F*ck Buttons - ClashMusic.com Q&A

In 2008, Bristol-spawned and London-based duo Fuck Buttons emerged as the most exciting new noise group in the universe.

With a conglomerate of unconventional sonic equipment, the highly emotive, atmospheric, and quite often volcanic noise this duo produces has rekindled a lust for an innovative sound experience. Those who’ve allowed the lustrous waves of Fuck Buttons' sumptuous cacophonies into their hearts this year will no doubt subscribe to the truth that Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power have mastered the poise of abrasiveness and tranquillity, needling them together with an innate feel for atmosphere.

With the critically adored ‘Street Horrrsing’ album inspiring an ungodly amount of live dates, Fuck Buttons have enjoyed the kind of year that only insinuates much greater things to come. Clash speaks to Power about Mogwai member and producer John Cummings, hearing loss and this very exciting time for music…

So, how’s things?
Well, our last show of the year was in Bergen, in Norway; we’ve been on tour since February so we are pretty thrilled to have finished. We don’t have to get up to early in the morning to travel anywhere to early, so I think we can all celebrate.

Bergen wasn’t part of your tour with Mogwai, was it?
No, we finished the tour with Mogwai and had our own European dates afterwards, like two weeks of headline shows. This year has been fantastic for us: we’ve visited a lot of places that we’ve never been before, that we’d have never dreamed of going to, and met a lot of new people. It’s been really great.

You have been voted in the Top 10 of Clash’s newcomers for 2008 (see current issue). For an experimental and ambient outfit, do you feel that’s quite an achievement?
I feel like we are in a real exciting time for music of our world, experimental acts, due to the way that the whole music industry is changing. A lot more people are downloading music and using the Internet to actually discover these new bands. I think it’s really exciting for a band like us in the sense that we can afford to live from what we do and actually do what we do, all the time. It’s fantastic and to be featured in a lot of end-of-year top tens, it’s just great for anybody, including us. It’s a privilege that people are actually paying attention and we’ll just keep doing what we do.

I guess it’s more of a privilege since there are certain limitations on experimental music that doesn’t have that generic chorus verse and lyrical structure. Do you feel there has been a greater need to explain your music since it doesn’t fit a standard rock/pop format?
I don’t really find we have to explain ourselves, as people are just kind of interested. I guess maybe it means an extra hurdle in that sense, but we are just making the exact kind of music that we want to hear I guess, through experimentation. Like I said before, I feel like we are in exciting times at the moment. I don’t really think any hurdles are going to cause too much of a problem for any band at the moment, you know, when it comes to the music anyhow.

So before Fuck Buttons, were you disenchanted with music? What were you listening to?
Maybe that was the wrong thing to say. I guess our song writing process comes from… We experiment a lot with whatever kind of instrumentation we can lay our hands on, or that makes a sound basically, so I guess that was the point I was trying to make there.

Yeah, I’ve noticed the press have really picked up on the ‘Fuck Buttons make music with toys’ premise and run with that…
It’s not exclusively toys, though – that’s something that the press has liked to pick up on because it’s an interesting idea. When we first started we were studying at university and we didn’t have much money, so the cheaper the instrumentation the better really.

What a fitting headline for the current recession...
Yeah, I guess so…

So which instrument would people find most bizarre?
Most people would mention the Fisher Price karaoke machine that I have on stage at the moment; it kicks off some pretty intense sounds when put through effects peddles.

How big or popular do you think music made from Fisher Price paraphernalia can be? You’ve suggested it’s exciting times, but how mainstream can you roam?
I think it’s exciting in that anything can happen. I think these times are really exciting for any band pushing new and interesting kind of sounds; in terms of how far you can go with it, well, it’s as far as you want to really. If you’re willing to put the work in I think now is a time when you can get rewarded if you’re abstract or experimental.

So as 2008 draws to a close, how is your hearing?
It’s okay. After the Mogwai tour I was feeling pretty deaf, but we have to put earplugs in sometimes. I think Andy tends to put ear plugs in more than I do, but that’s probably because my hearing is a bit poor anyway. There are certain times when it’s kind of impossible not to have them in because we like it to be as loud for us as it is for the people in the audience.

Now to ‘Street Horrrsing’, released this year after working with Mogwai’s John Cummings…
When ATP first approached us about putting out a record for us, Barry from ATP was like, “Think where you want to record and who you want to record with”. At the time we didn’t really know a lot of producers of music, but we thought of John Cummings from Mogwai because we knew the band had a studio called the Castle of Doom, which they were partners in. So we decided to ask John, though unfortunately we couldn’t use the Castle of Doom. We ended up recording in a studio called Drop Out.

What is it about ‘Street Horrrsing’ that people connected with?
Maybe the whole reason it’s taken off and people have really paid a lot of attention to it is because I guess noise music, and I hate to kind of box anything in, especially ourselves, but when we first started we were playing really, really abrasive noise music. It was confrontational and wasn’t very welcoming. I guess there was a real trend with noise music at the time, and we were kind of involved with that. But then we let our subconsciousness take over and it because a little more beautiful and welcoming.

What your own personal top albums from 2008?
New albums… we have some friends in Brooklyn in a band called Growing, and they recently bought a new record out called ‘All The Way’ and it’s amazing. A lot of people have actually referred to us as their transatlantic kin, which is kind of nice particularly when I think their album is incredible. You should listen to it.

Any other album highlights from 2008?
This is always a real funny question. I know there are loads of new records I’ve been listening to, but my mind always kind of goes blank. You know when you walk into a record shop and you’re like, “I know there are things I want here, but I just can’t…”

What about records that have featured in the tour bus in 2008?
We’re both big fans of Suicide and the first Suicide record. We were turned onto Suicide quite late – obviously they have been around for ages but, um, it’s still really exciting for us to listen to and I guess it will be in 20 years because it’s kind of timeless, that record. It’s so forward thinking.

What about overall highlights as a band for 2008?
I think the highlight of this year has actually been this year. It’s just incredible because everything that’s happened for us as a band has happened this year, and it’s happened so quickly, just like a whirlwind. You know, everybody we’ve been working with - our manager our record label - we couldn’t have hoped for a greater group of people to be around and to work with. Everything has just gone perfectly and gone so quickly, we’ve literally been swept off our feet after how it’s all happened. This year I will remember for the rest of my life, and I’m sure I can speak for Andy when I say that.

And in 2009...?
Hopefully we get to have another one like this one, you know! Keep on writing, and keep on seeing places we haven’t seen before and playing shows to people who have never heard us. I’d quite like to go to some other more bizarre places next year… we’ll see.

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Fuck Buttons’ ‘Street Horrrsing’ album is out now via ATP; their track ‘Bright Tomorrow’ featured in Clash’s Top 40 of 2008 – click HERE to read the article.

Find Fuck Buttons on MySpace HERE.