Handsome Furs

Mon 3rd Aug, 2009 in Features

To many bands, the process of touring is a grand distraction from the main game of writing. It’s an enjoyable phase where the end product is put on display, but not where the beginnings of the creative process takes place.

To the husband and wife band Handsome Furs, however, travel is where all their inspiration comes from. New record Face Control was written on the road and about the road, with Eastern Europe a particular focus.

It’s a record about dislocation and paranoia, inspired by the cultural shock of the post-communist countries they visited and about the constant that music provides, its ability to cross barriers and cultural divides. Scratching down diary entries and chord progressions on paper and recording rough ideas into Dan Boeckner’s new iPhone, the Canadian pair were cultural magpies, immersed in their surroundings. “When Alexei [Perry, his wife and bandmate] and I have a day off, we take the time off to write down everything we’ve been inspired by,” Boeckner explains. “I think that’s important, to make sure we don’t lose it, that it doesn’t disappear in a fog of alcohol and no sleep.”

Disinterested in convention and having had a few “pretty bad experiences” at the larger corporate music festivals, the Handsome Furs have taken a more hands-on role than most bands in organising their touring schedule. They actively seek out venues with a bit of history or a sense of community, and try to immerse themselves in the local scene. “I just completely leave what’s going on at home behind,” Boeckner says. “If somebody emails me [from home] it always almost seems like an intrusion.”

As part of their cultural immersion, Boeckner and Perry always request some local music as part of their rider, and this approach led them to discover some of the European alt-rock which inspired Face Control. “In Eastern Europe, it was the post-punk stuff, like Joy Division and sort of more industrial-sounding band that captured those countries imaginations,” Boeckner says. “We got to hear a lot of that and it was totally fascinating.”

I mention John Lydon’s Public Image Limited as a possible influence; there’s something of that group’s machinistic minimalism that can be traced through to the Handsome Furs’ stripped-down sound. “Yeah, Public Image Limited is actually HUGE in Serbia, which is really weird. I know they never played there. But there’s like seven or eight bands in Serbia which are just straight Public Image Limited rip-offs!”

The Furs’ unorthodox approach to touring has seen the photogenic pair rack up a gig history that includes a “bizarre cross-section of venues”. They recently played a city festival in Ottawa where the crowd numbered 20,000 people and they shared a stage with Kiss, an experience they found “exciting and also really intimidating”.

But they’re just as comfortable in dive bars off the beaten track. On their first visit to Poland, they found themselves in a town of around 10,000 people. “They had this venue that was basically like a living room,” Boeckner recounts. “They had a practice PA set-up and all these people cramped in. There was no stage, we just played on the floor and that was equally exciting.”

Few bands are as well-travelled. Last time they spoke to Faster Louder, the pair were eyeing off a tour of China; it’s now booked in for September. Given their non-stop globe-trotting, it’s something of an anomaly that neither Handsome Furs, nor Boeckner’s other band, the almighty Wolf Parade, have ever ventured to Australia. That oversight will be corrected in August, when the band play shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

So what are they expecting of our fair land? “I have some preconceptions, but I’ve got a feeling they’re going to be all wrong,” Boeckner says, going on to enthuse over legendary Australian punkers X, who he’s amazed to hear are playing shows again. And he also recounts Australians he’s lived with and played in bands with over the years – a pair of Gold Coast expatriates, Marcus and Karla, particularly stand out. “They were the craziest punk hippies I ever met,” he laughs.

Then his deep Canuck drawl pauses for a moment, suddenly enigmatic and wary. “Actually, their stories about Australia kind of scared the shit out of me to be honest.”

Handsome Furs’ Face Control is out now on Sub Pop through Stomp. The band arrives in Australia later this month for three shows.

Thursday 27 August – The Corner Hotel, Melbourne
Saturday 28 August – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
Sunday 30 August – Amplifier, Perth