I t’s been a mere twelve months since Art vs Science boys formed. A friend asked them to play at their night in Sydney. They agreed and proceeded to write seven songs in 48 hours, including Flippers, the song triple j flogged harder then a disobedient mule.
“We started jamming for Art vs Science in February last year. We didn’t have any specific songs, we had a loose idea for a few tracks, and our mate asked us to play. We weren’t ready but we said yes; wrote seven songs in 48 hours. We tend to work well under pressure.”
Now there is working well under pressure, and there is writing seven tracks in two days. The latter requires a mixture of dedication, determination and chemical enhancements.
The infectious sound of Art vs Science had triple j salivating at the mouth. They placed Flippers on high rotation, set up the band with a slot at Splendor and probably gave them enough gold bullion to make any Swiss banker ruin their 1000 thread count Egyptian cotton boxe.
“It certainly made the band — that whole experience; we were overwhelmed by the response to us, to Flipper and now to Hollywood again.”
“Splendor was insane: it was good being on the stage as opposed to being a punter watching,” Dan tells me in the tone of a giddy teenager discovering porn for the first time. “It was midday on the first day, and I figured no one would be there, but at the start it was about 500 people, then by the end of the set it was 4000. Fucking crazy at midday!”
It’s easy to tell why crowds love these boys. Their music is laced with happiness: it’s addictive, plus their live shows involve inflatable penguins.
“Yeah they come up on stage with us. We have a whole new batch, they tend to get injured and head for early retirement, but the original was Hector. He’s no longer with us, he is lying somewhere in a garage in Darlinghurst.”
I fondly appreciate what Hector is going through; sounds eerily similar to my Friday night.
But the boys aren’t interested in stories about my alcohol poisoning; they’d prefer to talk about touring with The Living End.
“The tour with Living End and The Grates will be amazing; Townsville, Maitland; just touring to promote the EP. I can’t remember all the shows for that tour, but I know we’re playing Oxford Arts in Sydney, and we always have good shows there.”
Now it would be down right silly to tour without plugging a CD of sorts, and the band knew this. So luckily they’re wrapping up their EP, which was recorded at Big Jesus Burger studios in Surry Hills.
They banged out the recording in one day; more proof they like to wrap things up quickly, just ask their girlfriends! Snap.
“We recorded it all in one day, in one session, one mad day; locked ourselves in, with a lot of coffee and a lot of wine. We were set up in a room: it was all very minimal, no metronomes; just the producer screaming at us till we got it right.”
“We expected to use programmed drums, but we got told to use live drums and it sounds much better. It was all a bit weird; it sounded strange and wonderful; the place looked like a meth lab gone wrong.”
Dan tells me the band is positively beaming about playing My Filthy Riot, a cesspool of sound, sweat and booze.
“That’ll be great, fifty other bands, The Annandale split up into thirds, it’ll be fun”
I agree, Art vs Science headlining, fifty other musical peers, in the most historical live music venue in Sydney, I’m excited in my pants.
However the excitement isn’t just limited to my pants. The internet is abuzz, with one cyber critic describing their music as, ‘Music for the Recession.’
I tell Dan this, and he seems happy. “Music for the recession, that’s great. That is just wonderful. Well that’s why we made songs available for free download on the net; no one’s got any money.”
How thoughtful. Keep a look out for the debut EP!
