The Clink Talks Music, Philosophy And Other Nonsense With The Naked And Famous

They’ve been awarded the Philip Hall NME Radar Award and were one of the bands picked by the BBC as a Sound of 2011, and we were lucky enough to get to speak to them on their whistle-stop visit to Ireland.

The Clink talks music, philosophy and some nonsense with one of the bands of the moment, The Naked And Famous.

David Beadle, bass player from The Naked And Famous is sitting on a couch in The Button Factory waiting to speak to us. As we approach I get a strange feeling that I’ve encountered David before, it’s not until later that night when I see the band on stage that it hits me… from a short distance, David is the absolute image of Nigel Tufnel from Spinal Tap! Happily he doesn’t speak the nonsense of the Tufnel character!

The Clink: So you guys are literally just off your bus from Belfast, how was that?

TNAF: Yeah we played the Stiff Kitten last night and it was great. We never normally go out after shows, but last night we did so I’m feeling a bit depressed today!

The Clink: After Dublin you guys are off touring ’til the end of July? What will it be after that, some down time, or more work?

TNAF: Yeah, we’re doing SXSW shortly which we’ve been told will be a great experience. Then we’re off to Germany to do some shows, then we’re back off to the US to do a tour with Foals for about 5 weeks.

May is a bit of downtime-ish, but we’re also doing Fuji Rocks in Japan, so we’re kinda consistently gigging throughout the year.

In terms of recording and stuff, the nature of the music we’re able to just write on the road. So we’ll get out of the van and Thom will have written something on his computer, so we don’t have to sit in a room and jam as such, we can just email things back and forward to each other!

The Clink: Where are you off to next?

TNAF: We’re off to Newcastle in the UK.

The Clink: Where are you most looking forward to visiting on the tour.

TNAF: I think I’m most looking forward to visiting France. Also Sweden, yeah really looking forward to that, the language and the culture there seems cool and we can burn some churches!! Ha ha just kidding.

The Clink: Have you been invited to any of the Irish festivals yet? Oxegen, Electric Picnic?

TNAF: I’m not sure, but I’ve heard that Oxegen is something we should be getting excited about, but I dunno if we are gonna be playing it yet.

(On Tuesday 8th March TNAF were confirmed as one of the acts to play Oxegen 2011)

The Clink: Going back now, can you tell us a bit about your musical upbringing? Are your families muso’s? What did you listen to as kids?

TNAF: Well my mum, what she grew up listening to is what I grew up listening to. So there was lots of Tom Petty and Bob Dylan and stuff, then through High School we were listening to Tool and a lot of metal music. But I guess later we were listening to 90’s alternative stuff like Tricky, Massive Attack and the Deftones and stuff.

The Clink: The band name came from a Tricky song didn’t it?

TNAF: Yeah it’s a lyric in Tricky Kid.

The Clink: What was the first ever gig you performed?

TNAF: Mine personally was singing in a really bad metal band when I was 16 (laughs).

I wasn’t playing with TNAF at the very start but I was actually there at their EP release party. The band had been going for about a year when I joined. They had kinda done everything differently, they had recorded a single and stuff before they started gigging.

The Clink: So, it seems from the outside, maybe because you are very relaxed about it all, but it looks like it actually comes quite easy to you guys?

TNAF: Haha, it’s not that, it’s just that we’re completely ignorant! I guess an example is that the BBC Sound of 2011 thing, there’s no reference point to that in New Zealand we’re so far removed from the kinda “pop culture” thing, so it’s not until someone explains it to you that you release it’s a big deal! So it’s not that it comes easy to us it’s literally because we’re so ignorant!

Where we come from as well (The North Shore of Auckland) it’s pretty much middle class suburban so it’s impossible to be cool coming from there!

The Clink: The album (Passive Me, Aggressive You, out this Friday) is going down a storm with music fans and the likes of NME and BBC. How does that sort of recognition feel? Does it matter to you?

TNAF: It’s crazy cos my knowledge of the BBC until recently didn’t really extend beyond David Attenburgh looking at life in the undergrowth! So now that we know more it’s really exciting, it’s a great honour and it’s quite surreal. It’s awesome!

