It’s no secret that Chet Faker (Nick James Murphy) is proud of his hometown of Melbourne. It’s here that he got his start playing open mic nights before selling out his proper debut show, having formed a solid fan base through constant support from the city’s two community radio stations, 3RRR FM and PBS FM. Chet goes to great lengths in sharing his international success with local peers, from giving neighbourhood shop Alley Tunes an exclusive Record Store Day release with András, Roland Tings and Otologic remixes, to signing Yujen and Cleopold to his own Detail Co. label. Naturally curating a Melbourne-centric lineup up for his Ray-Ban and Boiler Room #Campaign4Change headline event next week, live synthesist Harvey Sutherland will join top selectors Francis Inferno Orchestra and Roland Tings, with a cameo from UK DJ, Marcus Marr.
Chet is currently on the edge of releasing his Marcus Marr collaboration Work, a four-track EP that has already spawned the electric single, “The Trouble With Us”. Spending four days in the DFA producer’s macked out studio in London, the results are a considerable deviation from his familiar downbeat croon. We quizzed the two musicians about the foundation and dynamics of their collaboration, and what impact the experience is having on a “Built On Glass” followup.
MM: Nick posted one of my songs “Peacemakers” on Twitter, and I wrote him a message to say thank you.
Were you familiar with Nick’s material at this point?
MM: I’d heard bits and bobs. I loved “Talk is Cheap”.
How did these conversations evolve into the eventual collaboration?
MM: We started talking about how we recorded things, pretty involved nerdy musical production stuff.
CF: I was asking you about his compressor. I could tell by the sound of his music that he was playing all the parts, or I had a sneaky suspicion. He obviously wasn’t sampling because there was a consistent sound across the whole thing; a particular bang or smack to everything. In my head, I was like, “I gotta find out what compressor this guy is using” and being a true producer, a real musician, he gladly obliged and shared his trade secrets. It did happen to be one of the most expensive vintage compressors on the market.
MM: It’s the best thing in my studio.
CF: Marcus sent me some of his album drafts which were all amazing, but I couldn’t come up with anything. A couple of months went by and I couldn’t even insert my own songs onto them, which I can usually do. They were too developed.
MM: They were not really designed to have a voice on them.
CF: Once we realised that we needed to do something from scratch together, we just started sending voice memos around. I’ve always got a million voice memos on my phone of riffs, rhythms, melodies and concepts, and I e-mailed him about 18 of my favourites. One of them is actually on the EP as a bass line, the actual voice memo.
So the EP wasn’t necessarily recorded over four days?
CF: Touché.
Collaboration is a creative process that you’re seemingly well accustomed to, Nick, after tracks with Flume, The Cactus Channel, Kilo Kish, Say Lou Lou, Banks and Coober Pedy University Band. Is this relatively a new experience for you, Marcus?
MM: In this style, yes. Different from being in a band. I really loved it. I want to do more.
What knowledge was swapped during the sessions?
MM: I learnt about the power of backing vocals, how effective they can be as a weapon and how to record them. I learnt a fuck of a lot.
CF: So did I. I sort of learnt an alternate approach to music in terms of having a stream of consciousness, animalistic approach to the flow of a song, which was something that I’d never messed with. The structure of a song is usually very conceptual for me. I know where sections are going to go, and in what order. On a track like “Birthday Card”, it was more about tapping into the actual natural flow of what was going on. Not worrying about where sections were, but as to what came next naturally.
MM: The rulebook really got thrown out for that one.
“I learnt about the power of backing vocals, how effective they can be as a weapon and how to record them. I learnt a fuck of a lot.”
– Marcus Marr
This wasn’t the first time you’d met face to face, was it?
CF: The second time. He’d come to see one of my shows in Brixton.
Has Marcus now been recruited for the band?
CF: He’s on this Australian tour. I’ve sort of half recruited him. I’m booking him everywhere I’m playing just so he can be around.
Edge him in slowly.
CF: Exactly. Don’t let him know. Marcus was kind of the backstage hero of the current band because we were playing so much of his music before and after shows. It was like Christmas when he came to visit.
Did the finished record match the kind of music you had both envisaged making before walking into the sessions?
