Her Faktory on Obsessions

In case you haven't been to Perth before, you may not know that there's this really sick little neighborhood about half an hour's train ride out of the city called Fremantle. It's where I used to live before I fled eastward. If you know not of this mysterious 'hood I'm speaking of, picture Newtown but on the beach. I know, right? It's pretty nice. And in Fremantle you'll find the world's best drinking establishment: The Norfolk Hotel. The Norfolk has great food, cheap drinks, Snowman used to play there all the time before they got famous and moved to London and it's walking distance to the beach. So you could go, drink and be merry (back in the day you could see Snowman for next to nothing) then head on down to the ocean where you could do pretty much whatever (except swim drunk, I've heard that isn't the best idea). Perhaps get naked if you were that way inclined. 'Cause the hippies pretty much run Fremantle and they'd be, you know, all cool with it, man.

What does this have to do with Her Faktory, you ask? I'M GETTING TO IT, SHUT UP.

So one time I was at the Norfolk and somebody piped up and starting bitching that Franz Ferdinand is just a Gang of Four rip-off. And everybody I was there with were nodding their heads and murmuring in agreement. I did the same, because I'm a sheep and can't bear the thought of standing out by disagreeing or asking questions or anything. But in my mind I was like, "Shit, shit, who the fuck is Gang of Four?? I better just pretend to know that reference and pray to God that nobody calls my bluff lest I be cast out into the bitter cold climes of uncoolness." Don't pretend you've never done it, you hipster know-it-all. When I got home, panicked that Gang of Four would come up again in a later conversation and somebody might ask me what album I liked or something and I'd have to do the, "Oh, I kind of prefer their earlier stuff, you know their later records were so... artificial... Hey, what's that in the distance? Is that Daniel Johnston??" and then run in case they found out I didn't actually know anything about the band, I Wikipediaed them. And downloaded some of their songs. And now Gang of Four is, like, totally one of my favourite bands. I'm not even kidding.

Anyway, one of their songs is called 'Her Factory' which is how I got into today's interviewee, Her Faktory. (Did you appreciate that long winded anecdotal explanation? I bet you did, you word whore, you). They're playing tonight at World Bar with Zeahorse and Bed Wettin' Bad Boys and if you mention Her Faktory at the door entry is only $5. Let's see those hands in the air like you just don't mind! Here's the interview! (It was done via email, which I guess is kinda obvious, with Her Faktory's voice and guitar dude, Rhys).

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Can't Sleep: What do you think the relationship is between music and obsession?

Rhys: I think music and obsession go hand in hand. I'm totally obsessed with music. Music is the one artistic medium I feel I can understand... and perhaps be understood through...For people who are obsessed with music, i guess it always starts with becoming a fan.

When I stared getting into music I was a teenager so naturally I was looking for something extreme. I went out and bought any CD I could find with a parental warning sticker on it. I ended up with heaps of Death Metal and Gangster rap heh heh. But soon I found certain bands that would or could scratch an itch that others couldn't.

I guess as your tastes develop you start looking for something with more substance than what's on Video Hits. Every song on the radio is the same. It's all sex and ego. I wanted music that reflected stuff that happened in my life. I wasn't a "playa" who bonked heaps of chicks and shit. My life just wasn't a pop song. Thats when I got into underground music. Those bands took the piss yet till spoke a higher truth. I just wanted to find out about the bands that didn't really get played on the radio. I just read everything I could get my hands on.

That's when I started to become obsessed. I started to listen to bands that I actually didn't even enjoy... but I just wanted to understand why other people thought they were important, why they influenced other musicians, how they reflected their culture. It almost became like an anthropology hobby. I wanted to find out why people in England like different kinds of bands than Americans. Why Australians notoriously under appreciate their own talent.

CS: Do you think an obsession with something is a prerequisite to be able to write a song about it?

R: I don't think you need to be obsessed about something to write a good song about it. Obviously the more you care about your subject matter, the more vivid your emotions will be to draw upon. I usually don't write that straight forward anyway. Lyrics are usually the last thing I think about when completing a song.

I usually just let my mind be open to whatever comes out. Whatever is in my sub- conscious is what is determines the directions of lyrics. What's bothering me about my life is always under the surface of any song I've written. I guess all the tunes I've done in the last few years have reoccurring themes. I have heaps of songs about how much I hate my job. Or how much of a pussy I am for not being more adventurous.... or just hating being a boring white guy from Canberra.

I guess inadvertently I'm obsessed with myself. Which probably isn't a good thing. You shouldn't miss out on real life because your always looking inward. Although that approach can work for some... Morrissey and Eminem are a good examples! heh heh.

CS: Where do you think the line is between a strong interest and an obsession? Can you think of any examples or reasons for this?

R: I think an obsession should always be judged on its outcomes. If it produces a positive effect on your life then it's healthy.

For example, heaps of people are obsessed with footy. I'm very jealous of those people. I couldn't give a fuck what a bunch of strangers I've never met do with a pig skin every Friday. But I watch my mates during a footy game and I wish I was as excited as them. They look like they are really enjoying themselves. Plus they can go anywhere in Australia and find common ground with just about any bloke in the pub.

