Dane Robertson - Black Fox (12/12/2012)
Having just released their debut album, Line of Sight, The 59th Sound chats with Dane Robertson of Black Fox.
So Dane, how are you today?
Not too bad thanks.
How has everyone been taking in your newest single ‘Beatles Party’ so far?
Yeah, it’s been responding really well actually. We had some good reviews and it’s been getting a bit of play on Rage and various radio stations so yeah, everybody has been pretty happy with it I would say.
In the music clip for Beatles Party, what gave you the idea to give roses to random strangers?
It was actually an idea we had from ages ago, but we kind of sat around coming up with ideas and the problem was that we had no money and we wanted to come up with an idea that made people want to watch, than just something that is pushing the bound interest forward. So, it was something we wanted to watch and that was an idea that was possibly as long as two years ago and Lee brought it up again and said “hey this one would be cheap and a pretty fun idea.” So we just rolled with it and we went out and brought a bunch of roses and just ran all around town handing them out and it was a pretty fun day actually, felt like a million dollars by the end of it.
Were there any initial funny reactions from people?
Yeah, some of the people wouldn’t take them, which was amusing. On the whole, we were actually fairly surprised by how many people took them and how happy it was making people, we were really putting smiles on dials, so that was pretty good.
And were there a certain message or metaphor behind the roses, a sort of symbolic meaning?
No, not at all, there is no hidden message there. It was just a fun idea.
Now getting into your newest album, ‘Line of Sight’, you guys recorded your new album from across the globe, how was that for an experience?
It was great. It kind of sounds more glamorous than what it really was, but we are completely independent, so we don’t usually gets to do things like that. But this time around we thought ‘the hell with it’, we really want to do this, so lets just do it and who cares about the money, we’ll just go without other things. So, Daniel has a Japanese girlfriend, they actually got married recently and he was travelling to Japan quite frequently and she had this really old piano in her family home. So we recorded parts of the piano over there and the New York thing, one of our good friends, who played with us for a few years in the past in another band, Callum McBain, was living in New York and we really wanted to get his input on the album. So, I just flew over there and spent a week with him and got his take on the song and got to record and the parts that he added were great, but it was really good just getting a fresh perspective on it, because I’ve listened to those songs literally thousands of times at that point, so it was nice to hear an outsiders opinion on it.
And out of all the songs on album, which one proved to be the most difficult to compose?
Probably Monarch, it’s actually my favourite song on the record, but it was the most difficult to get to the point where you hear it on the record and it was always a good song, I knew it was going to turn out well, it was just the struggle of getting it there. Because Callum wrote down some backing vocals in the chorus and switched it a lot and we have another friend of ours who plays in The Borderhill Smash to do a saxophone solo at the end and we took that element and took it to a new level, which is where we wanted to get it. So, it’s probably not one you listen to and instantly love it, but I think it’s a bit of a grower and it’s definitely one, I never get tired of listening to.
Now going back to travelling again, the band basically recorded from places like Japan, New York and back here in Melbourne; did the cultural overhaul give you guys’ inspiration when recording?
Yeah definitely, like culture is always good I think, we would go from one person’s house to another person’s house to a rehearsal studio and that makes a difference, both in an emotional way and technically all of those rooms sound different. So the one in Japan might sound the same in one room as they do in another, so the rooms had a huge impact on the sound, so that definitely shape our recordings.
And how would you describe the sound of Line of Sight in your own words?
It’s got a lot of implements from great indie British bands, but it’s down in a modern way. It’s more of a mix new and old really and that done was in way where when we were done with recording, we put it out on vinyl. So the whole way through has been a good mix of new and old, so it’s kind of our modern take of sounds by ‘The Smiths’ and other British bands.
In 2010, your band parted ways with Luke Cartwright and changed your name from The Smoke to Black Fox, what was that moment of transition like?
It was pretty seamless really, Luke moved to Sydney and we kept going for the second half of that year with him in Sydney. So we were playing a lot of 4-piece gigs, so the band was essentially functioning as a 4-piece, we had all our rehearsal in 4-piece, most of gigs were 4-piece and then he would fly down and play with us. But it lost a bit of its momentum and we all began to have different ideas of where we wanted to take the band. So before we fell apart, we decided to finish that up and we pretty much started working on stuff immediately as Black Fox. So we kind of changed our name and kept going as a 4-piece and we were a 4-piece for a year, so most of the record is written and recorded in a 4-piece and the other guys kind of finished it off.
Has your music changed from the days as The Smoke till now?
Yeah totally, like when The Smoke ended and we became Black Fox, we made a real conscious decision to start doing different music. So, The Smoke was a far more 60s revival kind of band, it was very kind of more Rocknroll and minimal instrumentation, basically guitars, bass and drums. While as Black Fox, we wanted to make a lot more textured, so there are a lot more symphosizers and layered sounds and a lot more harmony, so yeah it’s very different.
And how was your gig at The Espy last Saturday?
Yeah, that was great, it was a real riot. We had a lot of people come down and it was great to see all our friends and fans buying the record and everything and a bit of a relief to have it out to be honest.
Did the crowd exceed your expectations?
Yeah, they did, they were great, and they were really good. It’s funny playing live, you never know what the crowd is going to be like, sometimes at a gig where your playing with five people can be an absolute riot and you get a really big crowd. But the crowd down there was fantastic.
And what would you say was the most memorable part of the night?
We have these temporary tattoos that we gave out to everyone and their kind of the classic, anchor, sailor tattoos. So a lot of people were taking them and sticking them on which was great to see.
