HOW WAS ODESZA CREATED?
Harrison: We met at Western Washington University in Bellingham. I was studying design and new media and Clay was studying physics. We met through a mutual friend and started making music together right after that. We each had our solo projects throughout college, but didn’t meet until our senior year.
TELL US ABOUT THE WORKING DYNAMIC BETWEEN YOU GUYS?
Clay: I tend to enjoy more of the technical side of things, possibly from studying science. Harrison tends to be more on the artistic side because of his art background, but we each contribute equally to the music, and it’s not as formulaic as it might sound.
Credit:
WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF A LIVE SET THAT YOU MAY NOT NECESSARILY EXPERIENCE IN A STUDIO?
Harrison: The crowd reaction is really gratifying – seeing these songs you created in your basement having an impact on people. The live show is also a lot different from our studio albums. A lot of what we are playing live are remixed versions of our own songs. We like to make cohesive headphone albums, and we learned early on that doesn’t always translate well to a live show. It’s a different world so we treat is as such.
HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO COLLABORATE WITH OTHER ARTISTS?
Clay: It can be helpful for songwriting. Sometimes we’ll send out a track for an artist to record vocals, and we’ll take their vocal track, throw out the original demo we sent, and build an entire new song around the vocals. That’s happened a few times. When we collaborate with an artist, it’s almost always with us working separately. It’s a lot easier to work that way, plus everyone gets to work in the space where they’re most comfortable.
HOW DO YOU GUYS RATE THE AUSSIE MUSIC SCENE?
H: We love the Australian music scene, there are a lot of amazing artists here that are also great people. It’s always a highlight of our year to come down over and see all our friends. Golden Features and Hayden James were two of the first people we met in Australia, and our first show was opening for RÜFÜS. All of those guys are now close friends of ours.
WHICH AUSSIE ACTS ARE YOU VIBING ON THE MOST AT THE MOMENT?
C: Currents is an instant classic, Kevin Parker is definitely an inspiration. We put the new RÜFÜS album Bloom out in North America on our label Foreign Family Collective, that was a huge highlight for us. And of course Hayden James is an amazing musician, and a very humble and kind human.
WHAT’S BEEN THE MOST EMBARRASSING LIVE-SHOW SITCH YOU’VE EXPERIENCED?
C: That’s got to be the sex-on-the-speaker story, from one of our first tours in Montana. It’s well documented*.
CAREER HIGHLIGHT?
C: There are a lot of highlights, but playing Sasquatch Festival (in our home state) for the first time was a big deal for us. I remember thinking that if Odesza ended tomorrow, I’d be ok with that because we got to play Sasquatch.
Sasquatch Fezzy, held at the bloody beautiful Gorge Amphitheatre ^^^
CAREER LOWLIGHT?
C: No real specific lowlights, but we’re away from home a lot which can be tough. Family is really important for us, so we try to make time for family and friends when we’re home.
YOU’RE OBVIOUSLY KILLING IT IN YOUR INDUSTRY, BUT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE KILLING IT?
H: We have a good group of friends around us on tour, so even though the venues have gotten bigger, it still kind of feels like we’re the same band from 2012.
CURRENT INSPO?
H: New Moderat album.
CURRENT STATE OF MIND?
C: Excited – for a couple days off of exploring [Australia].
LASTLY, CAN YOU TRY USE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING AUSSIE SLANG WORDS IN A SENTENCE? GOON SACK/FROTH/BUDGIE SMUGGLER
Froth: Ah the suns out, I’m frothing. I’m going for a swim.
While Odesza sold out a shit load of shows around the country, there are still a coupla chances to get your groove on at what is an absolute phenom live show. Grab your tickets below!
Fri May 6 @ Metro City, Northbridge, WA | Buy tix HERE!
Sat May 7 @ Groovin The Moo, Bunbury | Buy tix HERE!
