Hi there Collarbones. Please tell us your name, your role within the duo and your favourite new release this year.
Travis: I’m Travis Cook and I handle the drug running and human trafficking side of Collarbones. Actually, I should be honest with you. Within certain circles I am known as “the sound warlock”. My favourite releases this year thus far are “Absence” by Snowman and “Thee Physical” by Pictureplane.
Marcus: I’m Marcus Whale and I sing/make beats/cook meth. I realised tonight how much i liked “Underneath the Pine” by Toro y Moi. Also the new Guerre EP and Oscar + Martin’s album.
How did Collarbones come about?
Travis: The information superhighway. Bridging geographical gaps since 4evr.Marcus: www.afterthepostrock.com
How would you describe your sound?
Travis: In an old interview I described Collarbones as “what it sounds like when you stick a second-hand Rihanna CD into your stereo and it skips every now and again. You’re not sure whether you like it or not”. That tired simile is okay, except now maybe there are a couple of other CDs battling for supremacy in the disc changer. Instead of skipping, the CDs melt together and morph into a hologram of JonBenet Ramsey’s disembodied head.
Marcus: We’re between albums so I’m a bit confused about it to be honest. Most people hear music we made over a year ago and since then a lot of things have changed. I sing with a white boy’s cutesy take on R’n’B these days.
You’ve been touring almost consistently since early 2010, supporting acts like Guineafowl and Ghoul. What has been your favourite show been so far?
Travis: Our “Iconography” launch tour was really fun. In Sydney, there was a technical problem and we were entirely lacking treble for half of our set, but people compensated by singing along and being enthusiastic. Playing with bands like Ghoul and Oscar + Martin is always great. We also supported Architecture in Helsinki in Adelaide, they were very nice and put on a very tight show.
Marcus: Playing with Guineafowl in Adelaide was truly spectacular, for us and for all six of our audience members. I also had a swell time six months earlier at the same venue when I got sick for several hours, barfing all over the Pancake Kitchen in the wee hours, having to get a plane at 6am that morning.
What inspires you musically or otherwise?
Travis: I am currently inspired by the 90s rave group Bizarre Inc, the film The Craft, holographic yin yang symbols, and the actresses Louise Brooks and Molly Ringwald. If you want a regularly updated stream of my inspirations you could check out my Tumblr <http://iwontallowit.tumblr.com>
Marcus: River Phoenix, Corey Haim, Brad Renfro.
Your Tiger Beats mixtape includes covers of Justin Bieber and Destiny’s Child. Is pop music a big influence for you guys?
Travis: The line between the mainstream and the esoteric is very blurred in my eyes. It’s on the same level. Everything is grey and everything has merit in some form or another. I need to absorb and plunder everything so I don’t feel trapped or limited.
Marcus: Yes
Tell us a little bit about your latest release “Iconography”?
Travis: We pieced it together over the internet using file sharing before we had played three shows. As a result, it isn’t particularly representative of our live show. A lot of “Iconography” is also fairly ambient and glitchy at points. I think with our future output we plan to use some poppier song structures and leave some of the glitchy aspects for the live show.
Marcus: Iconography I think had some interesting conceptual intentions that unfortunately no-one besides me comprehends, and was put together in a bit of a patchwork way, before and during when we came to terms with what we were supposed to sound like. There could be a cuteness to that. Earnestness maybe. The lyrics are quite opaque on the whole, but are about my/others’ desire to/inability to live up to my/others’ imaginary constructs of me/others. Thus iconography, I guess..
I’ve realised I’m fairly obsessed with fantasy. One day last week, I spent all day in bed watching River Phoenix movies and reading biographies of him and losing myself within all of it. The next album is looking, lyrically, to become a little bit of a construction of a particular fantasy, which is in a sense what all the tracks on Iconography were trying to achieve within themselves. They’re all primarily meant to be about these colossal images/archetypes (the ‘Don Juan’ for instance) that approximate reality, and perhaps because of this, become elevated in a way that I think makes them more beautiful than life.
If Collarbones was a dessert what would it be and why?
Travis: Something sensual like a sorbet or fondue being bashed and mugged by something manly and imposing like a Maxibon. Masculine vs. feminine. Gentle vs. harsh. Deep.
For those who haven’t seen your live set what can they expect of a Collarbones show?
Travis: A party. A party where if you don’t dance, you’ll get humped. If you do dance, you’ll also get humped. Bill Murray described our show as “delightfully debaucherous”.
Any shows coming up?
11th August - The Workers Club, Melbourne (with Brothers Hand Mirror, Guerre, Franco Cozzo)
12th August - Good God, Sydney (supporting Donny Benet with Kirin J Callinan)
4th September - Tone, Sydney (Eastern Aquarium)
Thanks for your time boys, any last words or shout outs?
Travis: Shouts out to Caspar Smyth, Rory Culkin, Nardwuar, Elijah Wood and The Based God. Keep on rockin’ in the free world.