I can't. Guys who just talk about obscure 80's bands are always shit to have at parties heh heh.

CS: Does Her Faktory have any current obsessions?

R: Her Faktory are a strange band. We are all very different people. We don't yet know what kind of band we are... or even want to be.

I guess we are just obsessed with finding out who we are. We don't want to just be the sum of our influences.

There a tons of those bands in Sydney. There are fake Brian Jones Town Massacres, fake Animal Collectives, fake Black Sabbaths, fake My Bloody Valentines, a fake Bloc Party, a fake Arctic Monkeys, etc etc.

Her Faktory is rubbish... but at least we are a shit version of ourselves! heh heh.

Don't get me wrong we steal riffs as much as the next band... but at least we have the manners to hide them... or present them in a new way.... I hope...

CS: Is it human to nature to obsess? Would you agree with the proposition that we all have a mild form of obsessive compulsive disorder?

R:There is a little bit of OCD in everyone for sure. You know when you wipe your arse and you think its clean? I always give it just one more wipe... just to be sure... I need to feel sure.... clean and sure.....

CS:Can obsession ever be healthy? Can you give any examples for or against?

R: I heard Eddie Van Halen was so obsessed with guitar he would play for 8 hours straight. That band is kinda lame, but Eddie's got more cash and pussy than I've bloody got! Maybe there is a some pay off from OCD after all.

CS: What are your thoughts on self obsession? Is it inherent in everybody? Does it drive everything we do?

R: I think obsessions can tell you more about yourself than you realise. Obsessions are so strong, they are giving you something you want... something you need... filling an unfillable hole. You can sum up a person by what holes are inside them.

I don't know what holes my music obsession fills in me these days... It's been so many things to me in the past, my angry adolescent voice, my first girlfriend, my home team, my expression of identity... I still need it all these years later though... I guess I'm just a massive pussy and I like knowing there is something that will never change. I'll always want to sit down with a beer and put on a record... It's still rad!

CS: Do you ever feel like mankind's narcissism will be its downfall? Why or why not?

R: Well our culture is obsessed with Individualism at the moment. Probably the biggest cultural icon of this decade is Paris Hilton. She is famous for being rich and stupid.... That's it.

That tells us a lot about ourselves in my opinion. We deep down all want to be her. Why? Because we know we're fucked... Post modernism has gone on for too long. There hasn't been an original thought celebrated in a long time.... Everything really has been done this time.... We have kinda lost hope... We know the world is dying. The sea is rising.... The population is rising... the temperature is rising... The cost of food is rising... America isn't going to save us... We no longer believe the world can change. We know we only have a few short years before the shit hits the fan... It wont be long until reality forces us to grow up and face the beginning of the end.... but until then... We all just want to look hot, get high and party like its 1999... Just like Paris!

CS: Can we ever really be free of an obsession? If so, how? If not, why not?

R: You have to find a way to fill the hole man... fill the hole...

CS: Do you think it takes a certain amount of narcissism to create music, or indeed any form of art?

R: The job of good art is to teach us about our own humanness. I think in order to do so requires a little bit of narcissism for sure. As a performer you try to show the real you as much as you can. Even the ugly vulnerable bits... If people know you are for real... they will feel your shit... whatever that is. But how can you show yourself with out knowing yourself? How can you know yourself without looking inside and listening to that tiny voice inside. Most people are too scared to listen to that voice... let alone telling someone else what they hear...

Circle Pit vs. Royal Headache

Good grief, what a talented bunch of musicians. You know who else is good? That band, Circle Pit. Yea, they're pretty awesome, hey? How sweet would it be if they played a show together? I'm pretty broke though so even if that occurred I'd probably bitch out on the entry fee and just stay at home watching Unsolved Mysteries. If only they'd play a show that was free, so I could see two of Sydney's best bands together and it wouldn't cost me a nickel. It'd also be cool if it was somewhere close to my house, like the Oxford Art Factory.

Oh, wait. THAT'S HAPPENING TONIGHT.

Cameras On The Apocalypse

So the new issue of RUSSH finally hit newsstands this morning which is very, very exciting. Words can't sufficiently describe how much I love this magazine so I won't try and explain now but lemme just say that this magazine does it for me. Every time I get a new copy and start reading it, I'm filled with inspiration and adoration. I want to go out into the streets of Sydney and start hugging people. Perhaps even kiss them with tongue and a little bit of light over the clothes action. In short; RUSSH pushes all of the right buttons.

As a quick aside: while I was at the newsagents this morning I happened to notice a coverline on the cover of this month's Cleo which read, "How To Know If You're Having Bad Sex!" HOW TO KNOW IF YOU'RE HAVING BAD SEX?? Can't Cleo readers figure that out for themselves? If you're actually interested in reading an article with a title like that, you're probably having bad sex. God, those magazines are dumb.

