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There's a certain band that's been leaving a trail of party sparklers, cigarette butts and sore dancing feet all the way from their hometown of Shepparton to dirty Melbourne town, and they go by the moniker of 8 Bit Love. You may recognise those three syllables from their recent stint at Push Over Festival where these cheeky lads shared the limelight with Yves Klein Blue, Dash & Will, Horrorshow and Kisschasy. Rave Review crowned these electro kids July's Artist of the Month, and drummer Simon Findlay is being treated to a brand spanking new drum kit (which they plan to show off at the EP launch in a few days time) thanks to winning first prize in the Youth Central and Vic Rocks' Get Equipped competition.
That's a pretty full-on list of credentials for a young band, and they're about to add the launch of the debut EP, Super Mario Lovers to it. Paper-Deer have been lucky enough to get our dirty mitts on a preview copy, and it was full of syrupy disco beats, snotty vocals and guitars that are so crunchy that you'll think you have rice bubbles in your ears. Opening track You Like It sees vocalist Vito Lucarelli taunting the listener with the line, "You like it, you like it, tell me how much you like it". It's sounds like a naughty kid teasing other children because his mummy has just gotten him a Sega Mega Drive but no one else is allowed to play with it.
Hands Say Clap Clap is shiny electro rock genius that will make you as giddy as a nine-year-old who's just ingested an entire packet of blue Smarties. Think boppy beats, catchy melodies born out of distorted guitar and synths, and catchy vocals that will make you want to punch the air like Jet Li. If you're going to see 8 Bit Love live, you should definitely put away your high heels and wear your dancing shoes.
Paper-Deer had a little sneaky in-time with bass man Matt 'Darvo' Darveniza because quite honestly, you can't spell "badass" without "bass".
The names 8 Bit Love and Super Mario Lovers sound like they’re a bit inspired by retro video games. Are they?
Yeah, there was definitely a bit of inspiration by retro video games in both the name for the band and EP. We’re all a little nerdy on the inside, and revel in the occasional game from way back when we were kids.
So, while we are on a geeky topic, what are you favourite video games?
I’m going to have to cop out a bit here and go with all the classic Mario titles as our favs, particularly some of the Super Nintendo ones. Classics. Although we’re not impartial to a bit of Donkey Kong, or Duck Hunter either.
What does each band member bring to 8 Bit Love?
Vito (singer/guitarist/keys) brings some crazy riffs and hooks, as well as the most complicated pedal/synth/guitar/laptop setup I’ve ever witnessed, and some massive sounds along with it all. Being the front man, he’s also responsible for having a heap of charisma and personality. Simon (drums) tends to bring a pure and raw sense of enthusiasm to all of his performances, can be relied on for a solid disco beat, as well as a whole lot of antics to keep the rest of us on our feet. I play bass and keys, and bring a whole lot of charisma and energy to the stage, but I lead a sort of double life, being a closet nerd and getting really shy as soon as I get off the stage.
You’re just about to drop your EP Super Mario Lovers. What was the writing process for the EP like?
I guess you’d say the writing “process” was really long in some aspects. A couple of the tracks on the EP, Unsightly Cowards and Hands Say Clap Clap, have been in the works since 2008. The beds of the songs tend to come out pretty quickly, but the subtleties and nuances and little things of each song often take a long time to fully form. Vito usually comes into rehearsals with either a cool riff he wants to flesh out, or sometimes a rough vision for a song, and then we’ll spend hours just jamming and improvising around those ideas. Eventually we’d get a feel for what really worked, and try to take the best of those and form them into the sections for a song. After the structure of parts is all sorted, Vito will go away to work on some lyrics, and by next rehearsal, the song will have really taken form. We go on and add a few extra bits and pieces later on if we feel necessary, but the core of the song usually comes together pretty quickly, and is usually well thought out.
Is it hard capturing your live energy into a recording?
We actually had a lot of trouble trying to find the right balance of energy versus studio quality when we first attempted some demos for the EP. We tried to add too many extra parts and instruments to the songs, and the excitement of the live performance was somewhat lost.
But when we got to the studio this time, we decided that we’d try and replicate the live feel as much as possible for a more energetic record. Most of the recording was all done with us playing in the same room at the same time, similar to how we’d play live, with each of us feeding off the others for the energy required to truly replicate our live shows. In the end, the result turned out great, and the record really reflects what you should expect from our live shows, minus a few surprises we save just for the live crowds.
What would you say to convince people to grab a copy of Super Mario Lovers?
If you’re looking for a record that you can dance around to anywhere, and will stay in your head for weeks and not get old, Super Mario Lovers is definitely your kind of record.
8 Bit Love has played at Push Over Festival and has been called every nice thing under the sun by music reviewers. What’s your secret to success?
We’ve been trying to figure that one out for a while now, but I think it really comes down to a love of all kinds of music, and staying really hyped about it all. We regularly go out and see all sorts of bands, and always take some inspiration back with us, no matter what the style is. We try to incorporate all sorts of stuff into the music to get a unique sound that people don’t expect. But more than that, I think the best trick is just to make sure you’re having fun because the audience tends to notice, and then they’ll have a blast too. For us it’s all about enthusiasm, energy and fun.
8 Bit Love has lots of digital noises and you use Mac Books. Have you ever run into problems with all that technology dying on you during performances?
It’s a pretty common occurrence for something to go wrong with one of our setups halfway through a show. But that’s all part of the game I guess, and it definitely keeps us on our toes. And sometimes it forces us to improvise, and we’ll accidentally happen across something really cool because of it.
What is the band’s absolutely favourite song to perform and go ape-shit to live at gigs?
I think Hands Say Clap Clap is the true standout as far as freak-out songs go. We nearly always try to save it for last, and slowly build the energy throughout the song, until we reach a massive explosion of sound at the end, involving cowbells, yelling, screeching delay pedals, more exercise and running around than I get otherwise all year, and usually a lot of knocked over cymbal stands and drums, depending how nice Simon’s been to us over the last week.
Any embarrassing secrets about 8 Bit Love's past that you can divulge with Paper-Deer?
Oh gee... The first band that Simon and I were in back in Year 9 was called Alektoraphobia (meaning a fear of chickens) and we only knew one song, Seven Nation Army. We thought we were pretty awesome, being in a band and all, and entered a local battle of the bands, not realizing that we’d be expected to play more than just one song. We got up there, played Seven Nation Army for our sound check since it was all we knew, and then played it again after sound check, and we somehow stuffed up halfway through and stopped. So rather than bailing out of shame like we should’ve, we started again, and played the song the whole way through. It’s a good thing that apart from our parents, no one else was really there. I’d like to think we’ve come a little way since those days…
Apparently this is the new shit when it comes to wrinkle treatment.
- Friday August 20: Revolver Upstairs [Super Mario Lovers EP launch with Rush In Attack and Samson]
- Friday August 27: Yahoo Bar, Shepparton [Super Mario Lovers EP launch with Sampson and Apollo)
- Sunday October 31: The Abbotsford Convent [World Vegan Day]
- Facebook event page for Super Mario Lovers EP launch
- 8 Bit Love MySpace
- 8 Bit Love on Triple J Unearthed
- 8 Bit Love on Twitter
you got Vito exactly right there.
ReplyDeletegreat review!