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MIXING THINGS UP
In an effort to save money while away touring, CHAZ BUNDICK – AKA TORO Y MOI – bit the bullet and moved back in with his folks, writes TOM HAWKING.
TRICKY’s live show is a good old-fashioned visuals-free concert, the enigmatic singer tells BENNY DOYLE.
in my life, really, I actually got to experience missing people. So I really opened up [on the new album] – I touched subjects that I didn’t think I would. I don’t sing that much about my brother or my parents, their viewpoints and stuff. So it was fun to do that.”
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his album literally brought me back home,” says Chaz Bundick, better known as Toro Y Moi, of his new record Underneath The Pine. “I had to move back home to save money while I was on tour – I can’t afford to pay rent somewhere and not live there. So now,” he chuckles ruefully, “I’m back at my parents’ house, chilling. It’s okay; I think every single artist has done it at some point.” Bundick has been on tour pretty much constantly since releasing his debut album Causers Of This early last year, catalysing much debate about the legitimacy of (and actual existence of) the chillwave genre and riding the Pitchfork seal of endorsement to several prominent support slots as well as several headline tours of his own. It’s little wonder, then, that sitting in a downtown New York café with his girlfriend, sipping a much-needed coffee, he looks just a wee bit frazzled. “I started touring this record with Caribou in March and April,” he explains. “That was a full US tour, a fiveweek thing. Then Europe. That’s pretty much all we’ve done all year, just back and forth [between the US and Europe]. I’ve been around the US two or three times and then Europe twice.” He sighs. “Has it been intense? It’s been really intense. And now we’re going to Australia.” Bundick’s lyrics have always been unabashedly autobiographical. As such, family and the geographical removal from those you hold dear are both strong lyrical themes on Underneath The Pine: “I think if anything,” Bundick says, “[the new songs] are more personal. After touring, being away from family for the first time
Released in September last year, the album Mixed Race was another fresh twist in an already refreshingly challenging career. As up-tempo as he has ever sounded, the ten tracks wash through the speakers free of the grit and darkness that have been the staple of his prior releases. Tricky agrees that, yes, these vibes translate on to the stage but the transition is not that simple.
Last year there was talk that Underneath The Pine was to be released simultaneously with another new album. As it turns out, such ambitious plans have had to be put on hold: “When I told the label [Washington-based indie du jour Carpark Records] I was interested in doing that, they were like, ‘Okay!’ But I was saying that in a naïve manner. I didn’t know I’d have to tour them and all that. So when they said yes, I was like, ‘Awesome!’ Before I got signed, that’s how I’d work – I’d do an electronic album while doing an acoustic album and release them at the same time. But I had to record [the new album] pretty much between tours, so they’re a year apart now. It’s all good.” In any case, Underneath The Pine seems to span the two styles to some extent, moving away from the purely electronic flavours of Causers Of This to a more old-fashioned approach. “Definitely the approach and the songwriting,” Bundick agrees. “It’s not sample-based or electronic-based – I did live drums and bass and stuff. That’s a good way to start afresh. I don’t know if I felt like writing two electronic albums in a row. I don’t think I could ever do just electronic music or just acoustic music. I’d get bored. Also, when I wrote Causers Of This, I didn’t have the intention of playing it live in front of people, [whereas] I had that in mind for the second album.” Despite Bundick’s roots in bedroom laptop noodlery, the Toro Y Moi live show – which, as Bundick mentioned above, is coming to Australia for the first time this month – involves a full band. “I made the transition to a full band as soon as I could,” he says. “Causers Of This wasn’t exactly made for a full band or anything like that, so when we play live, we play more songs from the new album, because it’s more intriguing live. We’re trying to learn it as fast as possible.” WHO: Toro Y Moi WHAT: Underneath The Pine (Mistletone) WHEN & WHERE: Thursday, Toff In Town; Friday, Workers Club
“It’s really weird. Now after touring for so long, for so many years, I write with the stage on my mind, even when I’m in the studio. So sometimes I think this is going to be a great live song; like Murder Weapon, I thought that was going to be a stonker live and that was kinda written for the live show but it just doesn’t work. And then things like Every Day, when you think that’s never going to work – that goes down really well. So it doesn’t always go the way you think it’ll go.”
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espite a well-publicised, tumultuous relationship with the press, Tricky offers an affable style of storytelling as he discusses the ideals behind his present live incarnation and why it’s just so. “When I left Massive Attack, we did an American tour and a European tour over a month and it was all turntables and I’d find it really difficult – I’d find it really hard. Then when I left them, the new management said, ‘Are you going to perform?’ I said I didn’t want to go out with turntables. So she goes, ‘Take a band.’ And I didn’t really have a clue; I didn’t understand how a band could play my album. So she put a band together for me and ever since I’ve had a live band on stage. It’s a very old-fashioned live concert – I don’t have any TV stuff or visuals. It’s just an old fashioned rock show to be honest with you, it’s like the crowd and the band. It’s that vibe and it’s quite a lot of energy. I don’t know if people realise but it’s a lot of energy and very old fashioned performing. It gets quite tense sometimes, y’know.”
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Considering how well Murder Weapon has been received and knowing that many fans would be itching to hear the track, Tricky explained just exactly what the issue is with the song in a live setting. “We’ve tried it and tried it and tried it and it just doesn’t work so really I have to change it, but just change it for the live show. I haven’t had time to rehearse it but we’ve tried it live y’know, we’ve been doing it for months and it’s just very difficult to get across. The crowd’s still feeling it funnily enough, but on stage there’s just no vibe at all.” There is definitely still a vibe with regards to the overall musical vision of Tricky. Even at 43 years of age, the father of one assures that, still, “there’s so much to do”. “Doing the same thing kind of bores me,” Tricky admits. “I get bored within a month of touring, y’know? When I come to Australia now, we’ve had enough time off that I can be enthusiastic about the gigs. But sometimes when you’re four, five weeks into the show you’re sick of the songs, you’re sick of it and you just don’t want to do the songs. So it’s like recording – if I am going to do the same thing then it’s just not worth it.”
WHO: Tricky WHAT: Mixed Race (Domino/EMI) WHEN & WHERE: Tonight (Wednesdsay), Forum
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