It took a small technical difficulty to help Ruban Nielson explore some large issues surrounding his band, Unknown Mortal Orchestra.
After jokingly bemoaning the fact that nobody asked him how he “eliminated ground loops and digi artifax” from his basement studio, the issue came to typify the problems Nielson has with his DIY method and ideals.
“It brought up the bigger issues about being the kind of band that we are, about being the kind of artist that I am,” the guitarist reveals. “This record, the whole thing, it’s like a business now. I have a label and management. I have to pay my band and all these things. I was thinking, ‘man, I still have this horrible noise running through my recording gear, and I have to make this record’.”
“That’s how a lot of artists do it, they just pay a lot of money to a bunch of people to help make the record. So I found myself in my basement again, and I’ve seen friends of mine go into bigger studios and kind of ruin their sound. You can pay a lot of money to go into studios and really all they’re gonna do is clean up the sound. I didn’t really like that idea.”
“I was panicking,” he continues. “I was thinking, ‘oh no, it sounds like shit, I can’t do this on my own. I need more money. Someone’s got to pay for me to go into a nice studio. I can record it by myself, but I can’t do all these technical things’.”
But, true to form, the singer and guitarist managed to solve the problem by himself, leading him to realise just why he enjoys to go it alone musically.
“The more I talked to people about the idea of working with a producer, it just didn’t seem like anybody was getting excited about me working with other people,” he continues. “It just seemed like they felt like I was going to ruin the UMO thing by working with other people.”
This musical solitude began in 2010 when Nielson uploaded ‘Ffunny Ffrends’ anonymously to Bandcamp. Bloggers and music sites quickly picked up the song, and it’s this anonymity that the young musician still misses at times.
“…they felt like I was going to ruin the UMO thing by working with other people”“I wouldn’t mind if people didn’t know who I was now. I do miss it a little bit, but also, I don’t really care if people know who I am. I just want to not be bothered while doing my music,” he explains.
Last year was huge for the New Zealand-born musician, one that included the release of his band’s critically acclaimed sophomore record II. Now, after huge world tours in support of the album – which included co-headline shows with the fun-loving American rock band Wavves in Australia last year – the frontman is finally about to get some time off.
“I have six weeks off, which is the longest break I’ve had in two years I think,” he says with palpable relief.
But for the singer-songwriter, time off mostly revolves around work on his next record and messing around in his basement-turned-studio/musical paradise. “When I’m home, I kind of just stay in the basement. I just tinker with stuff and that stuff ends up on records,” he reveals.
It was a lack of this time off and other issues associated with touring and the lifestyle that inspired much of II, according to Nielson.
“I was really killing myself,” he says bluntly. “I didn’t really give myself a chance. We just said yes to every single show all the time. I would see pictures of myself and be like, ‘man, I look like I’m gonna die’.”
“We started out naively thinking ‘yeah man rock and roll’, and after doing it for a year without giving us a chance for a break, we had to start thinking: there’s no rule saying one of us isn’t going to die. One of us might die. Something bad might happen.”
“Once that happened, I made II, and that was about how weird that year was. And then we started trying to go about the process to do it without killing anybody,” he says. “Now we have different management, different label. Everything is done, so we can work as hard as possible without endangering us.”
“Touring just destroys you. It ages you so quickly”For an artist that is commonly associated with anonymity and an unassuming, quiet attitude, Nielson is bright, open, and happy to discuss anything, often answering questions with refreshing honesty and eloquence.
This is perhaps not surprising if you follow the band on Twitter, with the frontman utilising the platform to interact directly with his fans – and give an insight into his intriguing mind.
“With my old band, I used to think, ‘oh, I wish there was a way to tell everybody that we’re playing this gig at once’, and now officially there’s a way to just communicate with everyone at once,” he continues. “It’s like a mass text but you don’t have to get everyone’s number.”
“Our label uses us as an example of how to do social media now,” he says, laughing. “That was really funny ‘cause I feel like half the time I’m really boring. I’m just saying what’s in my head.”
After touring Australia, 2014 will see the songwriter continue to work on the next album.
“I’m going to spend most of my time on the record. Jake and I have been touring for three years, so I think we got to the point where now it’s time to work on a record and recuperate a little bit,” he reveals. “Touring just destroys you. It ages you so quickly.”
“It’ll give us time to get our vitamins and minerals and get sleep. And then we’ll be ready to tour again once the new record comes out.”
“I think I’ll travel, be a bit self-indulgent, and relax for once. I was thinking I might go to some weird, remote spot and just hang out and write songs,” he ponders.
Creating music is obviously a very solitary and personal experience for Nielson, and he only likes to judge it against his previous work.
“I want this record to be a lot better than the other two.”
Unknown Mortal Orchestra will tour Australia for Laneway Festival.
Laneway 2014 Dates & Venues
Brisbane: Friday 31st January – RNA, Fortitude Valley
Melbourne: Saturday 1st February – Footscray Community Arts Centre/River’s Edge
Sydney: Sunday 2nd February – Sydney College Of The Arts, Rozelle
Adelaide: Friday 7th February – Harts Mill, Port Adelaide
Perth: Saturday 8th February – Esplanade Park and West End, Fremantle
Tickets and info at http://lanewayfestival.com/
