They’ve captivated audiences at some of the world’s biggest festivals like Glastonbury and The Amsterdam Dance Event – and warmed up for the likes of Kasabian and PNAU. And now, The Slips are starting their own love affair with Australia – collaborating with acts such as Phrase, Kimbra and Faker.
Music Feeds chats to the band as they prepare to bring their high-voltage live show to our shores in February.
Music Feeds: Excited to be coming back and tearing up dance floors in Australia?
The Slips: Can’t wait, you guys know how to party! Our last Sydney show was our best yet, so we already have amazing memories playing here.
MF: Any memories of the country previously?
S: Quad bike trials, great home cooking, and four walls of a Studio. Our last time here was mostly spent in a recording studio a few hours out of Sydney. It was awesome though, they had a quad bike and a course where we’d do timed laps, a swimming pool big enough for half of Sydney and the best chef in the world. It’s surprising we actually got any work done.
MF: What can we expect from your shows? Apparently you’ve got a pretty full-on setup?
S: We always wanted to make our show as live as possible for a dance act so we’ve bought in Jimmy Cooper on drums and also have guitars, keyboards, vocals and sample triggers running live too. Our MacBook Pros both run Ableton so it can become a bit of a technical nightmare sometimes trying to get everything to sync up, but hopefully the result is great dance music with a live look and feel.
MF: You’ve remixed the likes of Kylie and previously collaborated with Phrase – what is it like playing around with tunes by Australian artists?
S: There are some amazingly talented artists here. We love getting the opportunity of putting our own style to the other artists like Kylie, Flight Facilities and Kimbra. Normally we just take the vocal parts and build a new track underneath these – it’s always fun not knowing what you’re going to end up with. We’re hoping to do lots more Aussie artists this year so keep an eye out on our soundcloud and website.
MF: If you had the chance to remix a track by your favourite artist – which one would it be and why?
S: We’ve actually just finished a remix for Yuksek who’s definitely up there as we’ve been big fans for years. We saw him play at Field Day this year and was blown away with his set. We also recently completed a Bjork remix that proved interesting. The song is in a 17/8 time signature so it certainly messed with our heads a bit! But we’re really pleased with how it turned out and hopefully we’ve done her genius justice.
MF: Finally, what are your plans and goals for the rest of 2012?
S: We have a single due out on EMI soon and are working towards an album this year. We’re also concentrating heavily on live and DJ performances. We’ve found the audiences are always so positive to live music here, so we’re excited to get out on tour and hit a few festivals.
The Slips play Upstairs Beresford Saturday, February 11th
