The Avalanches’ 2000 release Since I Left You is still touted as one of the best Australian albums of all time. Fans would have to wait 16 years for a follow-up, however, with the Melbourne-based electronic artists delayed by sample clearance issues and co-founder Robbie Chater’s diagnosis of a rare autoimmune disorder.
Wildflower is exactly the sonic bouquet we were waiting for, though. Like its predecessor, the Avalanches’ sophomore album has caught on like wildfire. Unlike its predecessor, this critically acclaimed 2016 release has seen the DJs gain traction in North America almost immediately. (Since I Left You, which was guzzled down by Australians like a six-pack of Fosters, required some time to make it to our continent.)
The Aussie collective (recently reduced to a duo) is nearing the home stretch of a tour that saw them land in Berlin, Amsterdam, Belgium, Paris, Bilbao, Lisbon, Portland and Vancouver. With only Germany and the US getting any substantial Avalanche tour warnings, we were able (through some trial and error) to sequester Robbie Chater for a brief conversation about the current tour, influences past and present, and working with Detroit rapper Danny Brown.
We even managed to pull a potential announcement out of Chater as he enjoyed a slightly confusing day-off south of the border.
Robbie Chater: I got lost walking around Portland.
Westender: [You’d be better off] with a bicycle in Portland. It’s the hipster bike capital of the world, I believe.
It sure is. There are bikes everywhere.
You had 3,500 hundred samples on Since I Left You. I understand you were able to come in a few under that on Wildflower?
There was a huge amount [of samples on Since I Left You]. Nobody really knows, including me.
How are you enjoying touring after so many years off?
It's great fun. The live band is full of great people. I was home for so long. It's fantastic to be out travelling the world, playing shows and getting a feel for how far the music has spread, and many people have embraced both records. We are turning up on the other side of the world, and all these people come to our shows, it's been an incredible experience. The attendance has been phenomenal. It's interesting, in that the US seems to know all of the Wildflower songs. In Europe, they know all of theSince I Left You Songs. It is intriguing to see which album gets into what territory.
Being that it had been 16 years since your last album, was there a point where you questioned the Avalanches relevance?
Yeah, definitely. The human mind is an interesting thing; it will always throw up doubt. It is very common for artists [to fear the worst]. Other artists, I know with lengthy gaps between records [not as long as ours] most certainly go through the same thing. The music industry turns over so quickly. Every six to 12 months everybody is into a new artist. Even if it is only two to three years between records, all musicians seem to worry that they are forgotten. I think that the concern is pretty normal. There came a time when we realized that Since I Left You had grown in people's hearts over the years. The record had taken on a life of its own and as time went by the feeling only seemed to increase. In one way, it was not a great idea to take so long. But, in another way, it gave Since I Left You a status that it might not have had if we released a record two years later. As the years went by, nothing else came along that was similar [to our first LP], which allowed Since I Left You to stand alone.
The term ‘ahead of their time’ is overused, but it truly seems to fit with your collective. It was like the year 2000 all over again when Wildflower was released, and the Avalanches again find themselves critically acclaimed.
We just feel very lucky. We had an idea [that Wildflower had caught on] after we did Coachella". We had no idea what the audience would be like up until that festival. We wondered if people would just remember Since I Left You as a nostalgia act. It was amazing to us that a show full of kids knew Wildflower." We are fortunate that we seem to have gotten 'in' with two different generations, we are so grateful.
I read that you sent "Frankie Sinatra" to Danny Brown to record remotely in his home studio in Detroit. Have you met 'The Greatest Rapper Ever' in person, yet?
We had not met Danny before that song, but then "Frankie Sinatra" went so well that he came out to Australia and we did a second track together, which was really cool. Being in the same room with Danny was great. It's a whole different dynamic than corresponding by e-mail.
It's odd that Danny Brown flew out for "The Noisy Eater" when his parts on that track were minimal in comparison to the track you all recorded from your respective continents.
