INTERVIEW: Enerate

ENERATE are a four piece indie pop band based in Sydney. With their pre-release single 'Unstoppable' peaking at number 3 in the Triple J Unearthed Indie Charts and the fun filled video clip making its debut on Rage, it's obvious that there are only big things to come for ENERATE.

Before their upcoming show in Sydney, lead singer Josh Graham took some time out of his busy schedule to have a chat with us.

Can you tell us a bit about how Enerate first began?

Enerate first began as a solo project when I moved from the Blue Mountains to Glebe in Sydney a couple of years ago. I started pursuing a new sound by playing with synths and sample based stuff. I put down a 10 track demo and I soon realised I wanted to make it a band project. I knew our bassist Matt Niciak from around the Mountains. He was from a funk background and could really play the bass. We once went head to head as rival bands in the final of a Blue Mountains band competition! I met Therese Watson (synths/samples) years ago through an ex-girlfriend and we got on really well and used to meet up and talk music. We actually met our man on drums Ben Fitzpatrick through the street press. We'd been auditioning drummers for a while, but once we got the four of us in a room together, we knew it was on. Soy lattes all round.

What was it like to have your music featured in promotional advertisements for MTV Australia last year?

We were so stoked to be a part of that campaign. MTV were working with the NSW tourism board, promoting NSW as a destination for young people. It was great. It really made me appreciate the spectacular part of the world we live in. One segment in the series was a feature on the Blue Mountains. It was quite a proud moment really, seeing our music as the soundtrack to these shots of the places I grew up in. It was surreal and homely.

Your latest single 'Unstoppable' was recently screened on Rage amongst a pretty impressive list of tracks by Bloc Party, Grizzly Bear, Flume and Tame Impala. Were you aware that this was going to happen or did it come as a big surprise?

(Laughs) It was a massive surprise. I was having a lovely Friday night, just a quiet one. I was waiting for my girlfriend to finish work and I was at home listening to Father John Misty's 'Fear Fun' on vinyl. Therese and her friend were texting me inappropriate photos of Spanish doughnuts with funny captions. Out of nowhere, the following text read "Apparently we're on Rage." 10 seconds later my good mate calls me and was just like "Dude…what the fuck…You were just on TV man, and Nick was wearing a crab costume. What the fuck man?".

I couldn't believe it. I grew up watching Rage with my friends, always talking shit about how I would have a clip on the show one day. And then it just happened. I ran to the television at which point I realised I don't own the cord that goes from the telly to the aerial socket. Shortly after I read the playlist and just saw our track in amongst some of our favourite artists. It was just one of those moments.

The film clip, as well as the electronic sounds in the song both seem to be heavily influenced by vintage computer games. Did you have an obsession with these games as a kid? What were your favourites?

I remember playing Alex Kidd at a friend's house in primary school. He used to collect rocks and play Sega Master System. When I was over I preferred Master System. I've always had a love for those 2D platform games. They were the only type of games I played. I couldn't be arsed with shoot 'em ups or sports games. Then came Mario Bros - I guess I like pixelated little characters bumping their heads on boxes in exchange for golden coins. This pretty much inspired the 'Unstoppable' clip. I always loved how the music changed into an "underwater remix" of the song when you entered a water level. Oh, and a few years later Crash Bandicoot. I love Crash Bandicoot. Recently a friend and I started having "Crash Mash" nights, where we play Crash Bandicoot 1 and drink sour mash Bourbon. I was always drawn to the colours and sounds that came out of those early video games. Without a doubt it would have been my first encounter with electronic music.

In the video we also see you and the other band members swimming in the ocean, which appears to be fairly rough. What was the filming process like for this and where was it shot?

Oh god! It. Was. Cold. We shot the clip over two days. It was meant to be one. The first shoot was on the Northern Beaches, and the shot of us jumping into the ocean was relying on one red flare to light the shot as we'd gone way over time. It was past midnight and pitch black. When director Andrew Cameron got the rushes back, I remember he called me and was like "we've got a bit of a problem". We had to re-shoot the water scene at Gordon's Bay with a call time of 4:30am, in the middle of god damn winter. We wandered down to the ocean and the waves were HUGE. We were meant to jump off this rock into the icy depths but it would've been death that morning, so we went around to the Clovelly pools. By this time the sun was starting to surface and there were lots of neatly tracksuited women jogging and dog walking around the shoot. Meanwhile we'd illegally lit 8 marine flares by the seaside. We eventually got the shot we wanted after a close call with a dog thinking we were playing 'fetch the ridiculously bright stick emitting red smoke.'

The scene where we come up for air seemed to take forever to shoot. The water was chokingly cold. The poor director and DoP were in the ocean as well. I have never, ever been so cold. Later that day the news reported that it was the most unseasonably cold August day in Sydney since 1972. I promptly got very sick for our tour the following week.

What bands would you say have inspired the sound of Enerate?

We call ourselves an acoustic synthpop band. I think our sound has come from taking bits and pieces from all our favourite genres and making them fit together. One of them would be the acoustic guitar sound from folk music. I grew up with Neil Young constantly on my parents stereo. He's one of my favourite songwriters ever. We all love a bit of slick hip hop production - your Kanye, old Jay-Z etc. Whenever the band are in the car together, there's a lot of rap music. I think it's really influenced the drums and samples side of Enerate. Synth and production wise, I think we're constantly being influenced by what's going on in the current scene, with producers like Joseph Mount from Metronomy and more locally, Jonti. We all love Gorillaz as well, the music, the whole concept really. Damon Albarn has been a huge personal influence on my writing, through both Blur and Gorillaz and the many other projects he's worked on over the years.

Later this year we will see the release of your debut release 'Good Times Airlines'. What is the meaning behind the title and how far away is the EP from being complete?

The first songs for 'Good Times Airlines' were written at a point in my life when I was living far, far away from someone that meant a great deal to me. There were lots of airport goodbyes, overpriced news agencies and drinking at airport bars. It was weird, it was kind of like I had two homes and I had to readjust every time I went back and forth. It was on again, off again and the whole experience was pretty intense. There were great times and hard times. Good Times Airlines just seemed to sum up the whole situation. We plan to drop our second single before we release the EP later in the year.

What has been your most memorable gig up until this point and why?

I would have to say a show we played at The Gasometer in Melbourne. It was mid way through our first tour and I had finally got over my "video clip chest infection". It was just one of those surreal moments where you stop and look around and it's like holy fuck, we're actually doing this thing. We're travelling across the country playing music to people. We were on a high after playing a great set to a small, but very enthusiastic crowd. It was amazing. This one guy in the crowd had seen the 'Unstoppable' clip and started doing the crab dance from the last scene, then the whole crowd started doing it.

We learnt a lot about each other on our first tour with the four of us packed into a Jeep. With our earnings from that night, once we paid the sound guy, we were left with just enough money to buy one pint of beer between all four of us. It was great. The night peaked with an impromptu mini street dance party on Smith St to R.Kelly's 'Igintion'. Matt performed a striptease on the bonnet of a cab. The cabbie was surprisingly into it. It was memorable. (Laughs)

On February 22 you're playing at Oxford Art Factory in Sydney to support 'Unstoppable'. Is there anything special you will adding to this show to celebrate the release?

We are indeed! We're looking into making this show a little more visual. I don't want to give away too much though! It should be an ace show. We're playing with some great up and coming bands, our mates Jakarta Criers, Archers, The Hungry Mile, The Ruminators, and Lovers Jump Creek. It should be a cracker! It's free entry and apparently there will be free drinks I hear? Yeowww!

Words by Tony Kingston

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