It’s been a banner year for Australian singer/song-writer, Gotye. With the ubiquitous smash single, “Somebody That I Used To Know”, Wouter “Wally” De Backer, better known by his stage name Gotye, has spent most of 2012 in North America. B-Sides got a few minutes to chat Gotye while out in Texas prior to his appearance at Austin City Limits. Read on to find out how he feels about the current tour, his thoughts on song-writing, and more!
B-Sides: “You’ve been on the road for most of the year and you’ve gotten the chance to hit up some cities multiple times now. Are there any cities in the US that you’re starting to feel really comfortable in? Any favorites?”
Gotye: “I’ve been asked a bunch if I sorta had favorite places and nothing has stood out head and shoulders, I’ve gotta say I’ve been enjoying the whole experience.
B-Sides: “As your touring schedule winds down, are you relieved that it’s over? Or have you gotten so comfortable on the road that you’ll really miss it?”
Gotye: “I’m a little sad that the US tour is coming to an end, I’d love to keep touring through such great weather, we’re going to Europe and it’s gonna be freezing cold. But yeah I’ve been enjoying it, we even built a basketball rink on the road so we’ve been able to set that up sometimes in the loading dock or parking area. A bunch of guys in the crew have actually been going out fishing almost every day. But yeah I’m sad the US tour is coming to an end but I’m looking forward to keeping with the touring lifestyle for another couple of months since we’ve got two months to go until we finish in Australia.”
B-Sides: “We’ve read that you haven’t gotten to much time to write while you’ve been on the road, which do you think is more challenging, writing the lyrics? Or composing the music?”
Gotye: “They both have challenges, for me I guess, I find them both challenging in different ways. Getting to the end point of what I would consider is a finished recording, which would be first getting the song arranged and written, and then finalizing a recording that I feel is the best representation I can make of that song, yeah there are just different aspects of that challenge. For me it’s just as much of a challenge, say, the engineering part of it, being very DIY and hands on, you know not being a schooled engineer just still trying new things and learning as I go along.”
B-Sides: “With ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ you’ve brought yourself to the forefront, and also brought Kimbra along with you, and while you’re both very talented in your own right but we’re wondering if it’s ever crossed your minds to record as a collective duo while also maintaining your individual careers.”
Gotye: “We haven’t talked about it, we’ve shared some demos, she’s certainly more prolific in constantly writing and developing material than I am, especially since I’ve been recently, and I think some of her new demos sound really really exciting. But no we haven’t really talked about collaborating more consistently, I would love to work with Kimbra again on another song or definitely another project.”
B-Sides: “Well we’d love to hear it!”
Gotye: “Yeah! I mean whether that would happen or not would be dependent a lot on time I guess, she’s so crazy busy. It’s cool! really the attention that’s on her and what she’s doing, and she’s really an incredibly talented young woman and so hard working. It’s really because of her own talent that people are paying attention to what she’s doing. I mean you know she also did totally nail that part in my song!”
B-Sides: “Last question for you, would you rather fight one horse sized duck, or one hundred duck sized horses?”
Gotye: “*Laughs* Well, one hundred duck sized horses definitely sounds more surreal, so as a dreamland, it sounds very enticing.”
Gotye will play the Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie, TX on Friday October 12 before finishing out his US tour this weekend at the Austin City Limits festival in Austin, TX.