Back to the RUSSH thing, the new issue has a feature on Big Scary who are a really great two piece from Melbourne. Big Scary launched their EP 'Hey, Somebody' with a really really great Sydney band, Cameras when they (Cameras) launched their 'June' single at GoodGod Small Club. I interviewed Cameras for the first issue of Can't Sleep. Actually, they were the first Sydney band I ever interviewed AND they were the first Sydney band I saw live after I moved here from Perth. I can remember it like it was yesterday. At the Oxford Art Factory, with my new friends Jesse and Yiannis, all full of assumptions and pretensions. Telling anybody in hearing distance how AMAZING the Perth music scene is and how Sydney bands JUST DON'T HOLD A CANDLE to that FAR OUT WEST COAST SOUND. And boy, was I put in my place. So it goes without saying that Cameras hold a special place in my heart.

Since their interview was in the first issue, which not a lot of people got to read, I'm gonna post it up right here, right now. The first issue was on the Apocalypse - we did this interview at nobody's favourite bar, The Cricketers Arms.

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(After you read the interview, click the picture).

Can't Sleep: What do you guys think a 21^st century apocalypse would look like? And how do you plan to survive it?

Fraser: I have all these these images... I don't know, maybe it's because of the pop culture ways that it's been put forward to us, I just imagine all these brain explosions and crazy mutant people from nuclear things...

CS: Like a zombocalypse?

F: Yea! Just a whole lot of, maybe every horror film that's ever been made, into one. People walking backwards upstairs, and things like that.

Eleanor: My imagination is very limited, to say the least. I suppose what Fraser said, I guess if we're talking about...

F: Guys on horses, holding their heads. We're quite into conspiracies.

E: We debate it quite a lot.

F: Yea, we're always debating the conspiracies. So yea, it'd be all the themes of treason and all those sorts of things culminating... Does that make sense? Probably not.

CS: Yea, it does. Do you get a sense of the apocalyptic in the reality we're living in now?

F: I think so.

E: Yea, to a degree.

F: There's things in the real world that could trigger (the apocalypse). There's a lot of nuclear arms in the world, that could all, you know, explode at the same time. I think if there was to be another major war, it would be definitely be the one that ends it all. I don't think it'll really get there because all these different countries have got so much power, and they know it, they're always gonna bluff with it.

CS: The power just cancels everything out.

F: Yea, I think so. I think the weapons and stuff have become so sophisticated that no one actually wants to use them. And once they do, they're fucked because people can just bomb them back.

CS: It'd be like Dr. Strangelove...

F: Yea yea, exactly. It'd all go tits up.

E: And all the environmental stuff we're bombarded with, I think all of that is quite, in a way, apocalyptic. All the crazy weather.

F: Yea, all these crap Hollywood films depicting the world ending in a day and stuff.

E: All the latest tsunamis and... it is quite apocalyptic, really. It's pretty scary.

F: Crazy weather stuff, it always conjures up these apocalyptic images.

CS: How do you think music relates to the end of the world? Do you think it'll be able to predict it? Will it survive beyond the apocalypse?

E: I think often musicians like to write about stuff like that.

F: I love it, I think it's cool.

E: I mean music is, I suppose, dramatic in itself so I think the whole apocalypse would... You asked whether music would survive after it? I suppose so. I suppose someone has to write something about it.

F: I reckon cassettes will survive.

CS: You don't think vinyl would survive the apocalypse?

F: No, it'd melt.

E: Tapes would probably melt as well.

F: Yea, but everyone's got (their tapes) stashed away, and vinyl's cool so everyone's got it out going, 'Check out my vinyl!'. But everyone's got their old tape decks tucked away.

E: The digital world might survive. It might just be...

F: Yea, on the internet

CS: Do you think the media is panicking now more than it ever has? Compared to the Cold War, and Hiroshima and everything else?

F: Yea, definitely. The media has the power to hype stuff up so much now, 'cause information is shared so easily compared to ten, fifteen, twenty years ago. It's easy for, you know, word to spread about something and they love to hype it up. Because there's so much news coming through, you know a news story ten years ago would've come out, and people would've talked about it for a few days.
Whereas now, it'll appear on the newspaper's main page and then an hour later it's another story. It's just a constant churn now, whereas before...

E: Yea, it wasn't so in-your-face. I think it just would've been a whole different experience with things happening in the world back in the day. It's just a whole different experience in this day and age.

F: And we're fed a lot more information these days, I don't think people take it in as much. Now a lot of people just walk around quite oblivious to what's going on because they're fed so much information you can't really take a lot of it in. Whereas before you could digest the news you got a lot easier because it was a smaller amount that came through and now...

E: Yea, I know a lot of people who just don't watch the news, because it's all just about Iraq and... (people) don't want to be bombarded with that all the time. It just seems like it's all the same.

F: I think it does get a bit overwhelming sometimes.

CS: Do you think it's human nature to panic about stuff? Or is everything that's going on forcing us to panic?

F: I think (it's human nature). And here's where the conspiracy comes in – governments like to keep people occupied with this sort of thing. And big business, large corporations, they sell things through fear. Fifty years ago it was 'Drink Coca Cola, it's delicious', and now it's...

