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Molek FMVan She
Interview Wendy Wong
Image Heineken Music
Signed to Modular Recordings, Van She’s 80s style post punk electro-shoegaze funk sound is the freshest thing to come out of Sydney since Aussie’s Next Top Model only Van She with their perfectly coiffed moustaches are way better looking. Releasing their self-titled debut EP in ’05 and their debut album V just this year, it’s their upfront Van She Remix work for the Klaxons (Gravity’s Rainbow), Feist (1234), The Presents Are You The One? and New Young Pony Club Ice Cream among a long list of other cool cuts that have clocked you round the ears and given your drums a beating. Comprising of Michael Di Francesco on synths, Nick Routledge on guitar and vocals, Matt Van Schie on bass and Tomek Archer on drums, Van Shee are headed this way for Heineken Green Room and they are going live, bay-bee. JUICE got on the cellular with Michael and made a new friend. Bless…
First up, describe the Van She Sound.
Our sound is mostly influenced by the 70s and 80s, it’s more like a mix of retro and modern. We use a lot of old sounds and we try to make it new and refreshing and with it.
We dig the moustaches but what do you look like as a group.
Because we’re doing the tour we wanted something very high school and nostalgic, we got some jackets made and it’s all look-alike with the letter V, so yeah matching jackets…. We like to look like a team, it’s pretty cool.
We know Australia is a big country, but how big is the music scene?
Yeah it’s really healthy at the moment, right now live music in Australia has a lot of fusion of live and electronic music that kinda replaced pop rock. It’s more mainstream now and a lot of good bands are coming out of Australia at the moment. So yeah, it’s very exciting.
You guys have been described as New Wave. If you could bring back a look from the 80’s what would it be?
Erm, New Wave. I’d most probably bring back the big hair and spandex. The thing is that when you look back at those really cool advertisements or movies from the 80s, the fashion is amazing! But the thing is, whenever you try and find something like that, it’s really hard to find something that doesn’t look satirical.
Ever met any of your musical heroes?
Oh yeah! We met Daft Punk, Snoop, Jamie Lidell, who else … George Duke. It’s amazing when you meet people that you’ve always admired and they turn out to be really nice people as well.
Tell us more about your bandmates and what you like and loathe about each of them.
I like everything about all of them. (Laughs) Yeah I know I sound diplomatic but the thing is, we spend so much time together, we see each other all the time and each of us hangs with everyone’s families and girlfriends. We’re basically like a big family. And the entire time that we spend together, we get along really really well.
How’s touring and how do you keep it together?
Waiting in an airport with only 2 hours of sleep, feeling detached and tired, you’ve gotta find humor in those things. If you can’t find humor in the depressing parts of life it’s just gonna go downhill so basically we just have fun.
Year end is coming up. What are your plans?
Oh yeah, we’re coming to Malaysia, we’re going to Japan, and then Europe and after we come back from Europe, thank god we’re gonna have a couple weeks of holiday ’cause this has probably been the busiest year for us. So yeah, we’re looking forward to have a blast at the end of the year and hopefully early next year we can start recording another album because music is what we love to do.
Van She are set to kick up a live storm at Zouk’s all new Mainroom for Heineken Green Room on Saturday 1 November. It’s by invitation only, so log onto www.heineken.com.my and get thee to that gig.