The Clink: Who writes the lyrics for the songs? I was having a look through some of the lyrics yesterday and the songs seem to be written with a sense of mystery, the word secret crops up and lines like you wouldn’t believe if you knew or bag of bones under the bed. Was there a conscious decision to write like that?

TNAF: Thom and Alissa write the lyrics, there’s the boy/girl dynamic you know so they write their own parts for the songs.

The vague references kinda come more from Alissa, she likes to write around a theme and ideas rather than a particular point. So I guess that’s where it comes from, but it’s cool because you know, it leaves it open for people to interpret.

The Clink: The song I’m liking most on the album at the minute is Girls Like You, because of the way it builds gradually. Do you have a favourite song to play?

TNAF: It constantly changes you know, it’s kinda like trying to choose your favourite kid or something! I think right now though my favourite song is Spank, it kinda changes a lot. But also Jilted Lovers kinda puts a lump in my throat when we play it too. It just depends on my mood really.

The Clink: It’s been said here in Ireland that in times of recession, people turn back to the arts and do things for love rather than money, and that that kind of thinking spawns good music. Would you agree with that, given that NZ had its own economic problems, that now there’s a resurgence of NZ bands?

TNAF: You know I’ve never thought about it like that, but it makes sense when you do think about it. But… yeah ha ha… I dunno! (long pause for thought) It’s a really interesting point, it’s like something you’d read on a philosophy blog though (laughs).

At this point David offers to send us a 2000 word essay on this, I’m waiting!

The Clink: What else is going on in NZ music? Can you guys recommend some bands that maybe we won’t be aware of?

TNAF: There’s about 2 bands from each genre that you could listen to! But in terms of a band that are anything like us, there’s a band called Kids Of 88, they’re an amazingly talented group of people. They’ve just released a new EP a few weeks ago, which is excellent.

The Clink: I was talking to a friend in the pub the other night about speaking to you guys and I said what should I ask them, and he said ask them why people in NZ are such bad dancers!! Do you think this is true? Will your audiences see you busting a few moves at your gigs?

TNAF: Ha ha, apparently when I dance my friends tell me a look like a solo mum having a really awesome night!! (lots of laughter!)

The Clink: My The Clink colleague Bríd likes to shout out at bands in between songs at gigs (in appreciation of course). Have you ever had any fans shout random stuff out at you?

TNAF: Nah, there’s been no shouting, but we did have some people crowd surfing at this really tiny venue which was pretty funny. Oh yeah and someone accidently, well I hope it was accidently, hit me on the head with a bottle of water. Apparently they got very excited and just through their drink up in the air and it hit me.

The Clink: We put out a couple of tunes every weekend, one we call Weekend Tunage (we send it out on a Friday afternoon to help people kick start their weekend). The other is a more chilled out Sunday afternoon slot. What’s your ultimate kick start the weekend tune and your most chilled Sunday sound?

TNAF: Are you gonna put this on the blog for people to listen to?!

The Clink: Yep.

TNAF: (rather sheepishly) Probably American Bad Ass by Kid Rock.

The Clink: Maybe we won’t put that on the blog (lots of laughing).

TNAF: Sunday I would listen to Sorrow by The National. No, no no, it would be Into My Arms by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds.

The Clink: Finally, for a bit of fun and to test your knowledge of Ireland we have a little quiz for you.

What would you do with Boxty? TNAF: A what now!? Hmmm, drink it!

Where would you find Skibereen? TNAF: In the vegetable section at the Supermarket!!

Who or what is Planxsty? TNAF: Something that you would find on a boat!

If Ireland sank what would be the only city that stayed afloat? TNAF: Sea float city!? Wouldn’t everything sink?

The Clink: The answer is Cork!

So that was it, our little chat with David was fun. Massive thanks to David  for his time, we totally enjoyed the gig on Saturday night too. Here’s hoping to see them back in Ireland in the Summer, but in the meantime get your copy of Passive Me, Aggressive You on Friday and turn it up to 11!

If you weren’t at the gig on Saturday night, here’s a little bit of what you missed.

The Naked And Famous – Young Blood Live at The Button Factory