CS: 'Drink Coca Cola or you're not good enough for society'.

F: Yea.

CS: So who do you think will ultimately be responsible for the apocalypse? The politicians? The capitalists? The religious fundamentalists? Or society as a whole, human nature?

E: I think human nature.

F: It'd be a stupid mistake.

E: I don't know, I don't really like humans that much...

F: She really hates people.

E: I think we're our own worst enemies. I think we're too smart for our own good, and uh... I think we ruin everything. A lot of the time.

F: So to answer your question... I think it'll be something quite unexpected. I'd prefer that, just something a bit unexpected, if it had to happen. Someone like Bob Geldof, just ripping off his mask and going, “Fuck you, I didn't really feed Africa! I ate them!”

CS: Do you ever worry that these 'End of Days' religious crazies are going to get more of an audience, because of all the environmental stuff that's going on?

F: Yea, religion really concerns me. I find it quite frightening that people devote their lives to something they don't know. And religion's really an oppressive regime, they really do control every aspect of people's lives, and I think that's quite concerning when they have that sort of absolute power. I mean, it's good that they don't have as much power as they did in the, say, 15^th or 16^th century where they owned everything. People are a lot more aware now, more able to choose.

E: There have been books written about how we will eventually convert back to that way of life. Back to the way we were in the 16^th century.

F: It always go from the ultra-liberal to the ultra-conservative and back again.

E: And technology will just take over, completely and utterly. And we won't have any privacy whatsoever.

CS: In the event of the apocalypse, who would you have faith in to save us? Would it be the artists, or the politicians? The prophets?

F: It's not gonna be an artist... definitely not gonna be an artist. Not a politician. I don't know, I think we're fucked. No one's really gonna save us. Who's overdue for some goodness?

E: A sports person?

F: Yea, maybe sports people will finally pull their weight in society. They keep winning all these 'Australian of the Year' awards without really doing anything.

CS: What's Thorpie done for us lately?

F: Yea, exactly! He's done fuck all since releasing his line of pearls. And that didn't go anywhere, so yea – he's due for something. I'm not sure if that's before or after he comes out though...

CS: Do you think music will play a role in that? In saving us?

F: It'd be a pretty good soundtrack, I think.

E: I suppose we'd all turn to some form of art, music, to get us through.

F: Yea, people will always listen to music because they feel like they need to, and it relaxes them and calms them. It has all these emotional effects on people, so something like the apocalypse... yea that'd probably be the first thing I'd do, put on a record and go, 'Well, may as well ride this one out'.

CS: Do you think musicians are more sensitive about all this paranoia about the end of the world? Or are they more skeptical and removed from it?

F: I think some are (sensitive to it).There are some bands who like to write about conspiracies, and... Well, in our music I kind of like to play out scenarios in my head of weird scenes, things like that. And there are some artists who write about different aspects of people's minds, things like that. There are some people who write about love. It depends on the artist, I guess. I kind of like that whole world of treachery, and stuff that we don't experience every day and that's kind of far removed from our society.

CS: So you think Cameras would be more removed from the paranoia?

F: No, definitely not. That'd be the time to cash in, we'll ride that train.

E: Yea, as a band I think that area does fascinate us.

F: We do tend to write towards the more epic themes. We've been writing a lot lately and a lot of our new stuff is more big and epic and grand, with an apocalyptic feel, I guess.

CS: What do you think about this whole thing about sending humans into space? You know how they said we're going to open up human colonies on the moon?

F: Didn't they say we were gonna do that by 1980 or something? That we'd all be living on the moon? I don't think it'll ever happen. I'd like it to, it'd be awesome but... yea, I really want to go on that Virgin galactic thing. If I had enough money, I'd do it.

CS: So you don't think it'll ever happen?

E: It might.

F: Yea, it might. If the world doesn't blow up before then. I was gonna say it could be a hundred years, but we could be doing it in ten years or something. Technology keeps moving insanely quickly and a gap that was say twenty or fifty years apart not so long ago, they could be making those advances in months.

E: Possibility.

F: We'll sit on the fence on this one.

CS: So you think we should just cut and run, or stay and try to fix the damage?

E: You're kind of talking about that film. The Pixar film, about the robots.

CS: Wall-E?

E: Wall-E!

F: I thought you were talking about the one with the old guy in the house with the balloons...

CS: Up!

F: Yea, Up! I was like, 'Doesn't he just go somewhere else?' He never really leaves Earth... Yea, cut and run I think.

E: We'll be in a band on a space ship.

CS: So you're not hopeful about the future?

E: Not really.

F: For human kind?

CS: Yea.

F: No, I think we've really gone a bit too far. I don't think things are going to all of a sudden be better. There's too much greed.

E: I think it's going to take a massive disaster to really shake people up. Because people are just so complacent. I mean that is human nature, that we're just very complacent about everything.

F: Yea, as long as the world is run by large corporations and powerful governments, as long as they're the ones brokering the deals. I mean, I don't want to sound like a commie but as long as the structure is in place as it is now, I can't see it changing.

