After a long period without concert, even if this doesn’t mean they were not busy, in fact they were busy working in studio, Expatriate are back on the road, for our greatest pleasure. Their summer trip through Europe, began with the Dranouter Folk Festival in Belgium, this 5th of August 2010. Living near the Belgian border, i was delighted to learn that the originally folk music festival, turning more and more Rock as time goes by, will see Expatriate openning this year edition. But just one day before the gig, i was to learn that, not only would i have the chance to see Expatriate live, but i would also have the chance to interview them for the forum before the show.
5 pm in Dranouter, after dealing with all pass and stuff to enter the backstage area, I met Ben King. I was really nervous, and i’m really bad at hiding it, but fortunatelly Ben made me feel comfortable, and it soon began really natural to talk to him. After saying hi, asking him how he was, and having chat a bit while i was preparing the mic, the interview can begin.
By Julie Dewaële (a.k.a AshJ) for The Expatriate Forum http://expatriate.forumotion.com
Is it your first festival in Belgium ?Ben : No it’s not, it’s our second Festival. Last year we played Pukkelpop and ... There’s another big festival in Belgium ... hmmm
Werchter ?Ben : Yeah Werchter ! We played those two festivals last year, which were really good actually. It was a lot of fun, we played in a tent like today.
So how do you feel about tonight’s gig ? Are you excited ?Ben : Yeah a little. We’re trying out a lot of new material tonight. Well not a lot but a few more than normal so that’s exciting cause we’re gonna start recording our new record in september. So it’s exciting to be able to try out these new songs that we’ve been writing, in front of crowds, fans like you
(laughs) and get feed back you know. We’re a little nervous, but it’s nice to be back playing live. Last year we did like 60 shows, 20 festivals tourring with Placebo, but this year we’ve been just writing a lot more music and stuff so it’s been a different field but it’s good to be playing live.
Do you remember your first gig ever ? Do you remember where it was and when ?Ben : Yes definitely ! It was in 2005. There was a band in Sydney called Red riders, who are still a band, a very good band. They are friends of mine, they were doing very well in Sydney like getting a lot of good crowds in clubs and stuff. And I wrote some songs myself and went to Damian studio to record there and then handed it out to friends and bands. These guys really liked what they heard and said “Do you guys wanna play at our show ? we’re playing in 3 weeks” So we had 3 weeks to rehearse something like 6 songs. But once we got on stage it was absolutely amazing. I knew right then and there i wanted to keep going with this band and play live. We could see people in the crowd really understanding what we were saying and enjoying it. And we were really enjoying it so it was a great start. It was in 2005 in a club called Spectrum, in Sydney.
What can you say has changed since that first show ?Ben : A lot !
(laughs)Yes i can imagine !Ben : More than i can ever explain in one interview ! Psychologically, mentally, physically. Being in a band affects all areas of your life you know what i mean. If you’re comited and dedicated to be a musician. I feel like .... hmmm... i don’t know how you say this in French but when you walk around a block, you’ve seen everything, you’ve been around the block. That’s how i feel being in the music industries : you need to walk around the block before you actually understand it. We’ve toured all over the world, done amazing shows but... I don’t know, nothing has changed really like we’re still really happy and still really apreciating the opportunities to play in this band and make new music so in some ways nothing has changed.
We’ve all heard your cover of Bat For Lashes’ Daniel, and members of the forums and fans all loved it. What would be your favorite song to cover ? if you could only chose one.Ben : You mean another one ?
Yes. Or maybe it would be Daniel again !
Ben : Yes i really love this song, the lyrics, the story that she tells in the song really resonates in me because i guess i write songs about broken love and dreams and the atmosphere in life. Natasha Khan (Bat For Lashes) she just writes about that so well . That’s why i love the song. I don’t know that’s a good question
(silence, thinking)... I love Kate Bush but everyone has done Kate Bush. Maybe something cheesy like Kylie Minogue and turn it into something... Oh no actualy there’s a Nelly Furtado song that i wanna try : ‘Say it Right’. If you sing it properly, in a different way, it could sound amazing. Actually I heard Bloc Party do it once but they didn’t do it well. But propably that one !
click the image to enlarge
If you had to pick one artist to cover one of your songs, which artist would it be ?Ben : I think ....
