The Thousands

I was sitting on my front porch on an overcast Saturday morning when I heard Pivot‘s O Soundtrack My Heart for the first time. Something about the grey sky, combined with Pivot’s clashy prog guitars, gurgling synths and techno-like builds, made for a pristine sonic experience. I hope for similar satisfaction, care of Pivot and the sky, at Becks Box next week. Me and Dave Miller have the same initials (DM – how easy would it be if I married this guy?), so we’re rolling with Dan and Dave to keep it simple.

Dan: How was playing the Warp 20th anniversary celebrations in Paris? Was it surreal, to be up on stage with your idols?
Dave: It was weird, yeah it was surreal. I was watching chk chk chk !!! or something, then suddenly standing next to me were Chris Cunningham and Aphex Twin. Strangely, they look alike.

Dan: Did they know who you were?
Dave: I think they’ve come to quite a few of our gigs in London. But yeah, all the Warp label bands were there, apart from Autechre. We met most of those people, it was cool.

Dan: There must be some choice numbers in your phone after that party.
Dave: Ahh, yeah. Ah, fuck, it’s not like, y’know, a frat party or anything, but yeah I’ve probably met about half the Warp roster.

Dan: I bet it felt pretty spesh to be the first Australian act to be signed to Warp?
Dave: Absolutely. It was the first electronic label to get Australian distribution in the 90s, like, you could get Warp records at Sanity, which, at the time, was quite rare. It’s a thing we take for granted now, but the fact that you could go to a shopping centre and get this weird electronic music, like Aphex Twin, was a weird thing.

Dan: Your video for In The Blood reminds me of Chris Cunningham’s stuff, it’s like Rubber Johnny.
Dave: Yeah, not as disturbing though!

Dan: Was that you guys operating the little dolls?
Dave: For one or two little shots we were, the rest of it was done by a semi-professional.

Dan: It looks like the fish markets in Japan, blood and fish heads everywhere. Who came up with the concept?
Dave: The director Alex Smith, he’s a friend of ours. He really likes us, and he’s got a shark obsession. He has toy sharks all around his house.

Dan: So he’s your go-to guy when you want a shark video clip.
Dave: He thought it was funny – he tried to do this tenuous link between In The Blood and Australian shark bands and stuff. We were just happy for him to have a go, we knew he’d make something entertaining, that would suit the music, which he did.

Dan: Supposedly you recorded your most recent album, O Soundtrack My Heart, in an abandoned school?
Dave: No. Although we did live in an abandoned primary school at one stage in London, that was our accommodation for a while.

Dan: Is there much of a difference between the way London audiences receive you, as opposed to at home?
Dave: We’re still building an audience in the UK, but our last show in London was great, it was the first sell out show we’ve had in the UK. That was a nice feeling, to know that you can play a bunch of shows and eventually it amounts to something, eventually people start talking about you and more people come to check you out. Our biggest audience is still in Australia though. Probably got the most fans in Perth or Sydney – it’s a toss up between those two cities.

Dan: The cover art for O Soundtrack My Heart by Michel Granger  is rad. How did you score him for your cover?
Dave: We just gave him a call. We started talking to people, saying, ‘well, we kinda want it like this’, and his artwork was one of the references. A friend of ours said, ‘well, if you want your cover like that guy’s stuff, why don’t you just contact him?’ None of us had actually even considered that! It turned out, he had a website, with a contact on that. He listened to our music first, to make sure it was up to scratch. Then he agreed to it, he seemed almost kind of stoked. It was almost too perfect.

Dan: So you’re playing at Becks Music Box next Thursday for PIAF, with Seekae. Did you ever go to these gigs yourself when you lived in Perth?
Dave: Yeah I think it was called, er, The Watershed? That was a long time ago! (laughs) I think I might have also gone to a couple of ones in front of the…god, where was it?

Dan: The Perth Concert Hall?
Dave: Yeah that’s it – I went to one or two there. I saw Dennis Russell. I’m looking forward to it. We haven’t played many outdoor summer gigs in Australia. We played Laneway in Perth last year, it was kind of afternoon-ish. Hopefully it will be a nice warm evening. We’ll be giving some new stuff an airing.

Dan: Oooo what frame of mind should we be in for your new material?
Dave: (laughs) Err, an open one! There’s a song on it that’s on the Warp compilation called Quick Mile – that’s a decent indication of the new stuff.

Dan: And then after that you guys will be heading off to SxSW in Texas. Have you been a part of that before?
Dave: No we haven’t. We’ve heard it’s a complete riot, a complete mess. Hopefully we play in front of a bunch of people that dig us. From what we’ve heard it’s a big booze up, where you might get lucky and Coldplay might see you, and offer to help you with your next record.