Words by Dani Marsland // Photos by Jack Bennett // Wardrobe from Vans, A-Brand & NEUW
“It definitely puts you in a better headspace once you’ve got an albums’ worth of material done already – it changes things. You’re not feeling so worried, you’re like ‘Okay, we’ve actually completed a full-length… we got this, guys.’”
Crooked Colours’ singer, Phil Slabber, sounds relieved to be back on the scene with new music, but him and the lads needn’t have ever worried. However long it took (“eighteen months since we last released music,” exclaim the boys) – we all knew that the Newcastle-based trio’s re-entrance onto the scene would be a triumphant one.
All you need to do is look at the firm handle on things they’ve had since day dot to realise that we’re dealing with a highly musically capable act here, ripe with potential. First there was the stint on the Laneway Festival stage when they scooped triple j’s Unearthed Laneway Competition (followed by stints at CMJ NY, Groovin The Moo, Wonderland, Southbound Festival and more), then the tour supporting Australian dance lords RÜFÜS, and another one with indie-pop sensations San Cisco, as well as Hype Machine #1 hits in Come Down, Capricious and Another Way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5djO7tAlGag
And now we have a slick, solid new single that has definite Flow (that’s already hit #1 on the Hype Machine Charts too, as well as having been singled out by playlist tastemakers Majestic Casual) and confirmed news that the Crooked Colours’ debut album is now cooked to perfection and ready for release mid-this-year. Hooray!
And boo to worrying – with a track record like Crooked Colours have, and the promise of Flow, we know this album’s going to be a ripper. We’ll find out pretty shortly, anyhow – they plan to road-test the new material in a series of headline shows on the East Coast this month. “We’re going to use these shows as an opportunity to see what our fans are responding to best,” explains CC’s keysman Leon De Baughn. “Then it will be easier to take direction with further material after the first album is out there; we can gauge what people are vibing off us.”
Those eighteen months have seen all sorts of things bubbling under the surface for the boys. These much-loved lords of silky-synth swagger have been bunkered away, music-making, planning and growing their hair longer – to match their increasingly lush tunes, of course. When we say Crooked Colours have been ‘bunkered’ away, we’re literally serious. They spent like, a whole month in some kind of shanty-bunker-shack-cabin thing, ‘Douth’ (that’s “down south” – bit of Perth lingo there in honour of Crooked Colours’ West Coast roots in Dunsborough.
“We kind of went into hiding! We locked ourselves away to write these tracks, spent time coming up with ideas…the shack was near the ocean so there’s all these chill vibes you’ll hear coming through. It really helped to stop us feeling stale. Heaps of demos come out of that time, then we returned to Sydney to flesh them out,” Leon says.
Flow’s has been released on Sweat it Out, an iconic label with a long lineage of awesome acts, whose backing the boys are stoked to have. “It’s been so good for us to have a whole team over here in Sydney working with us now – Sweat it Out on the label side, as well as management with Falcona,” says Phil, adding that the team have embraced the new music. “Everyone has been surprisingly positive about the new material, we thought everyone might be more critical of what we’ve been making and send us back to the drawing board! But they all love the tracks. They’ve also all been very patient as we’ve taken so long working on perfecting these tracks.”
Back around the time of their last release, the boys were taking cues from Crystal Castles. Their In Your Bones EP was a collection of darker-tinged dance for the late-night set, rife with sexy synthwork, electronic percussion and Slabber’s haunting vocals. The new stuff, however, is a little less brooding – to describe them as electro isn’t really valid anymore, as the outfit move further towards the band/live side of the music spectrum.
“We’re more indie band-y now, a lot less electro,” reflects Leon. “We still have those dance elements, but we’re going for a more organic sound. There’s lots of live drums on this forthcoming album – our previous stuff was more sample-based.” Accompanying the move away from the darker electro vibes into the light is Flow’s artwork – a colourful, jungle-based aesthetic. “I found this amazing artist on Instagram, so I recruited her to create the artwork – she’s done our forthcoming single artwork and the album for us, too,” says Phil.
The band’s own personal aesthetic is currently pretty laid-back, a mix between street/beach, but there’s no jungle outfits or coloured suits planned for their stage show as yet. “I’d like us to develop our aesthetic… I think it will take more time though. We’d love to do something properly but you have to commit 110%,” says Phil, referencing Client Liaisons’ commitment to their look.
For the boys, moving to Sydney from Perth a while back has been a good career move. “Being able to have meetings with our label and manager, and chat to people and get advice has been great – it’s made us feel more connected,” says Leon. “Also, I feel like you get stale if you stay in the same place for too long, coming to Sydney it was all new surroundings for us, so that was very inspiring. Although, to the inverse of all that, the best thing about starting out in Perth is that you are removed from everything, so you don’t worry so much about what everyone thinks. Also it’s easier to get noticed in Perth and get gigs, but here you’d just feel like a tiny fish in a big pond.”
The boys will head back to their hometown soon, however, to play Hot Dub Wine Machine – a day of food, wine and live music in the Swan Valley vineyards where they’re joined onstage by Hot Dub Time Machine (duh), PNAU, Miami Horror and more. “It will be cool to head back to W.A. for the winery show there,” says Phil. “We have our families and a few mates coming along to that one, should be fun. It’s sold out now though, so everyone’s been hitting us up for tickets – classic friends. They should have invested from the beginning to come see us! Haha kidding, we have a fair few friends that have bought tickets… legends.”
Before that, the boys will play the Sydney Wine Machine show, as well as launching their single with East Coast headline shows. Crooked Colours are stoked to be out on the road performing live again, explaining that touring isn’t the easiest when you’re starting out in Oz. “I think the financial side of things is a crazy struggle for small acts in Australia, it would be great if there was more financial support. Especially for initial touring – Australia’s so big its expensive flights wise to get your band and your crew around to all the capital cities,” says Phil.
Sometimes you just need a little help from your friends – Crooked Colours refer to the time they toured with RÜFÜS as a ‘pivotal point’ in their career. “It’s definitely been inspiring to watch their progression, especially as its quite close to us,” says Leon/ “It’s informative for us to see how they’ve done it.” Indeed, those kinds of bands are the best – the musicians that don’t initially take off after a few releases but that have persevered regardless, and then a track finally sticks or something shifts, and the journey into popularity begins.
Phil agrees, saying “the trajectory they’ve taken; the way they approach everything and their professionalism – they’re finally seeing their hard work pay off after a long journey so that’s inspirational for us.” The guys reference Methyl Ethel as another band that they like that have been “chipping away at it… We all loved the first two singles from Methyl Ethel – another band from Perth – I can’t wait for their full-length to come out this year.” Also on the Crooked Colours’ playlist right now is the new Paces material, and the Mansionair album.
The boys hope to follow in RÜFÜS’ footsteps and “really jack things up” in a visual and live sense for their mid-year album tour, before hitting the festival circuit hard next summer. “And then after that, we’re going straight into the second album – we don’t want to leave it as long between drinks as last time!” Hear, hear – let the drinks and the music Flow.
