The Fauves - Travelling the Lazy Highways to Between the Bays

YourGigs takes 15 minutes to rock... and talk with Andy Cox as The Fauves prepare to play the fifth Between the Bays festival.

yourGigs (yG): Have you previously attended a Between the Bays festival and what does it mean for the local area?

Andy Cox (AC): I haven't attended one, which is quite bad of me given it is just up the road from where I live. Where it is based - on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne - there is not really a lot of live original music so I think it great that events like this take place down here as means people don't have to drive for hours to go and see decent bands. We've always been based down this way and all grew up in this area so yeah, it's appropriate and it's great to perform here.

yG: With its local community focus, how do you think it will be different from playing at a Homebake or a Meredith festival?

AC: I guess it will be smaller to begin with - and more intimate. It's the sort of festival that has built it up slowly and kept it pretty small. In a market that is saturated with festivals you've got to try and do something a bit different I guess and it bills itself as a family-friendly event so it's created its niche that way.

yG: Are you expecting to run into anyone from high school?

AC: [Laughs]. Well, you never know. I might have to wear dark glasses and a fake moustache. Running into people from high school can be very awkward. [Laughs]. Playing for as long as we have you always run into someone from the past.

yG: What are your thoughts on the recent S.L.A.M protests and venues such as the Tote closing?

AC: I support the objectives of the S.L.A.M movement. It's really underrated what musicians contribute just to the cultural life of the country and given that everything has to be measured economically these days. Musicians are always the last people to get paid and the first ones to get in there and do the work so anything that is help support and validate the contribution musicians make to our culture is important. I mean, they never call stockbrokers or politicians to do charity gigs. It's musicians - who are generally the among the poorer people - and it's time that we recognise that something has to be done to support them for a change. You go and start a band and there is very little chance you are ever going to be successful at it. I think it's crucial that these small venues are maintained and able to provide that place where bands can start up.

yG: How would you think a Fauves career would pan out if you started from today?

AC: There are advantages and disadvantages. The idea of using the internet in the way that bands do now was clearly not around back then. So in terms of publicising your band in places like MySpace, which is a great way for bands to market themselves, we didn't have that. Record labels were more prepared to take chances with bands. There were more independent labels around so more avenues to get your records marketed and released. And a little bit less about marketing/business plans and more about just getting up and doing it. This is more the culture we have come from.

We made all of our mistakes in public and I suppose bands these days is more like rehearse two years in private and then come out as a fully formed act. You don't get any second chances whereas we've probably had a hundred chances. I think there was more romance about starting a band back then than now where it seems a little more businesslike.

yG: If the Fauves did a Don't Look Back-style gig, which album would it be?

AC: I think probably something more recent as we're really bad at remembering our old songs. [Laughs] If we were to pick any of our first four albums we'd struggle to play the whole album and we've always used a lot of different tunings and we would just forget them. We're just useless like that. I guess people would probably want us to play a record like Future Spa or Lazy Highways, which were our two most successful records, whereas we'd prefer to play something more recent.

yG: Have you been writing any new material for a possible new Fauves album?

AC: We seem to do an album at least every 18 months and we're going to make a new one this year. We've got heaps of songs and we've been rehearsing.

yG: What enjoyment do you still get from music?

AC: It's incredibly enjoyable. It's great to have a creative outlet and it's great to play music with friends and that shared bond of being in a band together for so long ... We're all best friends, it's just great fun. It takes some delicate negotiation to find a way to get along over that period of time to not only not damage your friendship but to enhance it. As you're probably aware, ego can come into play in bands and we've really worked out a way quite early on and to keep band issues separate from our personal relationships and we've been really successful at it.

yG: Do you ever see the end of the Fauves?

AC: No, I don't see it ending. If it ever ended, it would just sort of peter out like the universe will one day - very slowly get colder and colder until there is nothing left. There won't be any farewell tour - not our style. Even if nobody in the entire world wants to hear our music because we still want to make it then it's enough for us.

yG: Finally, if you were taking a girl out on a first date in southeast Melbourne would it be to Transformers or the 21st Century Dance Club?

AC: The 21st Century definitely - that's my home patch. We've actually even shot a video there once. I'm royalty down at the 21st Century. [Laughs].

Fiona Laughton
19 Mar 2010

Find more about  The Fauves

More interviews