Cut Copy This

Scarf? Check. Stripy skinny-fit jumper that’s been in and out of fashion from before you were even born? Check. Wrap around shades indoors? Check. Australia’s coolest pop band? Most definitely. Enter Melbourne’s finest, Cut Copy… 

Imagine New Order’s greatest songs played by Daft Punk at their most binary, Cut Copy are the coolest of the new wave of electro-sexuals currently hypnotising the great and the good at the minute. Goldfrapp turned in a number one, and with LCD Soundsystem being one of the most talked about band all year, the timing is spot-on for the finely sculpted beanpoles to conquer the globe. Currently touring the UK after a hugely successful US tour with bendy Glaswegians Franz someone-or-other, singer and founder Dan blows the whistle and lets slip to Gigwise about how they cheated on tour… 

"Two of them would come out with us and then the next night the other two would come out and it was like they’d swap like two for two so it was getting to the point that we were out every night and they’d give themselves nights off! By the end of it we were totally wrecked; we’d been drunk continously for a month!"

Dan’s pleasant demeanor and gleeful hospitality could never ever sound like he was bitching and with his six-foot-million wiry frame he cuts a strange and humble pose. Saying softly –  "We love those guys, they were watching us at every show we played and the crowd reaction was mental. We have played shows in Australia and in Europe and never had such a good response. It was great to warm up for the Franz shows and get our music heard in the States; we’d played New York and LA but never really been on tour". 

This is actually quite surprising when you consider Cut Copy’s music is perfectly designed for an American, slightly more rock-loving audience. Their incendiary shows batter through PA stacks, combining the sharp synth tones of the album with live drums and harder edged guitar stabs to punctuate the disco grooves. 

"We’d written the record without playing too many shows. We’d sort of played a little together but not really developed our live sound. It’s kind of turned into a punk thing now in a way, it’s looser, it’s noisier and I guess more energetic." 

Dan’s not wrong. Whilst playing, all three members of the band give it there all, dancing and jumping around the stage like fish flapping around in a half full bucket of paraffin. Cutting real rock star poses they could straddle the charts with the likes of The Bravery and The Killers but without the smash-hits! Magazine style buffoonery that hinders the integrity of both. Songs like ‘Time Stands Still’ and the effortless discovery-era Daft Punk pop of ‘Going Nowhere’ are one day going to own parts of your brain. Bright like Neon Love? They’re really not kidding.