Twelve Drummers Drumming

It seems like all too often actual bands (you know, those who play all their instruments live and don't just press the presets on their synthesizers) get over looked for the latest and greatest remix artist. Hell, I do it myself on this blog. But I'm man enough to admit it and rectify my mistakes. Like right now. So cast your attention towards Sydney indie-rock mainstays Lost Valentinos. The band have had a somewhat quiet, yet eventful, year, bunking down in the studio whilst staving off law-suits from Bobby Womack's suits. But the band did thankfully slip out a new single, the Ewan Pearson produced 17 Deaths, which was an absolute stunner. I managed to score a chat with the band's bassist and media Kingpin, Pat Santamaria, to talk about all things Lost Valentinos. Check it out.
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Dave: So firstly, how’s everything in the Lost Valentinos camp, post-name change and the departure of Daniel?

Pat: Things are good. I’m feeling like we’re all a little more focused than we have been before, and things are starting to really fall into place like they should’ve already been.

D: So you’re where you want to be right now?

P: Yeah I think so. It was difficult for us for a while there, we were searching for a drummer and we had to change our name. We were in a bit of a hole. It wasn’t musically or anything like that, but it was just something we had to overcome and we’ve really broken through that now. We’ve got our heads down and things are happening.

D: Well I can see that even from an outsider’s perspective; you guys have signed to all these fancy labels and have done some tours overseas, so it seems like things are going great. How’s being on Kitsune? It must be pretty awesome, because honestly, it doesn’t get much cooler than that.

P: Yeah man, it’s really good to have these cool and smart people overseas interested in what we’re trying to do. They actually found us on MySpace, which was really weird. But yeah, one day they contacted us on our page and just said that they liked our music and then when we were in Europe last year we hung out with them and showed them some of the stuff we’d been working on and I think they just fell in love with the way that we do things. It’s contagious. So we’re really tight now.

D: With Kitsune as your label overseas, you’re actually signed with Mosquito’s Tweeter down here. They’re a pretty small up and coming label, what made you guys sign with them?

P: We were their first signing, so before us there was nothing and before them we were nothing. I think we went them because it was an opportunity to grow as artists alongside the label, instead of having our music taken away from us. Their goals were our goals, and our goals their goals. It gave us a chance to be involved in the decision making process, and not be too distant from what goes on in label world. We’re all close.

D: Well, it’s only two people right? So I guess that means that things a pretty close-knit, right?

P: Well yeah, you can’t really get more indie than that, can you? We just didn’t want to go down a major label path at that point. We were still deciding what our sound was and what our direction was. It’s too easy to get roped into signing with a major and then get stuck with your sound forever.

D: So there was no knocking at your door from the big boys?

P: There was some knocking but I don’t think it was really whole-hearted knocking. So we found it pretty easy to ignore their knocks.

D: From the first taste of your new material, 17 Deaths, it seems like you guys have mixed things up a bit. Like, the single sounds incredible. Listening to it, it sounds very polished and very slick. I’m not even in the band and I’m ecstatic with how it sounds.

P: Yeah man, we’re really happy with how it turned out, it’s just the first taste in how the album is going to sound when its finished.

D: You’ve been recording with Ewan Pearson, which is absolutely huge, how did you get him on board for the record?

P: We’d been keeping our eye out for a producer and Ewan was touring here in January and he was this major long-shot for us. But when we invited him down to the studio to see if he wanted to work with us, he was really keen. That was the first surprise. Then he came along for a couple of days and we recorded 17 Deaths together. It was fucking amazing. To be in the studio with him was a very humbling experience. It wasn’t all about him and it wasn’t all about us, it was really collaborative. All we wanted to do was learn off the guy but he obviously heard something in our music which he liked and wanted to bring out of us.

D: How will the album differ from the first two EPs, Pat?

P: Well, we’ve really taken time out to write an album’s worth of music. It’s a complete piece of work. It’ll be a coherent piece of work, conceptually and musically. The first two EPs were drawn together from a bunch of songs we had lying around. This is different.

D: Lastly Pat, what do you say to the haters out there?

P: There’s a lot them out there, but really, they don’t know what’s happening. I haven’t met a hater that I haven’t been able to change. Some people hate just because they have to hate something. You can’t give it too much weight, really.

D: Personally, I know before I’d even heard a note out of you guys I was predisposed to hate you.

P: I completely get that, I’m the same way. If something’s being shoved down my throat of course I’m going to hate it. That’s just natural. But if you look at us, we’ve been indie from the fucking start. It’s going to stay that way. We don’t leave it up to the machinations of someone above us. We’re dedicated to what we do. It’s who we are. So the haters can hate us until they really find out about us. Then they probably won’t hate us at all.

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That was pretty long. Sorry. But it was a good chat. Annnnnnd it kept on going. In fact there's more of it. We'll be continuing this chat come tomorrow, but the post will be dedicated to Lost Valentinos hit machine side-project, The Knife Machine, who are racking up a catalogue of brilliant remixes. What can I say, I truly am a sucker for a good remix.

In the meantime the band have all but finished recordings for their new disc and will be dishing out some super groovy new tunes over the next couple of weeks. You can catch the lads at the Sydney Festival on January 5th and before that at the Oxford Arts Factory's NYE mega-bash alongside Van She, Teenagersintokyo, 123 Amazing and an extra special secret headliner. Will. Be. Huge. Tix here.
Now, finally, here's some music! I've upped a whole bunch of top stuff from the boys, all with my highest recommendation, so if you didn't know before, check 'em out, okay? Okay. There's the super-duper single 17 Deaths, as well as Hey Now's similarly great remix of that tune. Of course I had to put up the band's classic Man With The Gun and also Ajax's mix of Face Is On The Wall which I never realised how bloody fantastic it was until recently when I gave it another go. All excellent stuff. What you waiting for?

Lost Valentinos - 17 Deaths [HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION]

Lost Valentinos - 17 Deaths (Hey Now Remix) [HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION]

Lost Valentinos - Man With The Gun [HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION]

Lost Valentinos - Face Is On The Wall (Ajax Remix) [HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION]

If you like what you hear then check back tomorrow for Knife Machine-goodies and then next week-ish maybe for a something very, very special.

Lost Valentinos MySpace
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