STACK #145 Nov 2016

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MUSIC NEWS

TOURING 07 - 08/01/2017

set, but don’t expect to see Xayalith herself in any giant crowds. “I don’t go to festivals, I’m a grandma!” she laughs. “It’s always been really satisfying, going to see my favourite band and then hearing them play one of my favourite songs exactly how I imagined it to be. For instance, I saw LCD Sound System play at Big Day Out a couple of years ago [2011] and I loved them, and they played every song perfectly, note for note. I love that: when bands do such a great job of representing their recording live.” And that’s exactly how The Naked And Famous want to be able to perform: full of life, and physically connecting with every note the audience is hearing. “So many electronic bands just have music on track

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INTERVIEW

THE NAKED AND FAMOUS The whimsical, soothing voice of The Naked and Famous’ euphoric hits is owned by frontwoman Alisa Xayalith. She takes control of the microphone, Words Savannah Douglas

The blissful New Zealand band has called Los Angeles home for many years now, but they have not let the location change affect their musical prowess. “Making music for me isn’t about my direct environment; it’s about an emotional connection,“ Xayalith explains. It was facing these powerful emotions – erupting from a worrying hiatus – that helped bring the cathartic album to life. “We’ve been in this band for 10 years and when we came off tour, at the end of 2014, everybody was just so burnt out, mentally, physically,” Xayalith admits. “And in that break, everybody realised just how important this band was… focusing on songwriting [and] driving ourselves into work again was a very triumphant outcome after [the] emotional roller-coaster that we came off.” The album’s lead single Higher formed part of the band’s recent Austin City Limits

caresses the keyboard and ultimately helms the band’s third album, Simple Forms .

Simple Forms by The Naked And Famous is out now via Island/ Universal.

T hree years on from the release of sophomore album In Rolling Waves , Xayalith believes Simple Forms constitutes the group’s most poppy record to date, in terms of production and arrangement. “I [think it’s] more immediate, very vocal,” she proposes. “There are a lot of songs on there that demand a lot from me vocally. But I’m super proud of it. It’s the most immediate thing that we’ve ever done.”

and they just press play and away they go. It’s not very interesting,“ she says. “So we always made a point that everything we play can be played by human fingers, and we actually play the sound that you’re hearing. It just feels more rewarding.”

FACTOID: Korn's JD knows who Australian comedian and classic stitch-up artist Aaron Gocs is: " Oh, that guy. I’ve seen that. Yeah, that’s some corny sh-t. That was just playing one day, and I’m like 'I love this guy. Someone’s eating corn with cornrows listening to Korn.' So, yeah, that’s f-cking awesome."'

INTERVIEW

KORN T he Serenity of Suffering is Korn’s twelfth studio album; amongst its redemptive gems is A Different World , which features Slipknot’s Corey Taylor. According to Korn frontman Jonathan Davis, it’s a collab that’s been just waiting to happen. “I was sitting in the studio trying to think of who I wanted to Words Alesha Kolbe

up with the money to do it all, we’ll be there.” (It’s a pity Soundwave is no more: the afore-mentioned Corey Taylor recently hit out at AJ Maddah, promoter of the now-kaput festival, who has brought both Slipknot and Korn to Australia in previous years.) So then, what’s on the current playlist? “I’m listening to all kinds of Donny Hathaway,” JD says. “Old R&B and funk I’ve been listening to a lot.” Not what you expected? You’re not the only one. ”I’m not the metal guy in the band; everybody knows this,” the singer says. “That’s why the band works so well. We all love different types of music – I’m a huge fan of Duran Duran. I’ve been re-discovering real music. I’m really f-cking fascinated by listening to musicians that can actually play their instruments and sing – just sh-t with a soul. A lot of people forgot about that magic. Remember that? How we all used to listen to and enjoy music? People seem to forget to take the time to actually really listen to the music.”

and it came out really good. He really was pushing the group to do their best, and write the best sh-t, and that’s exactly what happened. I had a good time working with him; he’s got a good ear. He put the time in, doing different arrangements with the guys, and really pushed them in different directions. It ended up being a heavier record. For me, it was cool to try and re-visit that and embrace that again. It had been a while since I was in that mindset. It was awesome. He’s a great producer.” Whether they’ll be bringing this new album on an Australian tour, though, remains to be seen. The Californian five-piece hasn’t been out here for a while, and JD is pretty sad about it. “I don’t know what happened, but it sucks, ‘cause we play there usually every two or three years,” he explains. “I love it down there. I’ve been going there f-cking half my life. I can’t wait to get back there soon. So as soon as they figure out a promoter that can come

collaborate with, ‘cause we wanted to make sure that happened on this record,” JD ponders. “I couldn’t think of anybody. I think Nick [Raskulinecz, Producer] ended up suggesting [Corey]. So I messaged [him] and said, ‘I heard you’re in town. Do you want to be on a Korn song?’ He’s like, ‘F-ck yeah, when and where?’” Grammy Award-winning Raskulinecz has been working with Korn for as long as Jonathan can remember, and he’s the one responsible for everyone “getting their sh-t together – you need people to do that sh-t,

The Serenity Of Suffering by Korn is out now via Roadrunner/Warner.

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