This article first appeared on The AU Review
It’s been a while between releases for Miami Horror. Fans of the band will say it’s been an age, looking back on the 2010 hit Illumination with fond memories of a summer well spent, wondering where the time went. But with a new full length short on the horizon and the new single “Wild Motion (Set It Free)” already pegged to be yet another summer favourite, we had a chat with Benjamin Plant about where the time went, eighties love and the upcoming Australian tour.
It’s been roughly about three years since the release of Illumination, and from the sounds of it you guys have put a lot of yourselves into the upcoming release. You must be looking forward to finally having it out there?
Definitely. Heaps of things have changed and we’ve also done a lot of other things as well, so it’s kind of weird. We put an album out as Wunder Wunder. Josh has done his All The Colours album and now we’re finally getting to release this. So really, there’s no celebratory moment until that comes out.
Definitely, and what will you be doing to celebrate when it does finally hit?
Um, I made a joke that somebody better line up about seven boards for me to kick through. It’s like, I need a release, you know?
I’m sure that would do it. So you guys are living in LA at the moment. How did the relocation to California affect the songwriting process?
It’s played a huge role, I think. We wanted to go purely for inspirations sake and a change. You know, something to get us motivated and be more creative. That definitely happened. Although it wasn’t intentional, the fact that we were over there and not part of the Australian scene – it’s like we were able to try to find our own space and sound. Los Angeles, being so sunny and being so weird really kind of inspired us to just naturally embrace it. So I think it shows in a lot of the music that comes out of there like Classixx and Goldroom. Bag Raiders are living there now and their music definitely suits.
The new single “Wild Motion (Set It Free)” is the third to be released ahead of the album coming out later this year. Can you tell us a bit more about the single?
Well it’s one of the oldest songs on the album. The original intention was it to play more into an LCD Soundsystem kind of world, but we of course wanted to keep it upbeat. Probably the biggest influence on that was the early 80’s kind of post-disco. Bands like Talking Heads, INXS and Split Enz, who were incorporating disco elements. We were trying to explore that world where it was more of a band version of disco and 80’s.
You mentioned Talking Heads, and I might be reading into it a bit too much; but is that a cheeky nod to “This Must Be The Place” in the second verse [of "Wild Motion"]?
It definitely is.
Brilliant. I also noticed the film clip had what I thought was a bit of a David Byrne influence on it too?
Yeah, well I feel like that kind of visual – hand drawn, fun, colourful – somehow ties into that era even though if you look at all the Talking Heads artwork they don’t quite have that. It was more of a perception of what seems to suit that music. In some ways it’s a bit 90’s as well, like you see in Ken Done or Keith Harring kind of paintings. So we tried to incorporate that and merge it with the Talking Heads world a bit. A lot of people don’t see the reference purely because the song isn’t ‘out there’ Talking Heads.
Yeah, there’s definitely elements of it in there. Although I think Miami Horror feat. David Byrne would be a top collaboration.
It would be, I’d imagine he’s pretty hard to get a hold of.
For sure. I guess we should get in to the exciting news as well. You guys are back in Australia now with a tour kicking off September 16th in Brisbane. Are you keen to get the shows started?
Yeah, I almost wish we had a little bit more time. I just went and saw Client Liaison at Billboard on 170 Russell St [Melbourne]. That’s a venue we’re playing. It’s a pretty good venue, in terms of live music and they pulled off a really great show. So yeah, we really want to make sure we step it up this time to kind of suit the venue. We’re pretty excited, we’ve done a lot of new things to get everything working really well and sounding tighter.
It’s the second headlining tour in Australia this year – and since 2011. So what are you bringing to the shows these days that you didn’t have back then, besides the new tracks?
I’m not sure if it will be ready, but we’re trying to build a really interesting live show with some projection mapping and that kind of thing. Using a lot of lines and visuals like hand drawn images, shapes and primary colours, and then using projectors to map it onto simple objects and shapes as well as the lighting show. Nothing too over the top, but something to bring that visual scene back to tie in with all the artwork we’re doing at the moment.
Outside of the originals, I know you’ve released some pretty iconic remixes in the past under the moniker of Miami Horror. Are there any tracks from 2014 you’ve had your eye on to give the treatment?
That’s something I really am going to get on top of as soon as the album is 100% locked away, because we haven’t done that for so long. I think that’s a good way of showing everybody where we’re at currently, because remixes can show a lot more than originals. Originals have to be classic and lasting and I’ve really tried to avoid trends with the originals, but with the remixes you can make something that can be played for now in a club or that kind of thing. So hopefully, in the next few months.
Cool, alright well can’t wait to have you guys back. Is there anything you want to give the Australian audiences a heads up about ahead of the tour; have you got any black tie dress codes planned or BYO beach ball parties planned for any of the shows?
Ha, well it’s funny, because we always did have those kind of things, almost. Yeah we’re trying to come up with a new vision or look overall really. Still haven’t decided yet, so it’s gonna be a surprise.
*****
Miami Horror’s tour in support of “Wild Motion (Set It Free)” kicks off in mid September. Tickets are on sale now for the following dates:
Tuesday, 16 September: Brisbane – Spiegeltent, Brisbane Festival
Thursday, 18 September: Canberra – Zierholz
Friday, 19 September: Sydney – Oxford Art Factory
Saturday, 20 September: Coffs Harbour – Plantation Hotel
Thursday, 25 September: Adelaide – Fowlers
Friday, 26 September: Melbourne – 170 Russell
Saturday, 27 September: Karratha – Red Earth Arts Festival
Sunday, 28 September: Fremantle – Newport Hotel