INTERVIEW: The incredible Hermitude, from then to now
There’s no stopping Hermitude, who have not only just released their sixth album Pollyanarchy and smashed out a recent Like A Version, but are also now embarking on the first leg of their Australian tour.
We got the fantastic opportunity to grab a few drinks with the hip hop/electronic legends before their live performance at Metro City tonight.
Hey there! How’ve you enjoyed Perth so far despite the rainy weather?
We actually just got in and haven’t had much of a chance to explore the city! Every time we come to Perth, things are pretty back-to-back. We’ve been here plenty of times but have yet to venture out.
Heading to some beaches would’ve been great if not for the weather. The last time you were in Perth you played on Christmas Eve at 2018’s Ice Cream Factory Summer Festival, correct?
Yeah! That was an absolutely crazy show, one of the best times actually. We got to stay until after the venue closed, partied heaps, and then hopped onto a red-eye flight back to Sydney just in time for Christmas.
You guys are on a roll, having just released your sixth album Pollyanarchy with some of the buzziest vocalists. How’s it feel to be taking it on your first world tour?
It’s always cool to get back out on the road after being lodged in our studio in Sydney for months. We’d just finished the record and so it was great to be able to play new songs on tour. It’s really exciting for us to perform our new tracks and see how they go down live – to see if they go down well on the dance floor.
We started the world tour in Kuala Lumpur, which we hadn’t been to before. The response was great; there were such good vibes. Our fans there actually made us artificial Hermitude money, so they came out at the end and were throwing these dollar bills around – and we were like whoa! We picked it up and it had our pictures on it. It was pretty awesome.
That’s cool! I even saw on Instagram that someone named a property in Gippsland after you! Currencies, real estate… What are some other cool things fans have done for you?
That was a good one. Someone went a got a Hermitude tattoo once; we’ve only seen a handful of fans that get tatts for us.
Guess your fans are happy to be pretty low-key?
Yeah, we don’t have many lyrics so could be why! (laughs)
Hermitude has an absolutely hectic tour schedule for the rest of the year. What do you usually do to gear up on the road – any good fun rituals or ways to unwind?
Sleep is a pretty massive ritual – if we can get it. (laughs) We used to a shot of tequila before every gig, but we haven’t done that or years.
Last tour, one ritual we had was watching all the Adam Sandler movies. I think they all got released on Netflix at the same time. There are some really bad ones, but a few diamonds in there too.
You guys will be spending NYE back in your home state, playing at Sydney’s NYE In The Park. Does that mean you’ll get to chill and see family and friends for a little while?
For sure. It’s Gusto’s birthday on New Year’s Eve too!
Does that mean you get overshadowed by the occasion of NYE itself, like if someone had their birthday on Christmas?
It’s a little bit like that! The good part is there’s always a party, so fun is always guaranteed.
Now I am absolutely loving all the collaborations on Pollyanarchy – you’ve introduced me to some talented artists such as Soaky Siren, Vory, Bibi Bourelly and Hoodlem. Was this an intentional direction in the album?
Doing heaps of tracks with vocalists was definitely what we had in mind. We wanted to make it a more vocal-heavy album as we’ve always predominantly created instrumental records. We try to set ourselves a new challenge each album so we can evolve, essentially!
How did the opportunities come about for these collaborations?
We mostly reached out to them, and basically put together a wishlist of artists we wanted to work with. We hadn’t worked with Vory before. With Soaky Siren, our label Elefant Traks teed up a session with her in our studio in Los Angeles, and we did a song with her which turned out awesome. We ended up making a few songs with her, the only one that made the record was ‘Northern Lights’. With guys like Buddy and BJ The Chicago Kid, we really loved their work too. It was a real mix I guess!
You guys constantly create album after album – how exactly do you do it?
You just spend a lot of time in a really dark room in front of a set of speakers and write music. (laughs) We write music almost every day now. All boils down to heaps of practice, and also a bit of putting up with the same person for many, many years!
That’s right, you both met in high school in the Blue Mountains!
Yep! Been a long while. Definitely have to stay inspired. Luckily, we’ve still got ideas we want to hash out. As long as you’ve got that fire burning, you’re on.
