Hot on the heels of their debut album release, Sydney indie-dance-bros, RÜFÜS are getting set for their international tour and doing the same thing they do every night – try to take over the world! Presently, thanks to Red Bull and Big Day Out, there exists a competition to go on the BDO national tour with RÜFÜS (+ bring along a m8) and probably get up to all manner of no good. So, if you are keen to chill with the lads, head on to the Red Bull Roadie site.
Otherwise, they’ve been working with Red Bull for the past two years and are just about to get all up inside their global studio network (Red Bull Studios) as they continue to expand internationally, which we just asked them all about in our Q&A. Read on for our chat and to see ‘behind the scenes’ shots from their 2014 photo shoot with Sydney photographer Angelo Kehagias:
What has the reaction to ‘Atlas’ been like internationally?
We’ve only released ‘Atlas’ in Australia but the response has been way more amazing than we’d ever imagined. It’s really cool that some of the feelings and images people are getting from the album are exactly what we had in mind at the start of the writing process. We’ve just signed a deal to release the album via a very big label in the U.S/U.K etc, so that’s pretty exciting. It should be out in May (2014) overseas.
Any intense/amazing fan interaction stories you can share?
There have been a few. One time Jon got attacked by an audience member who ran on stage with a can of beer and smacked it over his head while we were playing Desert Night. I’d like to say it was a sign of intense affection but he was probably just in the future and attempting target practice.
Any dream collaborators you guys would love to work with?
Trentemøller is someone we would kill to work with. His control of sound and space is ridiculous and it would be pretty nek-level intimidating to even be in the same studio as the guy. Also included on The Official List of Dream Collaborators™ would be Booka Shade, James Murphy, Massive Attack, Röyksopp, Caribou, Justin Martin, Claude Vonstroke (in fact, there are a bunch of Dirtybird artists we’d love to work with).
If you guys could have anyone living or dead cover one of your songs who would it be and what song would they cover?
I would love to hear a Portishead take on ‘Sundream’ – Beth Gibbins’ voice + lurching trip hop vibes + Sundream vocal line…very intrigued how that would turn out.
What’s the plan now – more touring? Start work on your next album?
At this stage we’re heading to Europe in early December just for a bunch of showcases and smaller shows around London and Paris. From there we’re hitting Falls, Southbound, and then Big Day Out. We’re actually running this comp where we’re taking a fan as our roadie on the BDO tour, so I’m pretty eager to see who wins and who will do our bidding on BDO tour. From there, it’s looking to be a hectic run of touring between US/UK before we get back into any serious album writing; although, we’re always bashing out ideas on laptops in airports or while en route to shows..
How do you feel about the Sydney live music scene at the moment?
I feel like there is a real burgeoning undercurrent of fresh minded producers and bands who are conforming less and less to genre boundaries, who are pulling some really original combinations of sounds and who are becoming more and more innovative on their live setups. It’s definitely an exciting time for us to be playing/seeing live shows and gigs and being a part of this wave of new music.. There are so many good producers and bands from Sydney; but some of our favourites are Hayden James, Polographia, Movement, Softwar and What So Not.
What was each of your favourite record of 2013?
So far it would have to be ‘Overgrown’ by James Blake or ‘Half Of Where You Live’ by Gold Panda. It’s really tough to narrow down though… there have been so many excellent releases this year; Trentemøller, Booka Shade, Arcade Fire, Cut Copy, Foals… It’s been a good year.
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