10 questions with Elemeno P
Frontman Dave Gibson takes time out from Spring Tour preparations for a light grilling
1 Describe your sound in one sentence.
Our sound is the sound of two teenagers making out in a parent’s borrowed car in the carpark of Hoyts Cinema Wairau Park . . . metaphorically speaking.
2 Why is ‘fun’ such an important element in music?
Fun helps to keep the band going. It’s the fuel. It’s the Weet-Bix of the music industry.
3 When writing, do you fit words to music, music to words, or pull it all together at once?
Usually, music comes first, then random vowels and consonants will appear with a melody attached. I will then work backward to try find meaning. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
4 What is your favourite song to perform live and why?
Fast Times in Tahoe. It was the first song Justyn and I wrote together. It was the song that essentially started the band. We made a rough demo of it (twice actually) once at a studio Justyn was interning at (Deepgrooves on High St) and then again at our apartment with a super cool microphone that we managed to “borrow” from Neil Finn’s studio.
5 Are you performing new music in your live shows, and is there a new release on the horizon?
Maybe. We recorded a bunch of new songs in LA recently. We’re still working on them so depends on the vibe.
6 What does success as a musician mean to you?
It’s meant many things to me over the years. I keep on tweaking it to correlate with what I actually have. Music is an unfaithful bed maiden that requires very careful attention in terms of your ‘happiness’. It can easily get twisted and distorted and very quickly you’re focused on things you don’t have and the ‘goal posts’ of what success means tend to keep moving just out of reach. So now, success to me is playing music with my friends (who I love) to people who get something out of it. We’re still lucky enough to have that all these years later so to me that is a success.
7 Do you still come across people who don’t realise your name comes from the alphabet?
Not really, no.
8 What message would you give any young person wanting to be a successful musician?
Practise. A lot. This is also what I would tell the younger version of myself because I think I heavily relied on inspiration and magic.
9 You can only fit one album by another artist on your device — what is it?
Doolittle by The Pixies
10 You’re curating a music festival. Who’s on the bill, alive or dead?
■ Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
■ Paul Simon, but 1980s Paul Simon
■ Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) — any era of this guy would be fine with me
■ The Phoenix Foundation — the entire world needs to hear this band, not just New Zealand. Elemeno P’s Louder Louder, NZ Spring Tour is now on, including shows in Tauranga tonight, Napier tomorrow night, Auckland on October 25 and Whanga¯rei on October 26.