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Interview with Fuck Buttons

  Tobias

You're a band that has always toured extensively. Is recording albums more of a necessary evil for you in between playing live or an enjoyable process as well?
Andrew Hung: Ha, i can see where you're coming from. Our music exists as soon as we've written it, regardless of whether it's recorded or not. Our working process which consists of forming relationships between sounds as we play live means that theoretically once a song has been finished, we can play it in the live setting. Which is how we've been doing it, and furthermore, we use the live setting to assess and inform the song and changes are made gradually between the live setting and the practice setting (both environments informing each other).
The recording is a document of those workings. It accurately documents the space and time that occupied our mental psyches at that time. I guess you can see them as milestones. Knowing one's position is a key to knowing which direction one should strive. And to answer your question directly, it is of course, an enjoyable process.


"Tarot Sport" has, without doubt, ended up both a different experience from your debut, while still remaining a recognisable Fuck Buttons-record. What were your plans for the album?
Andrew Hung: We were conscious of not repeating the previous record but aside from that, we had no intentions for the second record, least of any particular aesthetic.
Bejamin John Powers: We had absolutely no preconceptions to how the finished record was going to sound. We approach any writing session with a totally blank canvas so the results often surprise even ourselves. This is the way we've always worked


Were you focusing on creating an album which you could listen through from beginning to end?
Andrew Hung: Fo sho... the journey is so important to us in our listening experience. We were conscious of the tracks, their transitions and the dynamic relationship between them, and crafted accordingly.
Benjamin John Powers: We would hate to think that you could only listen to half of our record. the end is just as important as the beginning as is the middle.


"Tarot Sport" was recorded with Andrew Weatherall. His status is indisputable, on the other hand working with one of your personal heroes can be intimidating, What was it that made it so interesting for you to look for his input?
Andrew Hung: Andrew really is an incredible personality. He's someone who has a complete understanding of himself and one can't help but admire that. The tattoos on his arms encapsulate his ethos; on the one arm, a picture of a dagger entwined with a scroll that reads "..fail we may..." and the other arm, a ship with the same scroll entwined but reading "... sail we must...". He's not afraid.
Benjamin John Powers: Andrew did a remix for us and it was apparent that he had an excellent grasp on the sound we generate and we could tell that he was going to be the right man to translate this onto record. Our instincts proved correct and Andrew did a fantastic job.


You worked on the record at Andrew's "Rotters Golf Club" studio. What's the place like?
Andrew Hung: (laughs) I wonder if he'll give me a clip round the ears for describing it thus... The place is very reflective of Andrew; it's scruffy, chock-full of things that resonate history and ideas, and the actual place is as robust as a bomb shelter. "Charming" does not even begin to describe it.
Benjamin John Powers: Small, slightly grotty, but full of amazing stuff and amazing ideas.


What were the sessions like?
Andrew Hung: The songs and the vision of the album remained intact from our intentions before the recording to after mastering. But the embellishments and shaping took place in the studio. When we worked with Andrew, we were all present in a room, all contributing ideas and articulating not only ourselves but each other as well. it was an extremely lively atmosphere. And though the level of consciousness was almost extreme at times, the experience was incredibly satisfying.


You've mentioned it felt like a " brain meltdown" - so was that a positive or confusing experience?
Benjamin John Powers:  The brain meltdown was a reference to the the intensity of the process, albeit a positive kind of intensity! One thing we learned from our time recording with Andrew is just how important distance from your work is at given moments. it allows for a clearer perspective and i think if we hadn't worked in this way we'd probably still be down in Andrew's studio and he'd be tearing his hair out!
Andrew Hung: I went to bed each night absolutely knackered, but the best kind of knackered, one of complete satisfaction. I fell asleep like a baby each night. It was enduring but incredibly positive.


One of the main achievements of "Tarot Sport", to me, is the way it sounds incredibly powerful and explosive and yet very controlled and focused. Was editing and mastering the album just as important as the actual recording process?
Andrew Hung: Oh for sure. Recording took 2 days to achieve. We're the one-take kings! Actually, we did 3 takes of each track, but realistically, we could have done just one takes for most of the songs. The actual physical musicianship of our music is relatively simple; it's the idea gathering that is the most labour intensive. And that's why the mixing took 3 weeks of long days to complete. In many ways, the ease of the musicianship allows us to concentrate purely on the aesthetic of the music and our emotional interaction with it.


You've referred to the sound of the album as "thick" and it does sound very wall-of-sound-likev...
Andrew Hung: With Tarot Sport, the "assault" is multi-faceted, where no components are given precedence. The sounds are democratically presented so that the overall sound is a barrage.We also used combinations of real drums and sequenced, which may have added to the impression.


Another aspect of the album is its live feeling. Did a lot of the songs come into being through improvisation in the studio? Is "Tarot Sport" partly a reflection of your experiences on the road?
Benjamin John Powers: We actually write all our material when we're at home but perhaps our experiences had some kind of subconscious influence on the record...
Andrew Hung: There are areas that we allowed to run on for longer, because their punctuation was correct. These longer passages did allow the music more room and space around the more well-crafted areas.


There's a lot of references to flying, space and high places on the album. A coincidence or does it feel as though you've truly lifted off with this one?
Andrew Hung: Dude... we're on the moon.

By Tobias Fischer

Picture by Matthew Walford

Interview conducted by Tobias Fischer for “Beat” Magazine. Many thanks to Thomas Raukamp.

Discography:
Street Horrrsing (ATP) 2008
Tarot Sport (ATP) 2009

Homepage:
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