(long silence, thinking)... Maybe some sort of folk singer or something. Actually i’d like it to go the other way, like a female artist to cover one of my songs. So maybe, i don’t know Bat For Lashes...
(thinking) Yes probably Bat For Lashes, just to throw it back the other way, to see what someone who is very creative and inventive with their music and arangement and stuff would do to it.
Talking about your own songs, we wanted to test you to know if you know your own songs by heart.Ben : Oh great ! i probably don’t, but anyway.
In which song are you talking about her and the way she crossed the park at night ?Ben : That’d be The spaces Between !
Okay that was an easy one !Then Cristo and Damian joined us, Cristo stayed a bit further in the room at first. They both said hi, and then Damian joined us at the table
Everyone wanted to know what’s the big mystery about the song called Sleazy ?Ben (laughs) : Sleazy! wow.
Because you can find it described on wikipedia and stuff...Ben : have you heard it ?
No ! None of us have heard it.Ben : it’s a really good song !
(laughs)What do you think of it ? do you like it ? oh no you haven’t heard it !
It was in 2005, we were jaming a lot in our rehearsal room at Damian’s studio. We had a different bass player actualy, he just played a different style to what Dave does. So the music would be slightly different, i guess more beat, like heavy, him and Cris were really rocking to this sort of beat or intended music.
So Sleazy came about one day just jaming in our room.
Damian : It could have been a Justin Timberlake song that we were taking a piece out of.
Ben : Yes, but it just felt like a good release, it felt like a lot of fun to do you know. And i think hmm...
Damian : It was like a classic thing we did in rehearsal room once and Then that night we had a show and we played it that night. It was just you know, like a fun song. It is a great song but it’s more of a party uplifting...
Ben : It sounds more like kind of a Franz Ferdinand thing like ‘Take me out’ that kind of.
But i remember writing the lyrics on Bondi Beach after going for a swim, and then playing it. It was just all very free and easy, a really nice way to make music. But one day hopefully... we’ll probably record it for like rareties.
Damian : It has been recorded but it’s just sitting in a vault.
Ben : It’s not even a B or C side, it’s just like a song sitting somewhere around. But you’ll hear it one day. Maybe we’ll make it a forum exclusive or something.
That would be great ! cause we were all searching the internet to find it.
Ben : you can’t find it anymore ? Cause about two years ago you could download it.
No the links are not active anymore.Ben : ah okay !
What’s your last musical Discovery ?Ben : (silence) it’s a good question !
Cristo is behind us, and he is answering from there, not noticing we had the mic . Ben repeated what he said to the mic, and then Cristo joined us
Cristo : i’ve recently discovered the XX, i know everyone seems to know them here but i didn’t. It was a pleasant surprise, a lot of hype. It’s really beautiful.
Ben : I would say : an indie band from California called “Best Coast” and they have a song called “Boy Friend” it’s kind like the ramones
(sings) hey little girl i wanna be your boyfriend . Anyway this is dreamy, indie, pop rock. I think it’s a girl and a guy on bass and a guy on drums. It’s cheeky. Damian ?
Damian : Beach House you’re into that ?
Ben : oh yes Beach House as well. We’re into like a lot of music that isn’t very ... You know the kind of music we write, we like to go off and being rich by other kind and areas of music. So it’s not like we sit around and listen to bands that people might think we listen to. We like to discover things, i mean wether it’s electronic music or greec music or i don’t know whatever... We listen to a lot of different stuff. What about you ? what’s your lattest discovery?
Hmm It’s a French Band...Ben : What are they called ?
Settled in Motion, they are from the Alpes, Grenoble. They’re quite young and don’t have any album yet, but they’re quite good i think.Ben : How did you discover them ?
I’ll sound a bit crazy there, but supporting Placebo, like you. It was in June 2010 in Annecy. (France)Ben and Damian : Cool.
What would be your most embarassing song or album you like or have ?Damian : Madonna Holidays
(laughs)My one would be ... hmmm... there was a great song by an artist called Cameo. He was a black guy in the 80s and had a song called “ Word up”.
