confidence man
MEET CONFIDENCE MAN: A BUNDLE OF POP ENERGY AND DORKY DANCE MOVES.
There’s no such thing as a bad dance move at a Confidence Man show – only the joyous freedom of throwing shapes whichever way you feel. Against the backdrop of pulsing electronic beats, the indie-disco outfit leads the crowd with their coordinated go-go moves, striking poses last seen at a year 6 dance concert.
You wouldn’t know it from his onstage bravado, but frontman Sugar Bones never wanted to dance. “It’s just been thrust on me,” he says looking at Janet Planet, the band’s lead singer and self-confessed “opposite of a shy dancer”. “He definitely practises in his room, though!” she exclaims. “I’d love to be a fly on the wall watching him.”
Hailing from Brisbane but now based in Melbourne, the two-year-old quartet enjoys the fun of staying a bit mysterious. Vocalists Janet and Sugar prefer to keep their pseudonyms, while instrumentalists Clarence Mcguffie and Reggie Goodchild stay masked on stage, and away from the press off stage.
The group first formed while living in a Brisbane sharehouse, though they’ve been friends for the better part of seven years. All four had backgrounds in indie- and psych-rock, but none had ever tried dance music. “It started out as a fun, silly thing,” Janet explains. “Then we were like, maybe this isn’t so bad. I’d always been into disco, and we all loved Basement Jaxx and Fatboy Slim, so Confidence Man became our way of writing what wasn’t really out there anymore.”
Their first song revolved around a phrase Janet picked up in high school French lessons – ‘tu m’excites avec ton look’, or ‘you make me horny with your look’. It was never released, but it kickstarted the band’s sexy-dorky vibe that would later lead to lyrics like, “I don’t need money in my hand / Don’t you know I’m in a band?”
Since their first big performance at Victoria’s Golden Plains festival, the band has gone on to tour international stages, playing to crowds of tens of thousands at events like Primavera Sound in Barcelona and the Governors Ball in New York – where they appeared right before Eminem. “People waiting for Eminem were very offended at Sugar playing air guitar in tiny hot pants,” Janet laughs.
The pair have a lengthy list of hilarious gig mishaps. There was the time a pyrotechnics operator went HAM, shooting flames directly onto Sugar (he was fine, thankfully), and the gig in Russia where Sugar accidentally flung an entire bottle of champagne into an audience member’s face. There was also the day Janet’s shirt fell off multiple times. “I started getting cocky with the costumes, using velcro,” she says. “Of course, it came off with the dancing.”
Janet designs all the band’s costumes herself, while her mum helps out with sewing. (“She’s our biggest fan!” the pair exclaims.) On stage, Janet Planet projects a cheeky innocence, with angelic baby-doll chiffon dresses and tall leather boots, while the guys leave little to the imagination, donning a uniform of black togs. Somehow, it all makes sense, with their poker faces in full force and ridiculous dance moves.
“The rule is that they have to be moves the common lad can do,” Sugar says. “I try to make him krump, but the top part of his body just doesn’t budge,” Janet adds. “He turned down this move where we’d be on all fours, thrusting our backs like cats. He’s always keeping me sane.”
With their first album, Confident Music For Confident People, out earlier this year, the band’s currently figuring out the next step of their evolution. The mission to write feel-good tracks remains, but there’s a renewed focus on enjoying the experience between hard work, too. “We’re not drinking tea anymore,” Janet says. “We drink margaritas in the studio now and it’s working for us.”