We interviewed The Goon Sax, who will be headlining NGV Friday Nights at NGV International on 1 July 2016.
If your music was an artwork what would it look like?
Riley: Maybe something by Appel Karel
What’s your favourite gig you have played to date?
Louis: I really enjoyed playing a show we did recently in Brisbane, it was very last minute, and it was a Thursday night. No one was listening too closely, there was about 25 people who had all come to dance, so it was fun to just try and make the crowd dance. We played a lot faster and just tried to make it fun rather than focusing too heavily on playing really well, I enjoyed that a great deal, I think it made me want to make dancier music.
What inspires/influences your music the most?
Louis: Just listening to good music is always very inspiring
What song do you wish you wrote?
Louis: I definitely wish I had written a lot songs, Venus De Milo by Television is maybe the song I have spent the most time wishing I had written, I would love to be able to play that riff and for it to be mine. I have been listening to Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange again over the past week too and a lot of those songs like Sweet Life and Thinkin Bout You I would love to have written
What part of making music excites you the most?
Louis: Hearing ideas I’ve had which seemed kind of vague or hard to do materialise is incredibly exciting for me. Also just playing songs to people. When we have been working on something just the three of us to then play it to an audience is great!
What can someone expect from your live show?
Louis: A lot of songs from our album, we are also playing a few new songs ·
Tell us about the last song or album you created?
Louis: The last album we created which is also our first, came out about three months ago now, It’s got 12 songs on it which were either written by James or myself over about a year and a half. We recorded the album in 10 days at The Plutonium in Brisbane with our friend Andre.
Degas: A New Vision showcases works by Edgar Degas that reveal how the artist observed the world around him. How do you feel your music reflects life today?
Louis: I think our lyrics are quite simple and clear, and often just describe situations, so I guess they reflect the world around us because we usually mention the setting and that’s an important part of the song. We have never made a conscious effort to reflect life in general. At least on our last album, we are very much just looking at our own lives, but then I guess those are fairly regular so maybe it does reflect life in general, I don’t know.
What are you working on now?
Louis: We are working on new material and trying to write songs for the next album, we are also finalising dates for a European tour in September which we are very excited about. I am also working year 12 which is taking up a lot of my time.