Danny, in fact, had a lot more parts in “The Noisy Eater” but we had to edit the song down for reasons of "feel". That part of the record starts to get pretty psychedelic and tripped out. We did not feel like a massive five-minute rap tune would work placement wise on the album. We will release that [full] version at some point. Some of the strongest tracks didn't make the album.
Science of Sleep composer, Wildflower orchestrator and humble genius Jean-Michel Bernard joined us for Noisy Eater in Paris last week. ✨ pic.twitter.com/Uyti5eEtd5
— The Avalanches (@TheAvalanches) July 12, 2017
Your decision came down to album flow?
Yeah, or there was another track that had the same ‘feel’. You can't really have two "Subways" on the album. We had to make sure the record kept flowing, so if two songs were too similar in feel, we had to choose one or the other.
Do you still find the chopping process difficult with all of the years that you have been in the industry? The instances where you have a solid track, but it has to hit the cutting-room floor for whatever reason.
It is really difficult, especially when you have taken so long to make an album. We got to feeling like we owed the world everything that we had made in that [16-year] time. We slowly realised that we really only owe it to ourselves to make the strongest album that we could and we don't need to overstuff it or make it an arduous two hours.
If Since I Left You credits Phil Spector and the Beach Boys as influences, what was the influence behind Wildflower?
The influences on Wildflower were stranger and more obscure albums that were often homemade private press records and stream recordings. We took inspiration from people that just made music no matter what – it was in them, and they had to do it. Their art was not a part of the major label system. To us, a ‘wildflower’ was a type of free-spirit, someone that would live life by their own rules. A lot of those old records like Chandra's Subway were inspiring to us on this last album.
Have you been to Vancouver, before?
My brother married a Canadian girl, so I have been to Vancouver, but we have never played in the city.
See you tonight Vancouver!! pic.twitter.com/UnzPep2uWE
— The Avalanches (@TheAvalanches) July 13, 2017
I read that you will put on Summertime '06 by Vince Staples when you are sad?
"Summertime", the tune, I love in particular. The sample and the way Staples' blends his vocals together with it in that song is sensational.
Danny Brown recently stated that he is making nothing off of his album Old because of a small portion of a sample from "Niggas in Paradise" that he piggybacked off of Kanye West and Jay-Z for his track “Dip.” Can one make money off an album of predominantly samples in 2017?
We have never made any money from our albums, and we never will. Even the choice to tour with a live band is having it so that we are just barely breaking even. I don't mind being frank about that fact. It [the industry] is not what people think that it is. Getting Wildflower finished was a struggle for us financially. We are certainly not in this for the money. But, we are in it for life, and we are in it because we love what we do. The connection that we get with people through music is incredible.
You didn’t turn a profit back in 2000? Back when the money was coming in off of albums sales.
No, nothing, because of all the samples.
Of course. And how has your health been faring, if you don’t mind me asking?
I am pretty good at the moment. Touring has tested me, but I am doing well. If anything were going to test me out, touring would have. But I am coping well. We go back home for a week soon, and then we go to Japan. We have a bunch of tracks that we have started writing that we need to finish when we get home.
Are you planning a follow-up album immediately? Or would it be part of a deluxe edition Wildflower?
We are a little unsure at the moment. The initial plan was to put the leftover tracks from Wildflower out around now, or perhaps the end of the year. We didn't plan on new music flowing [out of us] so quickly. Now we are not sure about whether to do a new record or what we want to do next. I think we will keep writing for a couple of months and then make a call.
There is the theory of 'strike while the iron is hot'; however, you have proved that there is no expiration or time limit on the Avalanches music.
The only downside to that is that we love being on the road. We had many offers to tour between records. However, we were not comfortable doing that until we had new music. It is the touring that is motivating me to put out new music again, soon.
• The Avalanches perform tonight, July 13, at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver. Tickets available here.
