Boys In The Band

Cut Copy are in New York recording their new album and assure us that the unlikely combination of an 80s boom-box, sleigh bells, a Commodore 64, a glockenspiel and a twelve string guitar is going to kill it. Tim Hoey sent us some pictures and even though it seems about as wild as a stamp collector’s swap meet, it still looks kind of fun and we are excited to hear the results.

The first time Mitchell went to New York, he was attacked by a pack of squirrels when the bread he was feeding them ran out. Five of them literally jumped him and he ended up in hospital fearing that he might have rabies. What’s confusing is that every time we come back he goes back for more?

We turned up to the recording studio one day to find the room in complete darkness apart from the light of two small candles. Apparently this is how ELO recorded back in the day and Tim Goldsworthy, our producer, thought it might help to channel some Jeff Lynne magic. Dan didn’t love it and refused to play until the lights were back on.

What you know about Tim Goldsworthy is that he co-founded Mo’ Wax, owns DFA Records and is a member of LCD Soundsystem. What you don’t know about him is that he dropped out of high school at 16 to follow My Bloody Valentine around England and that he was a hair dresser and a lab assistant before he became a producer.

The Wolfmother guys were in town for one night and we tried to convince them to bring their Grammy out so we’d get a good table. They refused so we ended up with milkshakes in a shitty diner. Speaking of Australian Wolf bands, we caught up with Wolf and Cub as well and ended up in the basement of some dive bar with them drinking warm beer out of a bucket in the middle of the room. Kind of like a campfire that gets you drunk. It turns out that toxic water was dripping from the pipes into the bucket and Dan got really sick.

This is me and Tim from DFA DJing at the Guggenheim. It was one of the strangest parties we’ve been to. There were all these drunk kids dancing next to original Picassos. I have no idea how they got the insurance for that one. It was kind of like being in an opening scene of Sex In The City complete with Descartes jokes.

If you hang out on someone else’s doorstep in Australia, you’re likely to get arrested. In New York however it’s a free for all, so we took advantage of the first sun any of us had seen in three months. The owner even challenged the notion that all Americans are mean assholes by bringing us fresh lemonade. Awesome.