Gotye, AKA Wally De Backer, is doing quite well for himself over in his native Australia, having self-released his second album 'Like Drawing Blood' to much critical acclaim. The record is released over here in the UK this week (18th August). We had a chat about it.

Hello Gotye! How are you today?
In my dressing gown. I really should get dressed before I answer email. Aside from this point, very well thank you!

Your brand new album 'Like Drawing Blood' is released this week (18th August 2008) in the UK, but it was released in Australia in 2006 - does it feel strange to be promoting something that's been out for so long?
It's certainly been a matter of persistence and self-belief to keep with it this long, but to see it finally being released outside Australia is very satisfying. The release in the UK differs from the Aussie album with an altered tracklist, some new vocals and quite a few samples that have been cleared, replayed, replaced or removed.

Did you really record it in your bedroom?
Various bedrooms in share houses around Melbourne to be specific. I moved house a lot, and my streamlined little "studio" setup (read as: "1 computer, 1 microphone and a soundcard") came with me.

How did you find self-releasing? Would you recommend it to other bands?
It provided me with many constant challenges - time organisation is a massive one, finding the energy to keep representing yourself positively, scrounging the money together to afford mixing, mastering, manufacture and promotional costs, and then dealing with legals and accounting too. Although extremely difficult and at times very tiring, I've learned so much and met so many people in the Aussie music industry directly that it's definitely been worth it. I only recommend it to people who think they can be relentlessly organised and almost zealously devoted to every facet of their music career from day-to-day. It's not for most musicians

When it was first released it won the Australian Music Prize (the Australian equivalent of the Mercury Music Prize), do you think the UK will receive it as enthusiastically?
Sure. Rolf Harris is pretty big over there right?

Has the slightly altered tracklisting made it a better album?
It has made it a more cohesive album I think, and the necessity of replacing or removing some samples allowed me to tinker with the mixes again. So yes, in short, I think it's better

What is it that makes the album still relevent to the current music scene, so long after it's conception?
I don't write music based upon a style or sounds that are intensely "current", that is, that could feel "soooo yesterday" within a few months of release. I've always aimed to write songs that could connect regardless of when they're heard, and also aim for production that will stand the test of time. Some of the cheesiest or ill-chosen sounds have seemed really fresh at one given moment, but dated very badly. If I'd spent two years making an acid house album, I might be a bit worried about releasing that in 2008 (although then again - if it happened to be the "right time" in the fickle world of new music, an album like that may be held up as the hottest thing right now!) but the mixed-bag, multiple reference-point nature of my record means that it's just as relevant being heard for the first time in the UK now as it would have been had I managed to find an earlier release

How has your music evolved since? You must have been working on a lot of new material over the past two years?
Not really. The fact is that self-releasing in Australia, managing my own career independently up until recently, and also playing in another band (The Basics, a three piece "rhythm 'n' pop" band) has tied up my creative time. I've been listening very widely since making this record though, written a few demos and have what I can only describe as a gut feeling about what I want to do with my next musical step. I can't wait to start producing stuff actually

Will you be following it swiftly with a third album?
Hopefully more swiftly than this (which is actually my second record released in Australia, two and a half years after my debut, called 'Boardface', was put out independently in 2004). The Aussies will obviously have had wait the longest by the time I get a third album out.

And finally, what have you got planned for the rest of the year?
Touring around Europe for the entirety of September, then hopefully a week in Japan doing shows before returning to Australia to do some shows at regionally isolated and outback high school and Aboriginal communities with my other band The Basics. Any downtime will involve demo-ing and producing stuff on my laptop.

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