Well thank you
No problem.
Jason Cheung
So Dane, how are you today?
Not too bad thanks.
How has everyone been taking in your newest single ‘Beatles Party’ so far?
Yeah, it’s been responding really well actually. We had some good reviews and it’s been getting a bit of play on Rage and various radio stations so yeah, everybody has been pretty happy with it I would say.
In the music clip for Beatles Party, what gave you the idea to give roses to random strangers?
It was actually an idea we had from ages ago, but we kind of sat around coming up with ideas and the problem was that we had no money and we wanted to come up with an idea that made people want to watch, than just something that is pushing the bound interest forward. So, it was something we wanted to watch and that was an idea that was possibly as long as two years ago and Lee brought it up again and said “hey this one would be cheap and a pretty fun idea.” So we just rolled with it and we went out and brought a bunch of roses and just ran all around town handing them out and it was a pretty fun day actually, felt like a million dollars by the end of it.
Were there any initial funny reactions from people?
Yeah, some of the people wouldn’t take them, which was amusing. On the whole, we were actually fairly surprised by how many people took them and how happy it was making people, we were really putting smiles on dials, so that was pretty good.
And were there a certain message or metaphor behind the roses, a sort of symbolic meaning?
No, not at all, there is no hidden message there. It was just a fun idea.
Now getting into your newest album, ‘Line of Sight’, you guys recorded your new album from across the globe, how was that for an experience?
It was great. It kind of sounds more glamorous than what it really was, but we are completely independent, so we don’t usually gets to do things like that. But this time around we thought ‘the hell with it’, we really want to do this, so lets just do it and who cares about the money, we’ll just go without other things. So, Daniel has a Japanese girlfriend, they actually got married recently and he was travelling to Japan quite frequently and she had this really old piano in her family home. So we recorded parts of the piano over there and the New York thing, one of our good friends, who played with us for a few years in the past in another band, Callum McBain, was living in New York and we really wanted to get his input on the album. So, I just flew over there and spent a week with him and got his take on the song and got to record and the parts that he added were great, but it was really good just getting a fresh perspective on it, because I’ve listened to those songs literally thousands of times at that point, so it was nice to hear an outsiders opinion on it.
And out of all the songs on album, which one proved to be the most difficult to compose?
Probably Monarch, it’s actually my favourite song on the record, but it was the most difficult to get to the point where you hear it on the record and it was always a good song, I knew it was going to turn out well, it was just the struggle of getting it there. Because Callum wrote down some backing vocals in the chorus and switched it a lot and we have another friend of ours who plays in The Borderhill Smash to do a saxophone solo at the end and we took that element and took it to a new level, which is where we wanted to get it. So, it’s probably not one you listen to and instantly love it, but I think it’s a bit of a grower and it’s definitely one, I never get tired of listening to.
Now going back to travelling again, the band basically recorded from places like Japan, New York and back here in Melbourne; did the cultural overhaul give you guys’ inspiration when recording?
Yeah definitely, like culture is always good I think, we would go from one person’s house to another person’s house to a rehearsal studio and that makes a difference, both in an emotional way and technically all of those rooms sound different. So the one in Japan might sound the same in one room as they do in another, so the rooms had a huge impact on the sound, so that definitely shape our recordings.
And how would you describe the sound of Line of Sight in your own words?
It’s got a lot of implements from great indie British bands, but it’s down in a modern way. It’s more of a mix new and old really and that done was in way where when we were done with recording, we put it out on vinyl. So the whole way through has been a good mix of new and old, so it’s kind of our modern take of sounds by ‘The Smiths’ and other British bands.
In 2010, your band parted ways with Luke Cartwright and changed your name from The Smoke to Black Fox, what was that moment of transition like?
It was pretty seamless really, Luke moved to Sydney and we kept going for the second half of that year with him in Sydney. So we were playing a lot of 4-piece gigs, so the band was essentially functioning as a 4-piece, we had all our rehearsal in 4-piece, most of gigs were 4-piece and then he would fly down and play with us. But it lost a bit of its momentum and we all began to have different ideas of where we wanted to take the band. So before we fell apart, we decided to finish that up and we pretty much started working on stuff immediately as Black Fox. So we kind of changed our name and kept going as a 4-piece and we were a 4-piece for a year, so most of the record is written and recorded in a 4-piece and the other guys kind of finished it off.
Has your music changed from the days as The Smoke till now?
Yeah totally, like when The Smoke ended and we became Black Fox, we made a real conscious decision to start doing different music. So, The Smoke was a far more 60s revival kind of band, it was very kind of more Rocknroll and minimal instrumentation, basically guitars, bass and drums. While as Black Fox, we wanted to make a lot more textured, so there are a lot more symphosizers and layered sounds and a lot more harmony, so yeah it’s very different.
And how was your gig at The Espy last Saturday?
Yeah, that was great, it was a real riot. We had a lot of people come down and it was great to see all our friends and fans buying the record and everything and a bit of a relief to have it out to be honest.
Did the crowd exceed your expectations?
Yeah, they did, they were great, and they were really good. It’s funny playing live, you never know what the crowd is going to be like, sometimes at a gig where your playing with five people can be an absolute riot and you get a really big crowd. But the crowd down there was fantastic.
And what would you say was the most memorable part of the night?
We have these temporary tattoos that we gave out to everyone and their kind of the classic, anchor, sailor tattoos. So a lot of people were taking them and sticking them on which was great to see.
Well thank you
No problem.
Jason Cheung