CS: So if Cameras was put in charge of the world tomorrow, how would you go about fixing it up?

F: Probably round up a whole lot of people we weren't too fond of and send them off first. The Rosie O'Donnells, the Bernie Madoffs.

E: Yea, he can go into space for a hundred and fifty years.

F: Yea. The David Kochs... I don't know, what would we do?

E: I really don't think we're smart enough.

F: I think the first point of call would be bringing in someone who knows something about stuff to take care of it. Maybe get Stephen Hawking.

CS: He knows stuff about stuff.

F: He knows stuff about stuff. Plus he's got an awesome voice. We'd probably get him to put down some vocals on a track too.

Heart O' Beef

Has anyone else noticed that Edward Norton's been in not one but two movies in which he plays the sad quiet guy with a violently out of control alter ego that bears no physical resemblance to him? Once in Fight Club and again in The Incredible Hulk? Isn't that weird?

Free Royal Headache show on Thursday Night! They're playing with Circle Pit! It's free!

Frankly, Mr. Shankly

Oh, man.

I'm an Arts student which means - like most students - I have a piece of shit part time job in the service industry. A symptom of my situation is that for the last four or five years, much like that quiet nerd in the back of the classroom who listens to bands like Anal Cunt and has resolved to wear his "Friends Are For The Weak And Insecure" tee until the message sinks in, I've been quietly but steadily cultivating a unique brand of misanthropy which only my fellows in the service industry can truly appreciate. People are idiots. They're rude, ungrateful, messy, lazy, patronising and sometimes unnecessarily cruel. Granted, I'm speaking very generally but anybody who's worked in hospitality or retail can tell you that it holds true nearly every day in their job.

And this generalisation applies not only to the dicks I'm forced to be nice to, but usually also to the mouth breather who's bossing me around. Hey, boss: I wasn't the one who killed your dream of being an actress. I wasn't the one who knocked you up in the bathroom of your favourite dive bar and then "lost your number". I'm not the one who's witholding your child support and I'm definitely not the one who forced you to become fat and complacent and go on to get a full time job in a crappy suburban supermarket because you dropped out of school at fifteen and don't have any real qualifications. So take your problems to somebody else.

The customers, on the other hand, have a subtly different way of taking out their issues on the nameless person in front of them. For me at least - because my place of work is in a fairly wealthy part of town - they think they can talk down to me because they obviously have more money than I. They think they can come in with their obnoxious children, let said children bully them into buying whatever sugary chemically-altered excuse for food they feel like eating, pay $8 a kilo for Lady Finger bananas when there are regular bananas for $3 a kilo and they're EXACTLY THE SAME DAMN THING, pay $6 for half a handful of blueberries and then treat me like I'm the idiot when I drop one of their pointlessly overpriced bananas on the ground, and it gets a bruise on it. I know you married rich and for some unexplained reason think that that makes you better than me, but why don't you keep your bigoted opinion to yourself and stick to what you're best at it: avoiding sex with your chubby husband.

In case you haven't guessed already, I'm not having the best day.

In more upbeat/relevant news: Mickey Gloss have a new album coming out soonish and there are new songs up right now at their myspace. Jason Crombie still won't shut up about Joan Didion and the goddamn White Album, and Chatroulette is still full of horny naked strangers.



Which is good news for me because, as you can see, I think peen is absolutely hilarious. That's another generalisation because I also think there are some contexts in which penis isn't really to be laughed at. And there are a few specific penii out there which aren't ever going to be funny, no matter what the situation is. So for now, let's just say: Whisky + semi nude people on the internet is always going to equal mirth on my behalf.

There'll be more interviews up here soon, I promise. This isn't going to be another one of those 'Bored White Girl Complains About Her First World Problems' type blogs. Because God knows, the last thing the world needs is another one of those.

West Coast Shit

There's something I'd like to get off my chest. Sometimes - just sometimes - I miss Perth. I miss those big blue West Coast skies, I miss Perth's safe, easy to use, comparatively clean rail system. I miss the Rosemount's beer garden, I miss the Hydey, I even miss the slutty boys at Amplifier. I miss my cat, dammit. Mostly, I just miss the awesome people who live there (hi, mum!), like today's interviewee, Judith (that's her in the picture, ain't she a looker?). Judith's a former fashion student and now artist who specialises mostly in the macabre, Being Amazing and dressing like some kind of Galliano-inspired exotic bird without looking silly.

In the interest of full disclosure I should mention that Judith's been my best bud since I was old enough to say, "Hey, I love your outfit." We grew up together in the cultural black hole that is Perth's wealthy outer suburbs. She was the fancy, fashionable artistic type; I was the scruffy, street urchin "I-just-wanna-put-my-jeans-on-and-go-skating" type. We made it work though and in a place where a gumnut with eyes glued on it was standard fare at the monthly "Art Show", Judith somehow got inspired and grew into someone pretty out there. So I guess that (us being friends from way back) explains why this interview is more full of 'Hey, remember that time when...'s and discussions about eating/smoking found objects than fashion, which is what the topic was supposed to be. And I wasn't trying to be all intellectual/LISTEN HERE GRINGO, I'M ASKING A SERIOUS QUESTION like I am in some of the other interviews.
Anyway, check out some of Judith's shit(click to enlarge):






These are all taken from Judith's 'Inside Out' collection.

