale now! Click here for more details.
PARKLIFE DATES
Sat 25th September – Gold Coast // Sun 26th September – Perth
Sat 2nd October – Melbourne // Sun 3rd October – Sydney
and rounding up in Adelaide on Mon 4th October
For tickets, head to http://www.parklife.com.au/
