Words by Amar Gera //

What better place to kick off a global tour than Straya.

Beloved German folksters Milky Chance will be returning to Aussie waters to kick off touring for their new album Mind the Moon. They’ll be playing at Falls Festival along with their own all-ages shows’ at Melbourne’s Festival Hall and Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion. Falls Festival 2014 was one of the first Aussie festivals they played when they first exploded onto the world stage, so naturally the trip Down Under holds a certain sentimental air for the German duo.

Mind The Moon contains doozys like ‘Daydreaming’, featuring our very own Tash Sultana, and ‘The Game’, both having infectious vocals and hooks that are perfect for good old crowd singalongs. Aussie fans will be l
ucky enough to be among the first fans around the world to experience Mind the Moon live, and with other classic smashes like ‘Stolen Dance’ and ‘Cocoon’, there’s no doubt these shows are gonna be absolutely off chops.

We were lucky enough to catch up with singer Clements over the phone, check out our chat with the German star below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdH45WXuHx8

How does it feel to be coming back to Australia?

Pretty exciting actually. We came to Australia for the first time in 2015 and Falls was part of the trip, so our first memories of being in Australia are from that festival. It’ll be a little bit like taking a trip down memory lane, coming back to places we first saw in 2015. Back in those days it was super exciting and overwhelming for us, I think it’ll be the same this time around.

What can fans expect from your live shows?

It’s changed a bit, I mean we’re still four guys on stage so we didn’t expand or anything, but we added a lot of instruments like analogue synthesisers and keys on stage. Everybody is playing on them from time to time, so we’re switching around when it comes to playing different instruments. We also have a new light show and a bunch of new songs coming.

Now that we have three albums, it’s hard to have the right mixture of old and new songs, but I think we’re pretty good. We also spent a lot of time rehearsing this time around. We’re just super stoked to be back to the kick-off of the whole tour, and Australia is the first stop.

How does it feel to have ’Mind the Moon’ out?

Very good and also frightening haha. Putting out an album always means a lot, every album is so important to us personally. If you look at a musician’s career, every album counts you know. It’s not just the first, second or third, it’s all of them, the whole picture is important. It’s just exciting putting out new music and getting people’s reactions and stuff. Every time it’s like a new outcome you know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81FeO35TYqQ

‘Mind the Moon’ is a really nice follow up to 2017’s ‘Blossom’, how’d things change when working on the album this time around?

We were trying to go back to that minimalist style and way of producing like we did with the first album, whilst trying to develop as musicians. We were trying a lot of things but we were also trying to limit ourselves at the same time. We spent a lot of time on details and finding that one sound that sits right there perfectly in its place, rather than trying to build several layers. There’s definitely less layers on Mind the Moon than our second album.

We were also trying to open up the whole writing and recording process, so we invited a lot of friends and other musicians that we haven’t been in the studio with, which is the first time we’ve done that. It was really nice.

And you’ve got Aussie favourite Tash Sultana on ‘Daydreaming’, how’d you guys link up with her?

We met for the first time in 2015 in Australia, I think it was actually at Falls Festival, but everything was so crazy at the time so we didn’t see each other much. But last year we were all doing Lollapalooza, so we all got the chance to spend time together and get to know each other better. We were just hanging and going out and just talking about working together in the future. Then this year in February we started working on the album and we had a demo recorded for daydreaming, so we sent it over to her. She ended up really liking it, so we flew over to her place in Melbourne and recorded the whole song. It was really fun and inspiring.

You guys are known for always being on the road, how do you keep touring fun and fresh after doing it for so long?

This is the first time it’s happened but we actually took a break from touring for more than a year. That was pretty needed for us because we’ve been on tour non-stop every year since 2013, so our last show was actually last year in October. We took a break and focused on being in the studio and being creative. Our shows in Australia gonna be our first shows in over a year, so it’s pretty exciting. I think adding breaks in between is the best thing you can do.

‘Stolen dance’ was released way back in 2013, what’s it like to play that track live in 2019 and have it be just as loved after all these years?

It’s crazy you know. To us it was the door opener, without it we wouldn’t have been able to tour so many countries. We’re so thankful that so many people out there still dig it. It’s so heartwarming to see so many people, especially at festivals, singing along to our songs and still following our music. It’s really cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXsvCIvDN4A

You have a really distinct style that’s resonated with people all over the world, why do you think people are so heavily drawn to your music?

I don’t really think about it too much, but I’ve had a couple of conversations about it with people. There’s been a lot of nice and interesting theories that I’ve heard from them about why they think it resonates with so many people out there. But still, in the end you just don’t know. There’s no recipe for success, and there’s no formula to write a hit song. In the end, it’s also just also a lot of luck I’d say. It probably was just the right music, at the right time, that everyone wanted, and just a happy coincidence.

As we’re ending the decade, how would you sum up the 2010s for Milky Chance?

It’s been the decade for us, finishing high school and kicking off a music career by accident. We were able to see the world and so many doors opened us for us. It was crazy, but really nice.

If you could go back in time, what would you say to a young Clemmens and Phillip as they were working on ‘Sadneccessary’?

That’s a good question haha. I mean I would probably tell them to be a bit more aware of what’s happening, but that’s kinda hard. When it all started it was such a crazy roller coaster that took off so fast, so sometimes you’re just rushing through and in the moment it’s hard to take in what’s happening. So yeah I’d probably tell them to feel it and make it right you know.

What’s 2020 looking like for you guys?

It’s gonna be a lot of touring, we’ll be in Australia for two weeks to kick it all off. We’re also gonna be back in Europe, then we’re going to the US. It’s just a lot of touring and we’ll be on the road a lot which is exciting. We’re also working on new stuff, so we want to put out music out in 2020. We just want to have a more constant output and not have a big gap between albums anymore, so yeah we’re just trying to put out new songs in 2020 as well.

Milky Chance will be back in Australia for Falls Festival and their headline shows, follow the links for tix.