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CS: Okay, dictaphone's on.

J: Hello, dictaphone!

CS: Do you think fashion is underrated as an art form?

J: Um, I think that people tend to overlook it as an art form. But in my opinion, I think it definitely is a form of art and expression. When you look at designers like John Galliano, the late Alexander McQueen and definitely Comme Des Garçons and other artists, the catwalk, it is performance art.

CS: Do you have a certain type of person in mind when you're creating art? In particular, wearable art? Like, in terms of fashion?

J: In terms of fashion? I don't really... When I make a piece of wearable art I don't really think about it in terms of who's going to wear it because I don't think that the pieces I make are particularly wearable. I look at them in terms of... more like art pieces if you know what I mean. I don't think that anyone would want to wear my pieces. I think that, especially in the last collection that I did... I don't think that people would necessarily look at them and think, 'Someone's going to wear that?', I think they'd look at it in terms of art and form an opinion about it. I just found another pistachio nut.

CS: Are you gonna eat it?

J: No, it was kind of wedged in my bum.

CS: Do you remember that one time you found that Minty on the street outside my house, and you ate it?

J: Did I eat that?

CS: Yes!

J: Didn't I spit it out?

CS: No, you ate it. 'Cause it was still in its wrapper.

J: It was in a wrapper, that's okay. I was walking to the bus stop after uni the other day and there was a piece of chewing gum on the ground and I kind of kicked it and stuff and it was all wrapped up and there was chewing gum inside, and I was all, 'Awww... Should I eat it?' but people were looking so I didn't.

CS: But you would've eaten it if nobody had been around?

J: Probably.

CS: I once smoked a cigarette that I found on the street. But it was like a whole cigarette, it wasn't just a stub. It was an untouched cigarette, just lying on the road.

J: That's fair enough, I don't think anybody would've put their germs on it. Except the road... The other day, I was at the movies and they had this new ad campaign in the cinema saying, 'This movie is two hours long so you're not gonna be able to have a cigarette for two hours.' And I know that was supposed to be like, 'You have to quit.' But I was just thinking, 'Oh, shit!'

CS: That's dumb, because people are just gonna go, 'Well, fuck that. I'll just go out and have a cigarette before it starts.' I always wonder about people who are addicted to smoking and go on a big overseas flight for fourteen hours or so. How do they cope? The flight that I'm getting to London is ridiculous, thirty hours or so.

J: Yea, but you usually have a stop over in Singapore.

CS: I've got a stop over in Los Angeles, I'm going the long way around.

J: Fucking hell! You're going to L.A, and then you're going to the U.K?

CS: Yea.

J: All the times I've been to the U.K I've a had a stop over in Singapore and it's been really cool because Singapore Airport is...

CS: Changi Airport is crazy, it's like a little city.

J: It is a city, you have to get buses around to different places. But the shopping is amazing.

CS: This is a good opportunity for me to segue back into fashion, 'cause last time I was at Changi Airport Singapore Fashion Week was on. And they had all of the models and stuff there.

J: That would've been awesome! Actually... It might have been depressing in a way.

CS: It was depressing, because I was getting off the plane and hadn't showered for ages. I was all gross, I don't think I had any pants on, just a tee shirt and a jacket, and I was walking around...

J: And you were just walking around with your fang dangle hanging out?

CS: No! It was a long tee shirt, it was practically a dress. So yea, there were all these models walking around and I felt really short and really fat next to them. And I don't usually think I'm short, I'm pretty tall by most standards.

J: Yea, but they're super giants.

CS: Do you think that's a bad side of fashion, how it makes people feel crappy about themselves?

J: Um... Not really. You know, I'm gonna be very politically incorrect and say I love models. There's been all that shit about the size zero models and what Victoria Beckham said and... Designers want to show their clothes in the best possible way and clothes look better on a thinner person, you want someone who's like a coat hanger to wear the clothes. I don't disagree with thin models. I know sometimes it can make you feel like shit but you've just got to look at it as...

CS: As an art form.

J: Yea, if you feel like shit when you look at a model then obviously you've got your own issues anyway. That's going to look really bad in your magazine.

CS: It's a fair point, people are always pointing at fashion magazines as a cause of eating disorders, but I think you'd have to be already vulnerable to that sort of mental illness to...

J: Well, it's not like looking at skinny models gives people eating disorders. Anorexic people who look to models for inspiration usually already have the disorder, not before.

CS: But I guess that's a way in which fashion is unique as an art form because it's something that people interact with every single day, as opposed to a painting on a wall where people can look at it and know that it's not reality but when it's clothes, the borders between fantasy and reality get taken down.

