Words by Ash Kissane

Brooklyn’s, Chairlift were hurled onto the world stage early in the game and have since shown no sign of slowing down. Before they had even released their first album, Apple snatched up their single, “Bruises” for their nano ad campaign, giving the band instant worldwide exposure. The band managed to work it completely in their favour, unhindered by any Apple-ad stigma that has attached itself to many a band before them, and proving themselves to be one of the best break-out bands of 2008. In January this year, Chairlift released their second album, Something on Young Turk, a sophisticated, intelligent, synth-pop record continuing their success. MM caught up with Chairlift’s, Patrick Wimberley (producer/drummer) from a studio in Brooklyn, to discuss their music, touring, and what’s coming up for Chairlift.

MM: How did Chairlift come together? C: Caroline and I met at university probably around 2004. I think it was the first night that she’d come to college and I was playing in a different band at a show downtown, and she came up and introduced herself after the show. A couple [of] weeks later, she was singing in that band, but that band only lasted for five or six months. I didn’t really see Caroline for one or two years after that, but when I did see her two years later, she had moved to New York like I had done and she was in this band Chairlift, which was just her and one other guy. I saw them play, like the first week I was living in New York, and I just thought to myself, “I have to join this band,” then I was in the band a couple weeks later. So our roles have kind of changed since when we met a couple of years earlier.

MM: What was the process like writing your second album, Something? It’s quite different from your first, is it a collaborative effort when writing new material? C: This record we wrote everything together. As soon as we finished touring our first record, we rented this room in Brooklyn and the back of this antique shop and started writing songs every day. We did that for the next eight months, in this small room that had this baby grand piano and drum set, and I brought all my production equipment and we just started writing and we were in there every day from about 11am until 10pm just cranking out every idea that we could possibly come up with. We ended up with about 46 songs in that period, and 11 of our favourites made it on our record.

MM: Who are some of your influences do you think? There’s been a lot of comparisons to 80s bands but I read you guys weren’t really into that before you released your first album? C: Some of it did come from ’80s music. On our first record people started comparing us to bands from the ’80s, then that was when we both started listening to these bands that people would tell us that we sounded like, and we realised that we liked a lot of them. By the time we got to making this record, we had a lot of influence from all over the place. I was listening to a lot of David Bowie and a lot of hip hop; I’m really into hip hop production. It was kind of all that I listened to for at least eight months while we were making this record. So there’s subtle things you can hear from that side but I guess it comes from all over the place. Sometimes it’s not even music that the inspiration comes from, it could be a pretty lamp in the corner of the room, who knows.

MM: How do you think living in Brooklyn has helped develop your music? It seems to produce a constant flow of talent… C: There’s a lot of people here that we really look up to and bands we were really into when we first getting started. We found ourselves making friends with a lot of people who were making interesting music, wherever you can find that is a good place but it’s not the only city in the world that has that going on.

MM: Do you have a favourite track on the album? C: I have different favourites at different times but I think right now, “Wrong Opinion” is my favourite track off the record.

MM: Getting “Bruises” on the Apple ad must have been a crazy thing, how do you think you’ve changed since then as a band? There are a lot of people who still associate Chairlift with that ad… C: When Apple put that song on the ad we hadn’t even put out our first record yet. That track was on the first record and I think that ad probably came out two months before. We went from the band who people in New York knew about to all of a sudden, overnight, our song was being heard all around the world, which was shocking to say the least.

MM: What’s your favourite gig experience so far? C: I would actually say the Laneway Festival tour we did in February this year; it was the best tour we’ve ever been on. We made so many great friends on that tour, played with a lot of amazing bands, and got to see beautiful Australia in the summertime.

MM: It wasn’t as good at the Brisbane show, the weather was so bad but you guys had a great set. C: Yeah, yeah I remember that, we still had a good time. It was fun. Sometimes festivals are better when it rains, they kind of have a different energy. We were in Brussels last weekend at this festival called Dourfest and we played on the Sunday evening and it had been raining all weekend and people were just walking around in mud up to their knees like it was totally normal. It didn’t stop anyone, it was amazing.

MM: So do you prefer festivals or smaller gigs? C: They’re totally different. A gig at a club or venue, you have more of a controlled space and you kind of get to bring people into your own world, whereas at a festival, you kind of have twenty minutes to set up all your stuff and you just go with it. But the energy is awesome, really high at the festival sets and that always feels good.

MM: Who are you listening to at the moment? C: I’ve been listening to this guy called Karl Blau. I just found him on Spotify when I was on R. Stevie Moore’s page and looking at similar artists and I found this guy Karl Blau’s page, and I’m kind of obsessed with him right now.

MM: If you could collaborate with anyone who would it be? C: Probably Jay Z.

MM: Are you working on anything new at the moment? C: Right now, like actually right now, I’m in the studio with a band producing an EP for them. Next week, Caroline and I are getting together to work on some new material and different live arrangements, then we tour for a little while, then we’re going to make another record with Das Racist, which I’m super excited about. I love being in the studio, I can’t help it. I fill all of my days up with studio time.

MM: Are you going to pursue producing? Is that a direction you want to head in? C: Yeah it’s a big passion of mine.

MM: What are you looking forward to coming up? C: Right now I’m really looking forward to having the next week to work on new material. The both of us have literally been on tour for the past seven or eight months, and I’m at home for a couple of weeks, so not going to lie, this is what I am looking forward to.

Pulbished on Moustache Magazine