Having just released their debut EP, Perth-based electro trio Crooked Colours are halfway through a national headline tour which will see them playing Amplifier next Saturday, July 12. JO CAMPBELL has more.
Scoring a national support slot with RÜFÜS and winning Triple J’s Laneway competition last year, Crooked Colours got their big break in 2013. After a busy 2014 performing the major festival circuit and supporting RÜFÜS a second time, the three lads from Secret Harbour have just released their first EP, In Your Bones.
The three-tracker features the already-released Come Down, remixed by Perth duo Sun City, In Your Bones, and a fresh track, Keep Your Mouth For Lying. Vocalist Philip Slabber cites Come Down, which has already been remixed by a slew of big names including Alison Wonderland and Yolanda Be Cool, as providing the main thrust for the record.
“We had Come Down and In Your Bones done. Come Down was a bit left of field and had been sitting around for about six months – it was just a guitar part and a vocal for a long time,” he says. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with it and when we had a serious look, we added that hectic synth at the end, which kind of pushed the EP in the direction it went in.
“So we did In Your Bones off the back of that. I wanted to make it a bit more central and not too hectic at the back. So Keep Your Mouth For Lying was nutted out in about a week. It was the one that probably had the least amount of work put into it.”
The EP has just dropped on Yolanda Be Cool’s imprint, Sweat It Out, making Crooked Colours and RÜFÜS label-mates. Slabber says touring with RÜFÜS a second time has once again provided the opportunity for mentorship.
“It’s been educational,” he says of the tour with RÜFÜS. “They way they run things is so tight; they are very professional. We were pretty much just taking notes the whole time – they are definitely major role models for us. They do it right.”
Slabber’s humble approach is reflected in his explanation for the band’s quick success, which he attributes to his management, and in the trio’s beginnings in Secret Harbour’s surf scene, a setting that’s worlds away from the vibe of their production.
“We listen to so much music and try to get our hands on as much as we can. I think at the time we were listening to a lot of down-tempo, James Blake kind of electro stuff, which was just sort of a phase. It seems that every month we are listening to something different, so we’ll see where we go from here.”
Slabber says another EP is already planned for October adding that he Leon and Liam would like to start writing an LP next year and quit their day jobs. “I think it’s about staying really proactive,” he says of goal-setting. “Every time we reach a notch, we’re already looking at the next one.”
