Interview: Fuck Buttons

'Abrasive', 'experimental' and 'aggressive' aren't words you'd usually associate with an Olympics Opening Ceremony song, but three of Fuck Buttons' tracks — including 'Olympians' from their 2009 album Tarot Sport — were featured during Danny Boyle's four-hour epic, with one track being performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. The Queen looked on. Muhammad Ali was there. Seriously.

Fuck Buttons formed in 2006 with a distinctive sound that, in retrospect, was in many ways ahead of its time. Known for their playful approach to drone and electronica, Fuck Buttons' Andrew Hung and Benjamin Power are coming out to Australia for Harvest Festival.

Ariane Halls: Where are you right now?
Andy: We're in my flat at the moment, in London. 

Are you going to be there for the Olympics? 
Ben: I will be here for the Olympics, and Andrew you're going to go back to your parents, right? 
Andy: Yeah.

Have you ever been in a city when the Olympics is on? 
Ben: No, but did you, living in Sydney?

Yeah, it was amazing. I mean, I was underage so it was a bit strange — I was 17 — but the party atmosphere was pretty incredible. I recommend it. If you were in the Olympics, what sport do you think you'd be doing? 
Andy: [Laughs] I was really good at shotput, actually, when I was younger. 

Shotput, right. You must have a strong shoulder.
Andy: [Both laughing] Yeah, yeah. That's right. 

I saw you in 2009 when you played at All Tomorrow's Parties. I was sober, but when you opened with 'Sweet Love for Planet Earth' it made me feel as though I was on drugs. Is that your aim when you're making music?
Andy: How would you describe the feeling of drugs, first of all? 

Like… totally disassociated from being there. I don't remember anything that was going on around me, and it was like everyone was… there were two halves in the crowd — the right half was just sitting there looking like they were stoned and the left half were dancing like they were all on acid. It was amazing.  
Andy: Yeah, I think Ben and I feel the same about music in that we like it to be slightly disorientating — that's the fun of music — and for us, with Fuck Buttons, what we normally hinge our interests on is the hypnotic element of it. They're pretty simple tracks thathave been moulded into these kind of continuous, perpetual loops, which, I find, allows us to — as you said — disassociate, and I think that's really great fun when it comes to those things. That's what we enjoy when we play our music.

What are some of the stranger things you've used to make music?
Ben: In the early days I would use the inside of a washing machine with contact mics when we were playing live.

When the machine was on, or off?
Ben: [Laughs] No, just the drum from the inside. It wouldn't really be very much fun carrying a whole washing machine around.

Have you seen that video where they explode a washing machine by putting a brick inside of it?
Ben: I did see that video actually, yeah.

That might be a bit hard to mic up. You're coming to Australia for Harvest — do you have anything special planned for the show?
Andy: We're still planning the logistics of the festival actually, but we're really excited about coming out there again. I guess in that way it's already feeling special for us, and we're looking forward to getting our stuff together for it.

Do you get to spend much time out here this time?
Ben: I hope so. Ideally I'd like to get over a bit earlier. I've got friends there, and the last time we were in Australia we had a great time — it was one of my favourite tours we've been on — so I really hope that we do get some time to relax.

Are you friends with any other Australian musicians?
Ben: Yeah. We're labelmates with The Drones so we're friends with them, and our good friends HTRK; the guys from Devastations… 

Who are you most excited to see at Harvest?
Andy: I'm looking forward to seeing Beck actually, I haven't seen him in quite a few years. Liars, I haven't seen them in a while. Who else?
Ben: Fuck Buttons? 
Andy: Fuck Buttons — yeah, they're really cool [laughs].

You haven't released anything for quite a while because you've been busy touring. What are your plans for the next while?
Ben: We've actually been writing and recording our next record so that has pretty what has been taking up our time at the moment, which is going well. 

Do you have an estimated release date?
Ben: Ah, no. Not really. We don't want to rush things, but you know, we don't want to take forever. We don't have a date for you yet unfortunately, but, you know, it's gonna happen.

We've just released our 100th issue, and the theme is 'Dream'. What's the best dream you've ever had?
Andy: Have you heard of Pamela Anderson? [Both laugh] No, I'm joking. During the last few months or so it's actually felt quite boring — I normally have these dreams about having really superior accommodation to what I've got now. I'm loving these massive rooms that I live in, and then I'll wake up and go, "Oh, that's really annoying."

Fuck Buttons will be joined at Harvest by Beck, Cake, Mike Patton's Mondo Cane, Liars, Sigur Ros, Santigold, Beirut, The Dandy Warhols, and a myriad of other incredible acts.
November 11 - Werribee Park, Melbourne
November 17 - Parramatta Park, Sydney
November 18 - Botanical Gardens, Brisbane
Tickets are available here. Get yours now!

Introduction: Dijana Kumurdian
Interview: Ariane Halls