Mixed Passion - Gotye
April 27th 2008 06:50
Ashleigh Dollin chats with Wally De Backer from Gotye about his many passions
“It’s pretty much my life at the moment trying to do a couple of things at the same time which doesn’t usually agree with me” Wally De Backer says down the line, his voice growing faint every now and then as he sets up in the studio.
Wally De Backer, creator of Gotye and The Basics has been run off his feet with the popularity of his 2nd album Like Drawing Blood and the remix of that album Mixed Blood. Also winning the best male Aria in 2007 was a pleasant surprise.
“I’ve been told that when the camera was on me afterwards I clearly had a look on my face that was like “ah what?” (laughs) “oh oh OH MY GOD” (laughs). It was like I went through stages of bewilderment, disbelieve into like holy shit.”
Although Wally got his first drum kit when he was 16 it seems rhythm was flowing through his veins from a very early age.
“I had already been like playing pots and pans and on the side of the car door driving to places and stuff since I was like 5 years old.”
Wally is incredibly enthusiastic about drumming admitting to working out his frustrations and boosting his ego whilst on the kit.
“I could do a few grand scales on the piano but it would never feel quite as cool as nailing a huge drum part, there is something being quite physical and empowering about it.”
Wally only plays a little acoustic piano, guitar and percussion on his Gotye songs all the rest of the sounds are sampled, chopped up and mixed around until they take on a life of their own. Wally samples from old vinyl, cassettes, mp3s and videos.
Wally’s music is diverse, at one moment flowing, irresistibly melancholic and another upbeat and funny with sarcastic messages, directory assistance sound bites and geese honking.
When not immersing himself in a world of music Wally is a very passionate man; passionate about politics, Indigenous Australians and nuclear energy.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m not energetic or kind of passionate enough about this stuff because there are some seriously fucked things going on around the world that people like you and I should be getting angry about…
“There are some arrogant and nasty people who… [have] power and they have been misguided some how in their idea of what is right and good for people on the planet …
“Something like nuclear power… might make me go that’s it I can’t live in this country anymore and I don’t think I can move to Belgium [Wally’s home country] either because they have nuclear reactors on their door step from all angles...
“I hear about more and more people who are in the direct wind line [of the nuclear reactors] who have such an incredibly higher [precedence of] cancer in every family than there are in other populations that are down wind or not near the area… it’s fucking scary.”
The passion doesn’t stop here. It was partly due to this drive that Wally possesses which allowed him to successfully enter the music scene. Wally decided music was for him and didn’t even contemplate another career path.
“I think I got to the stage when I was like that’s cool you know, I’m not going to look for another career as another option, I’m just going to keep doing music as much as I can in my down time… [while I] do what ever job I need to do that is hopefully half decent enough for me to get dinner…. pay the bills and … whatever it costs to record and mix an album.”
Wally spent time working in a café and a library to make enough money to get by whilst spending as much time as possible in the studio. He said that the jobs could get boring but to keep him on his feet he took the glass half full stance.
“I’ve got to do this and I’ll make it as happy as I possibly can while I love doing music in the other spare time I have.”
copy right Ashleigh Dollin
“It’s pretty much my life at the moment trying to do a couple of things at the same time which doesn’t usually agree with me” Wally De Backer says down the line, his voice growing faint every now and then as he sets up in the studio.
Wally De Backer, creator of Gotye and The Basics has been run off his feet with the popularity of his 2nd album Like Drawing Blood and the remix of that album Mixed Blood. Also winning the best male Aria in 2007 was a pleasant surprise.
“I’ve been told that when the camera was on me afterwards I clearly had a look on my face that was like “ah what?” (laughs) “oh oh OH MY GOD” (laughs). It was like I went through stages of bewilderment, disbelieve into like holy shit.”
smile or burst.. Wally De Backer Gotye
Although Wally got his first drum kit when he was 16 it seems rhythm was flowing through his veins from a very early age.
“I had already been like playing pots and pans and on the side of the car door driving to places and stuff since I was like 5 years old.”
Wally is incredibly enthusiastic about drumming admitting to working out his frustrations and boosting his ego whilst on the kit.
“I could do a few grand scales on the piano but it would never feel quite as cool as nailing a huge drum part, there is something being quite physical and empowering about it.”
Wally only plays a little acoustic piano, guitar and percussion on his Gotye songs all the rest of the sounds are sampled, chopped up and mixed around until they take on a life of their own. Wally samples from old vinyl, cassettes, mp3s and videos.
Wally’s music is diverse, at one moment flowing, irresistibly melancholic and another upbeat and funny with sarcastic messages, directory assistance sound bites and geese honking.
When not immersing himself in a world of music Wally is a very passionate man; passionate about politics, Indigenous Australians and nuclear energy.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m not energetic or kind of passionate enough about this stuff because there are some seriously fucked things going on around the world that people like you and I should be getting angry about…
“There are some arrogant and nasty people who… [have] power and they have been misguided some how in their idea of what is right and good for people on the planet …
“Something like nuclear power… might make me go that’s it I can’t live in this country anymore and I don’t think I can move to Belgium [Wally’s home country] either because they have nuclear reactors on their door step from all angles...
“I hear about more and more people who are in the direct wind line [of the nuclear reactors] who have such an incredibly higher [precedence of] cancer in every family than there are in other populations that are down wind or not near the area… it’s fucking scary.”
The passion doesn’t stop here. It was partly due to this drive that Wally possesses which allowed him to successfully enter the music scene. Wally decided music was for him and didn’t even contemplate another career path.
“I think I got to the stage when I was like that’s cool you know, I’m not going to look for another career as another option, I’m just going to keep doing music as much as I can in my down time… [while I] do what ever job I need to do that is hopefully half decent enough for me to get dinner…. pay the bills and … whatever it costs to record and mix an album.”
Wally spent time working in a café and a library to make enough money to get by whilst spending as much time as possible in the studio. He said that the jobs could get boring but to keep him on his feet he took the glass half full stance.
“I’ve got to do this and I’ll make it as happy as I possibly can while I love doing music in the other spare time I have.”
copy right Ashleigh Dollin
| 111 |
| Vote |
