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ON THE COUCH WITH: Harlequin League

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ARTIST INTERVIEW

Access All Areas.net.au: Hey Sebastian, How are you?
Sebastian: I'm doing pretty good thanks.

Access All Areas.net.au: How are the rest of the guys doing?
Sebastian: I'm pretty sure they are all good and working, Haha.

Access All Areas.net.au: You have an EP coming out on March 28th, are you excited about that?
Sebastian: Yeah, I am. It's good to see something you have worked on. We produced it ourselves and mixed it in Melbourne.

Access All Areas.net.au: How was the writing process?
Sebastian: We had an EP ('We Used To Be Gods, Now We're So Plain') come out in September and then we did some tour and then me and Jim had the initial idea's and then in January we tracked this EP (I Don't Do Friends) and went to Melbourne to mix it.

Access All Areas.net.au: How did the name "I Don't Do Friends" come about?
Sebastian: Haha. Its pretty much an inside joke. We are wankers and we wanted a rock n' roll statement. Haha, no in honesty we toured with a band, who's name I won't mention and they had all these girls they bought back after the show and one girl who would have been just 16 asked one of the guys to come and meet her friends and he said "I don't do friends".

Access All Areas.net.au: Your doing a co-headlining tour with your label mates "Sugar Army". You are doing shows all over except for Brisbane, was there any reason for this?
Sebastian: I am kinda pissed about that. I mean I kept saying we should skip Adelaide and do Brisbane, but I think timing and money had something to do with it. We spent the best part of a week in Brisbane the end of last year. I think we are doing a show there a month after the tour. So really it's only a few weeks later. Blame Sugar Army, because they set it up.

Access All Areas.net.au: What would someone seeing your set for the first time expect?
Sebastian: We try to make every show we do like our last show. So, we make it really exciting as possible, its more of a dirty distortion sound then what is on the EP, extended fills and we have a drum fill that goes off according to my family.

Access All Areas.net.au: How does it feel being labelled as an 'Indie band'?
Sebastian: We are more Rock then anything. Isn't 'indie' the new emo?
Access All Areas.net.au: Yeah, its become more of a style.
Sebastian: Haha, Ah s#*t! We are only indie because we are on an independent label. Maybe we need to create a new word for what style we are. But, I would say we are more rock and we are only indie because of the label we are on.

Access All Areas.net.au: Name three words that describe your music?
Sebastian: Dysfunctional, loud and poor.

Access All Areas.net.au: Best piece of advice you've been given but ignored?
Sebastian: I am trying to think. I need to think about this so I don't offend anyone I am friends with. I would have to say my own advice which would be learn piano before guitar. I think I would be a better muso if I learnt keys first.

Access All Areas.net.au: What was your plan b?
vI think I would of been pretty happy in my plan b. I would of finished uni and had a decent paying job, well... maybe not now because of all the unemployment. But, I look at my friends and they seem to be doing really well at what they are doing.

Access All Areas.net.au: What's your ultimate ambition?
Sebastian: To write good tunes, put out a good album. Be happy with what I am doing and make a decent living from it.

Access All Areas.net.au: What's the record you never confess to owning?
Sebastian: Live - Throwing Copper. Whenever I listen to it now I just can't help but think, "Why the f#*k did I buy this!"

Access All Areas.net.au: Main hobby other than music?
Sebastian: Sleeping. I sleep way to much.

Access All Areas.net.au: What are 'Harlequin Leagues' plans for 2009?
Sebastian: EP, tour, play some shows, do our own tour, in may we start to record our album and then the album should be out in September.

Access All Areas.net.au: With your EP you are on the label 'Good Cop, Bad Cop' does that mean for your album your going to be on a new label?
Sebastian: Haha, I can't really talk about that. Sorry.

Access All Areas.net.au: Well, Sebastian it's been great talking to you. All the best for you and the guys.
Sebastian: Thank you. Have a good day.

Interview by Kira Newlands

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Harlequin League’s list of accolades to date reads like an act with several releases and years of touring under their belt, or perhaps one plucked from complete obscurity and hailed as the second coming of Jesus, but the reality is this explosive Perth four-piece have only scratched the surface of what’s to come.

All thanks to their late 2008 debut EP ‘We Used To Be Gods, Now We’re So Plain’ recorded by Woody Annison (Children Collide, Red Riders, Rocket Science), the band achieved the honour of an Unearthed J Award nomination, a triple j Next Crop nod, high rotation on the j’s and community radio nationwide for lead track ‘Again And Again’, numerous support slots for the likes of Dukes Of Windsor, Bluejuice, Expatriate, and an invitation to join End Of Fashion on their national album tour back in September.

Now comes the next step... a brand new EP ‘I Don’t Do Friends’ – released March 28 on Good Cop Bad Cop / Inertia - which builds on the band’s love of gritty post-punk and eclectic pop. Lead track ‘All Your Wars Are Won’ rolls along at an untroubled pace, delving deeper into the band’s penchant for groove and making the statement that a good song isn’t necessarily one that feels manic enough to ram itself down your throat. It just is.

‘I Don’t Do Friends’ EP released March 28 on Good Cop Bad Cop / Inertia.

www.myspace.com/harlequinleague

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MY FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE

Cut Copy
We played an amazing festival called T in the Park in Scotland, which was a year and a half ago now, but that was really amazing in terms of being, by far, the biggest crowd we've played infront of, I think it was- we played in the dance tent, and it was the middle of the day, so it wasn't night time craziness, but they packed like 20,000 people into this tent, and it was totally round, it was just the best kind of crowd to be playing infront of, we were really suprised and weren't expecting to get such a big reception, particually in Scotland. We only really had played a handful of shows in Glasgow and hadn't really played anywhere else, so yeah, that's definitely up there.

Ideal Lineup?
We kind of actually had this discussion when we first started playing together, before we even did any shows as Cut Copy, we made up these phoney band names and played a few shows at this pub, sort of on the wrong side of the tracks and a bit run down, you could ring up like the night before and get a gig the next day, so it wasn't really like, you know.. anything amazing. But we booked in, I think a couple of times under false names, just to make sure we could actually play our instruments and do everything before we actually put Cut Copy up on the stage, and I think in that year we sort of had this imaginary- it wasn't like a festival it was kind of the idea of billing this gig where it was us headlining with Sonic Youth, and then Daft Punk would be like the warm up DJs, and that was like our ultimate show, ever! And then we've actually played with Daft Punk at the end of last year so we just feel like we've maybe partly lived that dream a little bit, even though they obviously weren't the warm up DJs for us, but yeah, we've ticked off one of those things at least. All we've got to do now is play with Sonic Youth!