Heading to Australia for the first time, UK indie rockers White Lies are excited to visit our fine shores, not only to soak up our sun and surf, but to move their Aussie fans - emotionally, that is.
yourgGigs: (yG) So this is your first time in Australia, do you plan on doing any sightseeing on your days off?
Charles Cave (CC): If we have any time we will definitely go sightseeing! It's my first time in Australia and I'm really excited to see as much of the country as I can in the time we have there. Unfortunately as a touring band we very rarely get to spend very much time in the places we play but when we're somewhere new we will make a big effort to get up early or stay up late and explore.
yG: What can Australian audiences expect from a White Lies set?
CC: I think a lot of people who don't know our music so well probably think it's depressing but I don't think this is the case. I find it very uplifting and I think that this is especially apparent in the live show, especially if we're playing during the day in the hot sun. I hope people leave the show feeling uplifted but moved emotionally as well; that's what we are constantly striving for with our music and our performance.
yG: You've played some massive UK festivals and are playing Splendour in the Grass while out here, do you prefer playing the festival circuit or your own individual shows?
CC: They're both cool for different reasons. The festival shows are good fun 'cause there will usually be loads of people down to see you play. Whether they're fans or people who are new to our music ... everyone is there to have a good time and it's exciting to play to a much bigger audience than you would normally in a place you've never played before. The club headline shows are great too though; in the UK we're just starting to play in some slightly bigger venues and it's good fun to up the production a little bit and play to a large audience of your proper fans, but the small club shows we play in the rest of the world are cool too 'cause they're intimate and you can really react to an audience when you're so close to them in the same way that they react to you.
yG: Your subject matter tends to be quite dark, is this a conscious effort or is White Lies more of an outlet for whatever's on your mind?
CC: The lyrics are based loosely on personal experience but I think the songs are more about feelings and emotion that everyone, no matter what age, has experienced at some point in their lives. The reason we write music about that subject matter is 'cause we find it very easy to connect with it emotionally and build up songs and sounds around that. I find singing White Lies songs very therapeutic getting all those feelings and emotions of my chest, it makes me a very happy person in life, apologies if that sounds cheesy!
yG: Who would you like to collaborate with in the future?
CC: I love getting remixes done and when you get a remix like the one Crystal Castles or M83 did for us ... it feels like a collaboration 'cause they've made the song a middle ground between their music and yours. I would love to hear remixes done by two of my favourite electronic musicians Plastikman and Surgeon. I also love Bjork and I'm very jealous of people who get to work with her, I would love to do that!
yG: Who would you say are some of your biggest musical inspirations?
CC: Personally I grew up on Queens of the Stone Age, I think Josh Homme is a fantastic songwriter and musician and I love the style and originality of the sound of the records; they're also great live. When we were growing up as a band we listened to a lot of Talking Heads and they were the band that showed us you could do something very different with the sound and structure of your songs but still make them accessible as pop songs. [The] Secret Machines' first record was also important for all of us when we started White Lies and we still regard it as one of our favourite albums ever.
yG: What's a sure-fire cure for writer's block?
CC: Give yourself a time limit on your writing an album or a collection of songs of say, two months. That's what we're planning to do for our next record. I think it's important to do because it means that you don't dwell and focus on things in the songs that aren't important. At the same time though it's important not to force it so if your finding it tough take a break and watch some TV or play video games or something for a bit, then when you come back to it it'll be easy to figure out what the right thing to do is.
yG: What's the weirdest thing that has happened to you while on the road or playing a show?
CC: We say the same thing when we answer this question: the strangest thing that I think can happen to you as a band is playing in Japan. The culture and people there are so different to the Western world; the fans are also crazily obsessive and dedicated to your music, which is both strange and overwhelming!
Alex Hahn
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