How did you get involved with Brainfeeder?

It was a natural progression. Lotus and I became friends through Stones Throw, we were both just starting out in LA and he was a fan of my mixtape, he was just picking my brain about what songs were on it. That was my first mixtape, it’s called the Gaslampkillers (Mix). It’s like, 10 years old? But um… basically, Peanut Butter Wolf told me, “I have this intern who’s making some cool beats, listen to this stuff”, and I listened to his beats, and I’m like, “What does he call himself? Flying Lotus? That’s interesting.” Then I met this guy again, and he was like, “Yeah, that’s me!”, and I was like “WHAT? You’re Flying Lotus?!” and he was like “yeah!”. Then we became friends and started working together. It was a pretty natural, more like a friendship that grew into an awesome working relationship.

A lot of your new songs are collaborations – do you think there are a lot of people in LA with the same vibe as you right now?

Yeah, I feel like there’s a lot of camaraderie going on in the scene, and maybe they don’t have the same vibe as me, but I ask them to lend their energy to my vibe. To just get evil – that’s what I told everybody, get in touch with their evil side. More moody, dissonant, emotional music than just like, beats, you know?

You once said you wanted your music to educate people.

Definitely. I am not just here to entertain, I’m also here to educate and bring the roots and foundation of the music that I grew up on into this new world of computer music.

So how do you go about making a track?

I stopped sampling as much but I’m still inspired by old records. I try to take that energy and find a way to translate it into the future.

To try and make it relevant today?

Exactly! Try and keep it really authentic and psychedelic and still have the Gaslamp Killer sound, not stray too far. A lot of people are used to me just sampling really awesome records, but instead of doing that, I’m trying to capture the vibe of those records on my own, live.

What are you listening to now?

I’ve been listening to a lot of Dimlite. Dimlite is my favourite producer right now, and I’ve been listening to the new Flying Lotus album and Tame Impala. My favourite band of the moment is called Connan Mockasin, that’s what I’ve been listening to on EP. They’re from New Zealand.

How have your recent gigs been? We heard you were at Burning Man…

I DJ-ed for Root Society, which was a camp I got randomly invited to. I went out there on a spiritual journey and I didn’t really think I was going to perform, but when this camp asked me to play, they made me feel very welcome and I felt like, “you know what? I need to do this, so…” So I played, but unfortunately it was during a sandstorm so it wasn’t the best time to get people to actually come to see me. But I still had like, a thousand people so it’s cool.

GLK’s new album Breakthrough comes out on Brainfeeder on 18 September. www.thegaslampkiller.com

Words: Julia Lichnova

The post GASLAMP KILLER: On Flying Lotus and Burning Man appeared first on Wonderland.

How did you guys start hanging out and working together?

Nick: We met on the Melbourne scene; such as it was back then. John was fresh out of film school, we knew each other anyway and he was involved in the first video we did for the Birthday Party – the infamous Nick the Stripper video. We sort of worked here and there ever since. The scriptwriting actually started with – we were closer in that way with The Proposition.

Was there something about America you wanted to emphasize?

N: I think that there’s an idea within America of its immortality and invincible nature. That’s an American thing and that’s at the heart of the story, so yes. Obviously, within the story the characters aren’t immortal, and that’s the way the film ends. I think that’s something that America’s understanding about itself at the moment. That it’s actually not invincible and not immortal.

What made you decide to work on this film?

John: Well, I read the book. Red Wagon, the producers of the film, gave me the book, and then I gave it to Nick, because I thought he would app

reciate what was in the book.

N: John doesn’t actually read, but he did read this one. That says something about the book – that John actually got through it. John’s way of going about projects with me is: “I’ve got this book, it’s absolutely amazing, read it”, and I’ll say, “have you read…?” and he goes, “No”…

J: …Hoping that Nick will come back and say…

N: “… Hey, you’re right, it’s incredible. Let’s make it into a film!” But anyway, this was an amazing story: a beautiful, lyrical, violent story. It was given to us because, I think, it was in some ways an American proposition, in the sense that it was very atmospheric. There was a kind of lyricalness about the nature of the film, splintered with extreme violence. And I guess that’s kind of what people now think that we do.

J: ‘Til the rom-com.

N: Personally, I can see the logic in bringing this particular book, The Wettest County in the World, to us because stylistically, we were the right people for the job.

J: Long history with whiskey.

What’s drawn you to Western/ gangster films recently?

N: I don’t know about being ‘drawn’ to gangster things. I was drawn not so much by the theme of this book but rather the lyrical nature of the book, that’s what really excited me about it. I think we were probably drawn to it for different reasons, me and John.

How would you say depicting violence visually is different from writing or singing about it in a song?

N: In the broader context, film became for me a much more effective way of talking about violence, and that’s something that I’ve always done in my songs, but… the idea of violence and the kind of language of violence that existed in my songs always sat at odds with the form. To me, film seems to be very much a very effective way to talk about violence. Which has been one of the themes that I’ve been banging on about for years.

Lawless comes out on 7 September on general release. lawless-film.com

Words: Julia Lichnova

The post LAWLESS: Nick Cave and John Hillcoat talk Westerns appeared first on Wonderland.