An Interview With Seekae

Sydney 8 bit glitch pop band Seekae are ready to unleash their new album + Dome, as well as bringing a new and fleshed out live show to the stage. Tone Deaf’s Julie Anne Hobbs caught up with them ahead of the album’s release.

You’ve toured with the likes of PVT, Broadcast, Cloud Control, Decoder Ring, and Midnight Juggernauts, who do you aspire to tour with in the near future? Would Caribou or perhaps Four Tet be possibilities?

For the first two years, playing live was difficult for us – we struggled to find acts similar to our style of music to play with. Over the past year though we’ve picked up a couple of great tours like the one we’re on at the moment with Mount Kimbie.  There are always going to be genre icons that we’d love to tour with, Caribou and Four Tet are certainly among them.

Has any of your music been created using self-recorded Soundscapes or is it primarily electronically created music?

Our music is a combination of both. We record our own samples and sequence them electronically.

+ Dome has been long awaited – how do you think fans of  “Sound of Trees Falling on People” respond?

It’s been a long time since we released an LP. Hopefully the fans of STFP are ready for something new from us. We’ve always agreed that we’d rather have people not like our record for its differences than not like it for its similarities – + Dome is a welcome change for us.

Where did the love for 8-bit electronica come from? Who were your first 8 bit influences?

Mostly video games from when we were kids. Square waves can carry a lot of attitude. Nintendo was definitely our first 8 bit influence.

Would you ever consider doing a completely live show – no programming?

Maybe somewhere down the line. At the moment we’re an electronic act – though the way we play live is always changing.

Fellow “Rice is Nice” band  “Richard in Your Mind” are up for an AMP Award shortly. Do you hope to reach this kind of stardom and commercial success?

Ricky in your Mind is definitely killing it at the moment. I guess we’re from two separate scenes. Getting awards is always nice though.

Are there any collaborations about to get under way that Seekae fans can start looking out for?

More Seekae music. We’re going to have something together for late 2011. George is also starting up a whistling Youtube channel.

I believe you guys have been lucky enough to receive government grants to keep writing and touring. Where exactly did this money go and is it an avenue you’d recommend for up and coming electronic groups?

Soundclash is a great initiative. All young musicians should be applying for grants when writing music and touring.

+ Dome has said to have quite a worldly influence. How have your own travels affected the sound of your music?

Travelling is inspirational. We’ve seen a lot of acts from around the world on different stages doing different things – i think this exposure is mostly reflected in our live shows.

FBI radio claimed + Dome as being ‘one of Australian top ten albums of the decade’. Obviously this is a huge statement – do you expect the release of the album to live up to this standard?

We were very humbled by that, it was a huge compliment. We hope our music gets received well – + Dome is a long way from our first record, but it carries a lot from STFP as well. We feel like we’ve pushed ourselves further, our standards have gotten higher for our own music and our expectations have grown for our live show. We’ve just got to work to pull it off.

What can show attendees expect from your live shows?

Lots of Bass. Bass in your face.

Are there any festivals on the cards for 2011-2012?

Yes, we’re heading over to The Great Escape festival in the UK in May with some dates on the side in Europe. Should be a blast.

+ Dome is out March 25 on Rice Is Nice / Popfrenzy Records.