| When Nick Littlemore says Elton John was the reason behind his move to London from Sydney, I assume he’s joking.
Only later do I discover that this may not be entirely untrue: it turns out that Sir Elton is a fan – and friend – of Empire of the Sun, the cosmos-loving, fantasy-reveling, psychedelic pop-rock brainchild of Littlemore and fellow Aussie Luke Steele. |
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Watch the video for the group’s first single, the smooth, seminal Walking On A Dream, and it’s no surprise to see why Elton, never one for understatement, is into it. The clip features the duo decked out like galactic royalty (think neon blue robes, shimmery eye make-up, gold crowns), dancing and posing against breathtaking backdrops of Shanghai, where the video was filmed guerilla-style, without a permit. (No easy feat in any major city, much less one where state-sponsored executions are the norm.) It’s Star Wars-meets Zoolander-meets MGMT. It’s galactic, colorful, crazy and strangely weird. And it works.
“I’m a visual artist, that’s where I come from,” says Littlemore. “I was a filmmaker as a kid. Music has always been colors for me – notes are colors, colors are chords, and those chords turn into emotions. Emotions turn into landscapes and landscapes turn into stories. It always made sense to me.’
‘”The music is kind of strongly influenced from the Seventies, not really psychedelic, but Fleetwood Mac and bands like that,’ he adds. “We wanted to take the clothing and make-up from colorful regions of the world and incorporate them into costumes. It’s not from one place or one time. It’s meant to be a cacophony of all different parts.”
Before they came together as Empire of the Sun, Littlemore and Steele were both busy with their other projects: Steele fronts popular Australia alt-rock band The Sleepy Jackson; Steele produces and helms dance-punk group Pnau. He also had a group, Teenager, with Australian singer Ladyhawke for two years.
The two had worked together ten years ago and come up with what Littlemore says were ‘a few weird songs.’ After The Sleepy Jackson’s second album was released, the two re-connected and had a chance to start making music again.
“It just happened very naturally, we just did it very quietly,” recalls Littlemore. “Each song took about a half an hour to three hours to make. We work very quickly and very spontaneously. I lived in Sydney at the time and whenever he’d be in town [Ed. Note: Steele lives in western Australia, in the city of Perth] I’d just grab him and we’d have a couple of hours. We just made the most of our time. It’s really about positive energy. You let a lot of ideas in.”
Energy, emitting a life force throughout the world and across the galaxy, transversing artistic forms – things Littlemore mentions frequently over the course of our 45 minute chat (a conversation, it should be noted, that touches on a wide host of topics including dogs, the influence of the internet on the longevity of today’s artists, Missy Elliott – the band’s sent her some tracks and a collaboration could be in the works – imagine THAT video! – and his penchant for cooking five-cheese gnocchi).
On working with Luke: “I love working with different people and testing your own mettle against other artists. I worked with Luke ten years ago for a few days. I didn’t realize how great he was until I had worked with a million other people to realize what a special talent he has. Luke went to design school straight out of school. He was already an amazing guitarist and a fantastic singer. The fact that we had those multi-disciplines enabled us to connect on a deeper level than just music. We could show each other artist and films and everything.”
On what inspired Walking On A Dream: “my girlfriend at the time was away in South America, in the middle of the jungle, and she was really sick. She called up and was really ill, vomiting and all that stuff. The phone cut off and I couldn’t get through to her. That’s when I wrote Walking On A Dream. The idea was to channel all this positive energy through melody and music and just send it to her across the cosmos in the metaphysical way. You can heal people and help people through things. I don’t know if it helped her, but it helped me a lot.”
On the name for the band, which wasn’t named directly after the J.B. Ballard novel and subsequent 1987 Spielberg film, but was inspired by traversing cultures: “We’ve traveled all around the world, where the sun has been an ancient figure of worship. That’s why w we went to China, and it’s been such a strong influence … the emperors in China. Then went to Mexico and met with the Aztecs and the shamans. We’ve gone to Iceland, just kind of traveled the world. Our music is very warm, very honeyed music. It really kind of suited that. We wanted it to be epic as well, while it’s very intimate.”
Oddly enough, Empire of the Sun has yet to actually play a live show. Millions have heard their music, bought the album, and it made a dent on the UK and Australia well before kids in the U.S. were swooning to it on the dance floor in the States this year. Littlemore says they’re waiting to get a live production ready that will fulfill the theatrical ambitions they have for it.
“It’s got to be bigger than ‘Ben-Hur,’ he says. “We want plants growing above the ceiling, monkeys singing in unison. It’s got to be big.’
“Right now I’m looking at the winds and the birds flying,” he says. He’s giving this interview from his apartment overlooking Regent Park in London, what he says is the most beautiful park. “In a way, we all are. The idea of Empire of the Sun is that we have this army of color. Our audience members are as much a part of the band as we are. So we want them to dress up in their own style of Empire clothing. You won’t be able to tell who’s partying and who’s playing.”
He’s even met with performance art group Cirque du Soleil to discuss a possible collaboration on the sure-to-be epic Empire of the Sun stage show.
“They’re really nice people,” he says. “They’re the only people in the world who have this massive corporate company searching for clowns. Most people are trying to rake the Earth of oil and gold and silver. They’re just trying to make people laugh and cry.”
“We’re talking about things,” he says. “I don’t know how they’ll end up. Nobody knows what the future may bring.”
He does, however, joke about a New York City show in 2011. But of course, this could very well be a serious thing, just like the Elton John-inspired move to London. Radio City Music Hall will be the venue, he says. May 6, 2011 will be the date. Ever the gentleman, Nick has promised a ticket and ten plus-ones.
Don’t all hit me up for them all at once, now.