J: Yea, that's exactly it because there's a person there that they can kind of relate to. You can look at a painting and think, 'That's really really beautiful' but that doesn't get the same kind of hype as when you look at a model in a beautiful gown or something like that. It doesn't get looked at in the same way.

CS: Did you watch the Oscars?

J: Yea, I watched the Oscars. But I haven't seen all of the gowns yet, I really want to see all the gowns. But from what I saw, I was fairly disappointed.

CS: Yea, the clothes at the Oscars always kind of safe.

J: Like, ugly. Ugly ugly ugly ugly gowns. And I just fucking hate that Sandra Bullock won Best Actress. She's a shit actress! She did Miss Congeniality!

CS: She did Miss Congeniality 2, for that matter.

J: Yea, and that!

CS: But The Blind Side is totally racist. It's like Harry And the Hendersons except the monster is a black dude.

J: Really? Fuck that. I never saw it.

CS: But Carey Mulligan's dress was really cool. She was wearing this black dress that looked like it had a bunch of bead work at the front, but it was actually covered in tiny little kitchen utensils. Like, little scissors and spoons and knives and stuff.

J: That's so cute!

CS: I don't know who the designer was though, I can't remember.

J: Probably someone awesome.

CS: Probably. So... Anna said you've been doing a lot of photography lately.

J: Yea, I have been doing photography. I took a class. And I've been trying to get my skills up so I can document my work better.

CS: What are your thoughts about fashion photography? Do you think it's able to do justice to the clothes?

J: Well, I use photography as a way to document my pieces of art and I think it definitely adds something to the piece, like when you have a dress by itself it talks only of clothing. But when you photograph it, you can give it an entirely new perspective to the clothes.

CS: I think it's a good way to give it some context.

J: Yea, Exactly. Exactly. It puts it in context. When you do runway, some designers – especially for couture – change the runway, and make it completely different. Like Chanel last season, they did it in all this hay and had this big construction in the middle that they walked around...

CS: Yea, I saw that. Vivienne Westwood did the same thing didn't she? With the hay?

J: Yea.

CS: But... I didn't really like those clothes.

J: Me neither, I'm not really a fan of Chanel. But that was the best example I could think. Or, if you look at – I think it was 1999? - McQueen had that girl in the white dress?

CS: Oh, spinning around? That was Kate Moss, I think.

J: Mmmm... Was it Kate Moss?

CS: I think so. I watched the video again after I found out that he'd died.

J: Yea. Well, that just added an entirely new perspective like, you'd just had a chill breath before the walking down the runway. It's something soft and beautiful. Plus, it was a fucking awesome idea.

... This is the point where my dictaphone's battery died. Which is unfortunate because we went on to have a really serious conversation about the ethics of fashion. We really did, I swear.

Mickey Gloss on Politics

What was up with Whores cancelling their show at the Rattler last night? Having to deal with that on the same day as finding out about the passing of Haim was... tough, to say the least. Emma and I had to go and drink in Hyde Park like a couple of homeless castaways to deal with the emotions and believe me, it wasn't as glamorous and exciting as it sounds.


Anyway, I know you're all hungry for something relevant and mentally stimulating. I know you don't care about me and my inner turmoil, my increasing dependence on alcohol or decreasing sense of shame. And that's okay, I'm used to it. I'M FINE. Really. So to soothe your aforementioned existential yearn, here's my interview with Mickey Gloss' arresting front man, Daniel. We met at the Falconer on Oxford Street and talked politics. Have you been there before? It's like, waistcoat central. I kept asking stupid questions, Daniel made a salient point and then I asked another stupid question because I was blinded by all of the natty little waistcoats passing me by.

And Mickey Gloss' music is not unlike a natty little waistcoat (see what I did there?). It's timeless, with overtones of old school cool and a little bit of the blues. It's dangerous, but not so much that it turns you off entirely. So there you go, probably the dumbest musical analogy you'll ever read but it's all I've got right now.

But enough of that. Voilá ; l'interview !

Can't Sleep: What do you think the role of music is in politics? Do you think it's important?

Daniel: Yea, I think so. I think music can lead to political change, it can be a way of giving people political ideas. We (Mickey Gloss) always look in our playing to educate people about things but maybe not so much in a black and white way, because I think if you start being a preacher people kind of don't like that. I don't like that. I know people who like to be told what to do, but if you tell someone a story, or about the place where you come from, there's all these politics which involve themselves in that. I mean in the songs that I write, I kind of try to tell a story, set up places, background and stuff and there's politics in that but it's never black and white. I think music can be political, and I think the role of music in politics is valid, just as one form of expression.

CS: So do you think politics is inescapable in society?

D: Yea, I think so. Because if you think about music; it's either about sex, religion or politics and there's politics in sex, there's politics in religion, there's politics in someone telling a story. Even if you're writing about someone who broke your heart, there's politics in that. You know, you're just telling your side of the story.

CS: Do you think that politics has the ability to get us out of the mess that we're in?

D: I don't think so. I don't really think that change is the way... because the problem with politics is people. It's a great theory and stuff, but as soon as people get involved in it and try to make a decision... there's so many other factors that involve themselves in politics. There's so many different facets. Money, and you know...