(sings) Word up it’s the tallest word. It was just a cheesy song, it was kind of like new kids on the bloc but you know it was cooler cause he was black. It was awsome.
Cristo : I just like to say that owning a copy of Cameo is defenitely not embarassing ! I think Glam rock bands kind of... i got introduce to ‘Europe’ and bought that ‘final count down’ song and record, which looking back on it is pretty embarassing but also pretty good... But Dave will have one !
(Dave was on his way to come at our table)Ben : I think mine would be ... hmmm.... there’s just so many.
Here Comes Dave to join us. He says Hi and asks for our names.
Ben : So what would be the song or album that you might be embarassingly hiding to other people but because you love the forum members, they wanna know.
Dave : I don’t know. It’s hard to embarass me
(laughs) Maybe it’s Extreme ‘More Than Words’. But even then i’m not embarassed it’s a great song !
Ben : oh actualy mine would be Jennifer Lopez.
Dave : Oooh ! that of course !
Ben :This is one song she wrote which is like really good.
As you’re all Australians ... or most of you ?Ben : No we all are.
Cristo : Yes we all grow up in Australia and met in Australia but we all have different backgrounds, Ben grew up in Indonesia, and i had parents who emigrated. Just different stories.
So do you think there is a difference between Australian music and European one in general ?Cristo : Yes sure ! It just depends which way you approach it i think. The way people connect to music is probably
Whether it’s an escape or it’s an emotional connection or something a bit deeper to kind of break them out of their lives. Music is that trigger, that amazing thing. But yes sure, people who are shapped by living in Australia propably gonna write different tunes and have somehow different stories to tell to someone in Europe. But i don’t know if i can actually describe why European songwritters write the way they do and why Australian people do. Maybe someone else can
Ben : I don’t really know either.
Dave : what was the question ?
Ben : (laughs) ok keep going. That was a good answer.
So you’re now all living in Berlin, what do you like in this city ?Ben : it’s a really relax city. It’s very accepting of diffrent kinds of people, of different ways of living. So much History to the place, musical History in particular. A lot of artists have recorded there so it’s inspiring because of that. And it’s really affordable.
Dave : It has a great night life as well, which is good for us being night howls
Ben : or destructive !
(laughs)You’re all live together in the same place right ?Ben : Yes... hmmm... well actually Cristo moved out.
Cristo : It’s a bit like survivor ! the flame was put out and i had to go. We keep it tight, we’re tight family so yes we’ve lived together for quite sometime.
Is there anyone doing the ironing for the others ?Cristo : Dave is pretty good around the house.
Ben : Dave is very good around the house
(laughs)Cristo : Yes Dave and I are pretty good
(laughs from everyone) But like i said it’s a tight family so we don’t like to give way to many secrets about our family home. We’re all still here and loving each other so that’s pretty much the story of it.
Final question : When can we expect the new album ? if you can say something about that.Ben : Sure !
Cristo : We’ve been doing a lot of work leading up to it and it’s looking like we’re recording it proper in October and November. And for whatever reason the musical univers always seems to take longuer than you think so instead of just coming out then it takes a few months after that. So we think, you know, in realism of it all, that it will be propably early next year. We’d love to just have it now but...
Ben : Hopefully we’ll give people in Europe like a free download or something, but it won’t be a single like the main record and stuff will come out next year. But stay tuned cause we do have a lot of new music coming so be patient please !
Cristo : Everyone on the forum... We guys are just really grateful for your support, and i think it’s amazing that you’ve come out here today to support us.
Ben : Yes we really do appreciate it.
Cristo : Just really thank you for that ! Expatriate love to the fans.
All : round of applause !click the image to enlarge
Thanks to the band for accepting doing this.a little "thank you" to our forum members, from Ben and Cristo.
click the image to enlarge, ....
feel free to comment on this interview!
Subject: Expatriate Interview @ Dranouter Festival Belgium 2010. 
That's such a nice surprise! WOAW... 
Thank you so much for being brave enough to do that interview (i would never dared...) and of course thank you so much guys for your kindness! You're just lovely (and we love you for that too)! 
A really good and amazing surprise !
But what they say makes me even more wanting to hear the song.
