Unknown Mortal Orchestra managed to maintain their composure when the single Ffunny Ffriends appeared on the internet with no information or credits listing who created it.
The song’s popularity took off and roaming packs of bloggers began an internet manhunt to discover who made this wonderful single. Ruban Neilson, formerly of New Zealand experimental rock-pop band The Mint Chicks and founding member of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, eventually raised his hand and took credit for the track.
“When I first started, I thought it would be more basic: Someone would like the song, they’d listen to it and that would be that. When it started taking off, it was funny because no one knew who made the music, and I didn’t want anyone to know it was me, I mean, even my family didn’t know I had started making music again. It wasn’t me trying to hide or anything, I just didn’t think the knowledge of my involvement was a necessary factor for the song’s popularity. And I was right.”
A beginning as humble as that only made Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s success that much more impressive. After finally being ‘outed’, the band went all out, releasing their debut self-titled record in 2011 via Possum Records. The album won the Taite Music Award, as well as being nominated for Best Alternative Album at the New Zealand Music Awards (with Ruban himself winning Best Male Artist). More recently, the band has won several awards for their second album II.
“It’s a bit weird to go from our quiet beginnings to winning awards and having such notice and reception. I’ve been working so hard for so many years now that it doesn’t seem as weird as it used to. When we first started getting noticed, there was a bidding war between my favourite labels to sign us. That was weird. To have such amazing labels fighting over each other to get us, it was pretty surreal. It doesn’t feel that weird now because it just feels like my job.”
No matter what beginnings the band may have had, the band’s success was never in question, thanks to the incredible sound and atmosphere their music possesses.
Driven by an intoxicating groove, the band’s simple and psychedelic sounds are underlined by the expansive tones and atmosphere evident in all their songs.
“Our music usually starts out with a sound. I’ll mix with a pedal and a mood and an ambient noise; some pretty weird sounding stuff basically and then I’ll start working to get the atmosphere and mood right before we begin to turn it into a more understood song.”
On top of their musical signature, the band have also gained quite the reputation for non-stop touring and partying. After the release of their Blue Record EP, the band went on tour for almost a year straight. II was also conceived and written while on tour. Ruban finds that both touring and studio time have their equal but very separate effects on the band.
“I like them both the same, even though they’re opposites. I’ll do one and then want to do the other. I definitely need to do both of these things. It’s like I’ll want to be alone and write and record music, and I enjoy doing that, but if I do it too long it starts to feel as if I’m unemployed and I begin to wonder what’s going on in the world outside my door. So we go touring and it feels great again, very freeing while having that sense of work and accomplishment. The downside is that we can get strung out and narky with each other and need some alone time, which is difficult to do when you have to work with the same people day in day out for such a long time.”
The high physical and emotional strain that touring takes on a band and its members is well documented.
“We party a lot. It’s one way to deal with the stress. It’s probably the best way. But, I mean, we think about it a lot and we always worry about moral. Like, if everyone has been working too hard, I’ll send everyone to a spa, tell them to get a massage. Everyone can get a bit touchy, and it’s a weird thing to be stuck with the same people all the time, you have to be careful not to annoy anyone.
“I mean, I bought everyone a present for Christmas recently so right now, everyone is still in high spirits!”
Booked for a performance at the St Jerome’s Laneway festival this year, as well as other tour dates across Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Unknown Mortal Orchestra is lining up for another big year.
“I’m looking forward to going to China, I’ve never been there before and I’m quite excited. Also coming back to NZ and Aus and hanging out with some friends there. The St Jerome’s Festival will be great, the band will still be touring and it’ll be awesome, but we won’t be touring as much, instead we’ll be getting some studio time to get the next album ready. It’s going to be a good year.”
BY DANIEL PRIOR