MM: I didn’t know what we were going to make. I thought it was going to be something slow and relaxed.
CF: The single is what I envisaged coming in. I just wanted spanking funk, like early MJ. I’d been listening to so much Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross and Donnie Hathaway, and I wanted to get something out of that vocally.
Nick, it’s interesting to hear your vocals and lyrics paired with productions that are quite disparate from your own – from the intergalactic funk of “The Trouble with Us” to Coober Pedy University Band’s deep nodding house. Are these rubbing off on any of your solo material?
CF: Totally. I think the real thing is that I don’t have a huge repertoire yet. It’s still early days. It might seem sort of far removed from what I would be known for, but in my mind, it feels very natural. I’ve always been engaged with these scenes, especially the Melbourne dance crew. It’s something I’ve always liked and envisaged making – but never have. That’s probably why I have to collaborate with guys like Marcus, who really get it. It definitely has an effect.
Are you working in Brooklyn?
CF: I actually moved into Manhattan a few weeks ago, and I’m working on my second album. I have this one thing that I call ‘Marcus Hats’, which is a preset that I’ve saved for great sounding high hats that I basically ripped from Marcus’ style. And I bought the same pre as him so yeah, there’s definitely a rub-off effect. (Laughs)
Is the city of Manhattan infiltrating what you’re doing?
CF: 100%. I envisioned what direction I wanted to be moving in. With the music I was listening to, New York is totally the place for that. It’s just like a magnifier. I wanted something that would create friction in my life. A lot of musos move to LA and take the easier road, but I’m not at that point.
“Half the promoters were blown away that I could actually mix a record, and all I could come up with as an answer was ‘I’m from Melbourne’.”
– Chet Faker
When making your debut EP and album, you had a longterm studio lease and a bit more time on your side, yet with Work, you managed to boil down four tracks in four days in London. Have the experiences of the last three years made these high pressure situations easier to master?
CF: Yeah totally. I mean we called the EP Work. We weren’t getting a lot of sleep. Taking turns to take naps during the day just so our brains could function. Realising how hard you can work on making music has been a big change over the last few years. That said, although I had a lot of time on the first record, I worked hard in another way. I isolated myself, punishing myself psychologically for that record. That was my work.
Marcus, you’ve noted that seeing DJ Harvey play in London was a pivotal moment for you.
MM: Yeah, it was when I was very young in Brighton. One of those early experiences of dance music, going out and seeing what happens. Just what a sort of unifying experience it can be. Everyone dancing to the same beat. You can really be transported.
In your case, is there a relationship between being a recorded musician and a DJ?
MM: Yes. If you’re somebody who writes and makes records, you’re incredibly lucky to be a DJ because you get to road-test your work and see whether or not people actually respond to it. At that point, you’re the only person in the room that knows that this record is being debuted. If you put one of your unheard records in between two classics, you can get a feel for whether you’re on the right track or not. It’s also a huge thrill to play a record of yours that nobody has heard.
Nick, you were quite entrenched in the Melbourne club scene whilst living here. Has going to clubs while touring the world had you reflecting on its vibrancy?
CF: Absolutely. Even just the respect and the level of which you have to perform to be perceived as a DJ in Melbourne. I tour the world and see so many people DJing that aren’t even close to the quality of what we have at home. When I first DJed at Output, half the promoters were blown away that I could actually mix a record, and all I could come up with as an answer was “I’m from Melbourne.” I think Melbourne has some of the strongest DJs out there.
This Boiler Room is taking place in Melbourne at your request. Aside from being your hometown, why is this so important to you?
CF: You know, I think cities have sort of ‘flare’ periods where there’s an electricity in the culture, and a scene that is so real, its just a given. These can last for different lengths of time, and can sometimes pass unnoticed. I honestly feel that Melbourne is well into that zone at the moment, and I wanted to play a small part in presenting that worldwide. It’s small, and there are obviously so many more artists I would have loved to include, but essentially I’m trying to say “hey, Melbourne has some serious players right now that are as good as any in the world.”
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– Chet Faker and Marcus Marr play the Ray-Ban and Boiler Room #Campaign4Change event in Melbourne on 10th November. Head here to apply for tix. –