CS: So you think politics is what got us into this mess, it won't get us out of it?

D: I think even if we didn't have politicians, (collapsing economies, wars etc.) would still be around, it would just be in a different way. There's always going to be good and bad in the world. People seem to love power, they just crave it.

CS: Is it human nature to just be like, “I'm the leader, you guys are the followers. This is how I'm going to run the world.”?

D: I think so. For some people. There's some people who are totally against that. But either way, if you're saying “political change” and all that, what's the alternative to a democracy? Even if you try Marxism, it's still a dictatorship. Everyone talks about these Marxist regimes, but the notion of Marxism where you've got people who all get paid the same for doing different jobs, you wouldn't have people who were musicians, you wouldn't have that... Like I'd want to say, “Oh, I'm a musician.” Who's going to say, “Hey, I'm a garbage man”, you know what I mean?

CS: Yea. It's like, every time somebody says, “I'm an artist” or “I'm a musician” or “I'm a poet”, people are always like, “Yea, but what do you do for money?” And they probably work full time at Coles or in an office or something.

D: Exactly. When people ask you what you do, they don't ask you what you actually do during the day, they want to know if you're a student, where you work, you know. All those things.

CS: What do you think, idealistically, politics' goal should be?

D: To bring people together and to help people. If we're talking about political change, that's what it should be about.

CS: Do you think a country's political system is really a reflection of the people who live in it?

D: It's a reflection of its history. If Captain Cook hadn't come to Australia when he did, then we wouldn't have the political structure that we have now, know what I mean?

CS: So if it's a reflection of country's history, where do you think it manifests itself? In the way people interacts with each other?

D: There's politics in everything. There's politics in this conversation. You know, you're the person who's recording this, later on you're going to critique what I say and that'll be based on insights that you have following the conversation. The world's never arbitrary, so to me politics is all just about vested interests. People have vested interests... so, we're a very Christian country now because that's where we came from but if you go over to countries with an Islamic state, they have totally different laws, totally different politics and totally different views on the world. And that's because of their vested interests.

CS: What do you think about the separation of church and state?

D: It doesn't exist. It's like the separation of man from emotions, it doesn't exist. We've got a huge Anglo-Saxon population in this country and I think it's (most represented) in the hegemonic discourse, and anything outside of that is a minority group. I just see that as the reality, I don't think it's a good thing, it's not something I'm happy about.

CS: Do you think religion should be separate from politics?

D: I think it should, idealistically. But it never is. We're only people, the way we've been brought up, whatever morals we've been taught, whatever culture we come from, totally influences our political views.

CS: What about money? Do you think money should be kept separate from politics or is it like religion, that it's just always going to be there?

D: It's always going to be there, but it shouldn't. Why would a company give money to whatever party is involved and then say that they expect that party to be totally arbitrary and not swing judgments in their favour?

CS: And what about the involvement of art? Do you think politics and art should stay away from each other?

D: No, I'm totally a fan of Dadaism and things like that. I think art's sort of turning into this thing where it's just all about the aesthetic, what something looks like, how it feels and stuff like like that. To me that's cool, that's fine, but you can you see how that's sort of a metaphor for the pop world where things are just pretty and shiny but they've got no substance to 'em. They don't say anything. I spend ages writing lyrics that to me reflect... I don't know, I try and have, like, three ideas in every line so it's got this kind substance about it. I think lyrically, a lot of bands don't have very much substance. But art to me, really is not about the aesthetic. If you're talking about art art, you look at it, and you either like it or you don't. You don't know why. You might want to know why, and you can spend your whole life trying to figure out this piece of work, but really...

CS: But you could say the same thing about politics, especially what's happening in America with Barack Obama, it's just about image. People fell in love with his image.

D: But who were you going to vote for if you didn't vote for him? McCain? Or Ron Paul?

CS: But again that's all about image. You know, McCain had this whole “I'm old, I'm a war veteran” thing going on...

D: And the thing about that is that Obama did win, but it wasn't a landslide. It was still pretty close in some states. He won a lot of seats, but he won by a pretty narrow margin which is scary, considering Sarah Palin and all of them. See, I don't see a difference between John Howard and Kevin Rudd. They're exactly the same, it's just a different image. The closest thing we've ever gotten to a left wing politician in Australia is Gough Whitlam. And he got fired. At the end of the day, people just worry about money, and their families and their home loans, stuff like that. That's what it seems to all boil down to. Social change, and things like that... it seems like people don't have the time or the energy to invest into things like that. Like, I live in Western Sydney, I teach in areas like Mt. Druitt and the way those kids live is ridiculous. And that's all political, people turn a blind eye to it. They build these low socio-economic housing estates in the middle of nowhere, people can't get public transport to actually go anywhere and then they expect them to get jobs? It's very hard.

--

Edit: Maybe should have mentioned this earlier, but Daniel recently moved to London so fans in the southern hemisphere probably won't be able to see Mickey Gloss play live any time soon. I know, it blows. It blows hard.