Interview w/ Gold Fields

Lots happening for Aussie collective Gold Fields as of late, in between hitting the road with the likes of Diamond Rings and St. Lucia. Some of the b3sci crew recently had the chance to catch up with singer Mark Fuller to ask a few questions about the band’s forthcoming music video and album, the legendary INXS and more! Check out our convo with the band below.

B3SCI: There’s a certain electro ethos surrounding Gold Fields’ sound. How would you sum it up?

GOLD FIELDS: Yeah there is. There are a few different things that I guess are consistent throughout the music we’ve written so far. Electronics is one of them and I guess it stands out because we play live as a full band. The electronic ethos has been there since we started writing music together and I guess it’s there because we all love lots of different electronic music. We didn’t really think a lot about it, to get the sounds we wanted, we just had to use synths and programming to get them so we did. We’re still learning a lot about all of that stuff.

B3SCI: Gold Fields’ remix work particularly has some synonymity with it’s originals? What is it about Gold Fields that makes anything you touch undeniably a Gold Fields project?

GOLD FIELDS: Vin and Ry do most of the work with the remixes. Over the past year they’ve been getting pretty handy with software and that definitely helped when we decided to record our album ourselves. All of the remixes we’ve done so far have been dance remixes but that’s not necessarily a rule and it wasn’t really on purpose… it’s just where we’ve felt we could take the song I guess. We’ve been busy finishing the album lately and the album is probably a lot less ‘dance-ish’ than the remixes we’ve done. So maybe any remixes from here on might be a bit different, who knows!

B3SCI: What sort of backgrounds cultivate the melting pot that is Gold Fields?

GOLD FIELDS: We all grew up in Ballarat in country Victoria and I don’t think our upbringings differed all that much, aside from Vin who was born in the Philippines and came to Australia when he was a kid. But all of us have a lot in common, mainly being that we all just obviously loved music and either learned or dabbled with instruments as kids and had our parents and families supporting what we were doing. We all grew up listening to pop before finding all sorts of alternative music when we started highschool… everything from Dr. Dre to Counting Crows.

B3SCI: Your single, “Dark Again” commands a dance floor. How have audiences taken to the track?

GOLD FIELDS: We’ve been playing it live for a fair while now, almost a year. Long before we recorded it and the response has always been good. But just recently we’ve noticed a big difference in the crowd when we play it, because some of them have heard the song on record, so they know the words and they know the parts, it’s still really new but it’s getting really fun to play.

B3SCI: Gold Fields have been all over the map gigging these past couple of months. What has been the most surreal part of your journey?

GOLD FIELDS: Yeah we’ve played almost 40 shows in the past 40 days I think. And we’ve driven 10 thousand miles in that time too. So the past month has just been driving around America and playing every day. And the next month is going to be like that too. We heard our music for the first time on American radio the other day, that was pretty cool. There have definitely been lots of highlights but it’s very blurry at the moment. Besides the shows, filming the video for “Dark Again” was a highlight too.

B3SCI: Cool a video! Any glimpses you can offer?

GOLD FIELDS: Yep we just filmed the video for “Dark Again” recently in LA. It was an amazing day and we’re really excited. As I said, it was a big highlight of the trip so far.. we’re really looking forward to seeing some of the stuff edited. It should be out in about 3 weeks I think.

B3SCI: How has this consistent flow of live performances affected the writing process and general cohesion of Gold Fields as a band?

GOLD FIELDS: Yeah we’re definitely getting pretty comfortable playing as a band. We already were but playing every day definitely drums it into you. We haven’t really had a minute to talk about writing as a band lately but I know all of this stuff is going to be heard somehow. I’m still penning stuff down heaps and I can’t wait to start writing again as a band.

B3SCI: What can fans expect to hear on your forthcoming full length and is there a nome decided for it yet?

GOLD FIELDS: Yeah it’s called Black Sun and it’s going to be out in Feb 26, 2013. I think “Dark Again” is a good introduction to it and follows on well out of the EP into the album. We are really happy with it and that’s all that we ever wanted so if other people enjoy it too, that will be a bonus. In general, recording of the album was such a massive journey that culminated in us scrapping it in it’s entirety and re-recording the whole thing ourselves in my parents garage. Having just absolute freedom to do whatever the five of us wanted to hear and not have to consider anything else really worked.

B3SCI: Is there a track on the forthcoming full length that you feel particularly proud of as a band?

GOLD FIELDS: Yeah a song called “Happy Boy” is my favorite song on the record. I think the other guys feel the same. I’m most proud of that one and another song called “Closest I Could Get” because I write the lyrics in the songs, and I guess there’s certain attachments to things emotionally, but funnily and weirdly those two songs weren’t written from my own perspective. “You’re Still Gone” isn’t from my perspective either… so maybe I prefer being a character in a song rather than being myself in a song.

B3SCI: Has the culture of Australia impacted the roots of Gold Fields’ music?

GOLD FIELDS: Yeah it definitely has. Our hometown, Ballarat has a really strong music community based around the one venue in town, the Karova Lounge… we sort of grew up there. We were sneaking in there when we were 16 and watching bands, to us it was the coolest place on earth and it probably still is. The owner, Willow, has helped us out a lot and so did the previous owner, Paddy. I guess more recently the electronic music coming out of Australia like Cut Copy, The Presets, Regurgitator, Pnau, Empire of the Sun, Flume… that sort of stuff has influenced out music definitely.

B3SCI: How does Gold Fields define what makes for a timeless record?

GOLD FIELDS: Something that doesn’t sound like an era and I guess it’s just about the songs… if the songs are truly good, then in 30 years time, the songs are still going to be truly good. When we recorded our album, we just disregarded anything other than what we thought sounded good.

B3SCI: Also, because we need to know, what was feeling was in Australia when INXS unveiled their search for a new frontman in the form of a Reality TV show?

GOLD FIELDS: Haha… There was a lot of people rolling their eyes and probably a few… or at least one person turning in his grave. RIP Michael Hutchence. INXS just actually announced they’re calling it a day. They were one of the greatest. Going back to the timeless record thing. “Kick” is one of those.

Questions by Brian and Mike

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Reviewed by b3