For our next album, we’re definitely going to some remote location. Somewhere quiet. I’m thinking a castle, overlooking the ocean in Northern Scotland.
I like that. With cliffs? You know, a bit of drama.
Drama, water, ocean, land, cliffs – all the elements come together! Vast landscapes are where it’s at.
Besides nature and music, what other mediums do you guys find inspiration from?
El Gusto: I find inspiration from some installation art. There’s this guy – I can’t remember what his name is – but he builds these mechanical instruments and feeds them into these extremely long tape loops. Stuff like that beyond music helps me to break down some creative barriers. I find that really inspiring.
Or going and seeing music as well – that’s super fun to just listen and watch other artists do their thing.
Well, there’s actually WAMFest on this weekend, with a packed program of incredible WA artists playing across heaps of venues in Perth.
Sick, we heard about that actually! What are some of the venues?
A bunch of places like The Bird, The Sewing Room, Nevermind Smallclub, Jack Rabbit Slim’s and Yagan Square! Most conflict with your gig, unfortunately. Such great artists playing but a lot of their set times clash too!
Definitely, you get that with any festival. When we were at SXSW, many bands were playing at the same time that we wanted to see.
Which upcoming festivals are you most looking forward to playing?
We’re doing This That in Newcastle soon, NYE In The Park as mentioned and Snow Machine in Hakuba, Japan. Love Japan, always a vibe. We’ve been there a bunch of times, mainly Osaka and Kyoto!
Circling back to the album, were there any scrapped songs or ideas that didn’t make the cut for Pollyanarchy?
Oh yeah, we have folders and folders of them. We wrote so many ideas then rifled through them to find the best ones. We do have a bunch of really good songs, actually, that just didn’t fit with the others in the record – so we may have to get some plans happening for them.
Any dream collabs – whether it be with artists living or dead?
Luke: Prince would’ve been incredible.
El Gusto: For now, James Blake and Rihanna, because I just love Rihanna. (laughs)
She’s not doing much music though these days, is she?
I don’t think she is – but if anything, she would totally break that rule for Hermitude.
Absolutely, would be cool to see a collaboration from two different worlds. A bit like how Chris Lilley did a collab with The Jonas Brothers.
He makes the best out-of-this-world collabs, for sure.
Looking back,do you ever feel like pioneers of the fusion of hip hop/electronic in Australia?
Maybe! They’re both genres that have obviously been happening for a long time, but the style of electronic music that we emerged with was fairly new in Australia. We were definitely part of a movement that happened around the time of HyperParadise – with Flume, Ta-ku and Wave Racer all emerging. It was insanely cool to be part of suh an exciting era.
Definitely. And now we’ve got some great Australian hip hop happening, with artists like Sampa The Great, Baker Boy and REMI. In terms of your genre, is it still surreal to think about the award-winning magic you both have created together since?
It is pretty amazing thinking about where we were, where we came from and where we are now. There’s been so much journey in all of it.
Any specific highlights over the years?
Luke: I can tell you a highlight from way more than 5 years ago. We were playing a bush doof called Liquid Labyrinth. The site is pretty legendary; it’s been around forever. We were like loading our gear off stage at 3AM in the morning and had to literally jump across this tiny gushing creek with the car parked on the other side. We had like heaps of gear back then and I just remember jumping over this creek thinking, “This is a really weird thing to be doing on the job!”
So, if people ask you where your music has taken you, you could say…
“We jumped a creek in a paddock with thousand-dollar instruments – that all my life savings had gone into at the time.”
Sounds pretty exhilarating.
It was pretty fun!
Because you didn’t fall in! (laughs)
Yeah exactly. (laughs) I did fall in a hole that night, coincidentally. But that’s a story for another time – don’t want to let all the eggs out of the basket!
Lots of stories to share, of course. Don’t suppose party-crashing is amongst the many?
Hmmm, we crashed parties but not as Hermitude – but I must say, thank you for the inspiration. I now feel like that’s something we need to tick off. Know of any parties tonight?
There’s the WAMFest afterparty I believe. Either way, I know a lot of Perth is keen to see you bring the house down at Metro City!
For sure, we can’t wait – we’ll catch you then!