Cut Copy battles Customs, invades America

By Kelsey Whipple
Sept. 2, 2008

At this year's Pitchfork Music Festival, Cut Copy pulled off the unthinkable - surviving a seven-hour battle with U.S. Customs to return to a crowd that had just watched Jay Reatard shove a rose stem up his asshole for the last hour of the set the Aussies were supposed to be playing.

But perhaps most miraculous of all was the fact that, though the electro threesome would only end up playing 20 minutes, people stayed. And for 20 minutes, they danced.

"We were so lucky that we even got to play that one," guitarist Tim Hoey says. Although his end of the phone is at least another several time zones away, you can almost hear the headshake. "We didn't think we were going to play at all. I can't even remember playing any of that set, but I do remember (lead singer) Dan (Whitford) turning around and saying, 'Are you ready to go?' I was like, 'I actually have no idea.'"

The past 12 months mark a year in which Cut Copy has gone from near obscurity to festivals like Pitchfork and Coachella, all the while peddling their refreshingly retrogressive brand of electro-pop. As he starts general and moves to specific, Hoey's mannered voice hones in on what he strongly insists is the point: Cut Copy is in it for the long haul.

"We've really challenged ourselves this time, and it's great that people are picking up on (the new album)," Hoey says. "I really like watching a band growing and getting a career rather than being chewed up and spit out after one record, because that's depressing. We have so many more ideas - that won't happen to us."

Hoey's take on the album is as positive as its songs are, and where Cut Copy is concerned, the veneer doesn't wear off.

"Hold on a second. Let me ask Mitchell (Scott) that question. Mitchell, what band's career would you like ours to model?" Hoey asks the Cut Copy drummer.

"Not The Beach Boys."

Later on, Scott's laughter floods the background as Hoey describes the worst part of touring: packing.

"We lie about the weights of our bags when we fly, because we get absolutely caned otherwise," Hoey says. Behind his story, Scott giggles his agreement. "I guess I can tell you, 'cos you're in America. We put our light bags up and then take them down. Then we fidget with them and put them back up again. I think we've been living (a lie) on a daily basis."

Hoey speaks with an Australian accent about as subtle as the extra 'U' in the band's album title, In Ghost Colours. In April, fans who expected to file In Ghost Colours next to the band's first release, Bright Like Neon Love, were directly confronted by the influence of DFA Records' Tim Goldsworthy this time around.

"Tim was up for some really kind of weird ways of recording stuff, using instruments we had never thought of using before and various effects pedals and stuff like that," Hoey says. "There were just endless hours of building layers and layers of sound, and we came up with some interesting textural things that really helped with the kind of cosmic sounds on this album. We wanted to try more psychedelic pop, as opposed to straight-on pop."

Hoey doesn't use the word "pop" lightly. In a span of 25 minutes, he drops the genre name 20 times, a direct nod to his band's '80s-conscious adherence to the style: There's New Order there, but it's next to ELO.

"When we finished the record, we realized it was definitely a lot stronger, but we felt it was more of a grower," Hoey says, pausing. "We in Cut Copy kind of wear our influences on our sleeves at times. Bright Like Neon Love was more immediate pop music, whereas In Ghost Colours has noisy guitars and stuff like that and references music that isn't that cool, like ELO."

If Cut Copy turned out cooler than some of its predecessors, it shows. Their second effort earned the band a No. 1 album chart spot in their home country and the right to laugh about it, which Hoey exercises periodically.

"I don't think the first album even charted in our country," he says, cueing a chuckle. "Oh, well."

This time around, Cut Copy is one among a handful of its Australian peers being referred to as the "Australian invasion," a group that includes the band's tour mates, The Presets.

"There really is kind of an invasion, and it's kind of funny for all of us, the other bands as well," Hoey says. "We all come from such different backgrounds, and it's great to know that this is happening to us all at the same time. It's kind of hard to talk about something while it's happening, but the exciting thing is that it's happening."

And the best part?

"The best part of being in Cut Copy is all of it."

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