| | | |  | A one man band for the 21st century, The E.L.F is the brand new musical adventure from Gerling front-man Darren Cross. With Gerling taking a well earned break for most of 2007, Darren has made the most of his new found musical solitude, spending months...
more |
| Interview | Access All Areas.net.au: You’re about to release an E.P., entitled ‘Stevie Nicks Hearts’. Can you explain the name of the E.P. for us?
Darren: I guess it’s pretty self-explanatory. The first track of the CD is called Stevie Nicks Hearts. I just love Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac to be honest. It’s also a metaphor for what’s on the CD.
Access All Areas.net.au: This is your first solo outing from Gerling. How does the Songwriting process differ from Gerling?
Darren: It’s just me doing everything really. It’s very different. There are both pros and cons about both sides. I’m just really into the solo stuff at the moment. Like I just recently made my own ad for the E.P. and it was just done while no one else was home. I also made the video clip by myself.
Access All Areas.net.au: So what does the future hold for Gerling then?
Darren: Not too sure at the moment. We’re all busy doing our own thing. I’m just really consumed in all of this. We still talk and all that stuff. I guess we’re just taking our time with our own projects right now.
Access All Areas.net.au: What does The E.L.F. actually stand for?
Darren: It does mean something, but I can’t say anything right now. It isn’t set in stone what it actually stands for, so I don’t want to say what it means yet.
Access All Areas.net.au: You’re playing some shows in February and March. What can punters expect at these shows?
Darren: Well the show is divided into two sets. I’ll do mash-ups and then perform my own songs. The visual part is really important as well. I might mix Digitalism with the Beach Boys, and then I will play my song Cockroaches. It’s never the same at one of my shows.
Access All Areas.net.au: You’ve toured with acts like Faker and Children Collide. Is there anyone that you would love to tour with?
Darren: There are no real big acts I’d like to tour with…I would just prefer that I tour with nice people. When you are touring around the country, it can kind of get like a summer school camp. If you are touring with assholes, then it can be terrible. I just want to tour with nice people, friends and family.
Access All Areas.net.au: Is there an album in the works?
Darren: Because it’s just me in the band, there is no rush to get an album done. I’d like to live some of it and work out where I’m going to go from there. I want to be able to develop some of the songs and fuck around with them and give them some more space.
Access All Areas.net.au: What are you currently listening to?
Darren: I’ve actually been listening to Cliff Richards recently (laughs). The song is called Devil Woman. I would love to do a mash-up of that song. I’ve also been listening to Arrested Development and The National. They are both great bands. Sometimes I listen as a DJ and I will dissect songs and sometimes I just want to listen to music without taking it apart. Neil Young is good for that. Some of his lyrics are naff, but he just maintains it all.
Interview by Simon Finck |
| Biography | A one man band for the 21st century, The E.L.F is the brand new musical adventure from Gerling front-man Darren Cross.
With Gerling taking a well earned break for most of 2007, Darren has made the most of his new found musical solitude, spending months developing his new sound and recording his debut self-produced solo EP Stevie Nicks Hearts at his home studio in Sydney.
Darren describes his latest release as "dance music with a cheeky indie aesthetic”.
From ambient techno anthems that sound like a marriage of Pavement and Underworld, to whacked out house music reminiscent of Beck and the Beta Band, Darren says he’s having fun with his new style.
"I guess what I wanted to do is write upbeat style abstract dance music with relaxed vocals, kind of like when Leonard Cohen went disco for five minutes in the 1980's!", says Darren.
After writing and producing the EP himself, Darren became so addicted to the do-it-yourself approach he hastily taught himself how to use a video editing program so he could make his first video clip. The result is the clip for the song ‘Cockroaches’. Produced on a super low budget of $12, the video was featured on youtube and has had over 235,000 hits.
Darren is also very excited to announce the start of his own record label - Oaks Records - which will be distributed through M.G.M.
To celebrate the upcoming release of his debut solo EP Stevie Nicks Hearts, indie wizzkid THE E.L.F. is packing his bags and hitting the road on a national headline tour this February.
Tour dates are:
Friday 15 February – Strangeways, Canberra ACT
Saturday 16 February – Spectrum, Sydney NSW
Thursday 21 February – Pogo, Melbourne VIC
Saturday 23 February – Click Click, Melbourne VIC
Sunday 24 February – Beach Road Hotel, Bondi NSW
Friday 29 February – Ric’s Bar, Brisbane QLD
Saturday 1 March – Quicksilver Pro Show, Duranbah Beach, Gold Coast QLD
with Midnight Juggernauts, Lior, and the Black Seeds.
Saturday 8 March – Playground Weekender, Sydney NSW
with Ian Brown, Kruder & Dorfmeister, and Maximo Park |
|
