To say that Hockey have had a head-spinning twelve months is a major understatement. Thanks to a clever armoury of songs, a major label deal with Virgin, a stack of major festival gigs and virulent word of month, the quartet’s success has been fast tracked at break-neck speed.
And now the four-piece have made their way down-under for the first time, bringing with them their unique brand of audacious indie-rock and club friendly disco tracks which has helped stockpiled a whole new flock of Aussie fans.
Days after their sold-out Laneway Festival appearance, MTV catches up with Hockey to talk MTV Push, comparisons and performing with Jay-Z!
MTV: How was your performance at Laneway Festival? Was there a good crowd?
Hockey: Pretty good! Big crowd, maybe the biggest one we've had. We were in like this villa kind of Spanish looking courtyard, and it filled up pretty good. It was early, 1.30 or something. Festivals are weird...no one's ever there five minutes before you're about to play and then when you play all of a sudden people start to materialise. It makes you nervous and then they all show up.
MTV: You guys were MTV Push artists. Do you think that helped to build your fan base across the world?
Hockey: Definitely right? I would assume so. Probably...almost definitely. That's just that kind of exposure is I think pretty special. I heard we got played before Seinfeld here in Australia. Like in between when they showed Seinfeld or Weeds, or I dunno what. Someone told me that, and it's like wow! Something special must of been going on for us.
MTV: Have there been any Aussie bands that influenced your approach to music?
Hockey: We know the Temper Trap. They're huge in the world. We actually played this random little festival in Sweden last summer with the Temper Trap and at the time we didn't know anything about them...I think I met a couple of them, we were just being nice...meeting another band but they've done really well since. Good for them. Doing Australia proud.
MTV: Are you big on interacting with your fans via myspace/your website?
Hockey: A little bit, I dunno. Sometimes, every now and then we do. But it's not like our main thing. I'm not very good with computers. You have to be very savvy with all that stuff...oh I'm going to tweet! But you gotta know what to tweet. Do I tweet I just had a salad? Every now and then we put together a little movie...a tour movie. So working on one of those right now. It's made in instalments instead of everyday little things. Just try and put something together every two or three weeks. They're just kind of like (tour diaries) a window into what we're doing and seeing. Our travelling life. We've got a flip camera...really kind of neat. You pull it out so it's the size of a phone and go around.
MTV: What's your favourite festival to go to as a punter?
Hockey: I don't think I've ever been to a festival as a 'punter'. The first festival we went to we played. I'm trying to scan my memory. I've seen a lot of bands but I've never really been to a festival. No no, we went to the Highly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco. And we went to that one in up state New York...we've seen some folk festivals. Those are cool.
MTV: You have been confirmed for Coachella in April, how does it feel to be on the same bill as artists such as Muse, Gorillaz and Jay Z?
Hockey: Yeah I wanna see Jay-Z...that would be cool. That's crazy! That's a big deal. That's probably the biggest festival in the States or one of them. Yeah that's cool for us. Really cool. We went to a school about 45 minutes from India where the music festival's held. We knew a lot of people that used to go to it. We never went ourselves for whatever reason.
MTV: Your album dropped last September, how has the reception to 'Mind Chaos' been?
Hockey: I'd say pretty good for a debut record. It's hard to say I guess. We just hear bits and pieces from everybody. I dunno, we're just kinda hanging in there at this point. Sort of seeing where things go. Already working on writing new songs for the record so that's exciting. A lot of the songs on this record we'd written a couple of years ago so we're almost feeling like we can get back doing some new stuff.
Check out Hockey do their thing with MTV Push below...
And now the four-piece have made their way down-under for the first time, bringing with them their unique brand of audacious indie-rock and club friendly disco tracks which has helped stockpiled a whole new flock of Aussie fans.
Days after their sold-out Laneway Festival appearance, MTV catches up with Hockey to talk MTV Push, comparisons and performing with Jay-Z!
MTV: How was your performance at Laneway Festival? Was there a good crowd?
Hockey: Pretty good! Big crowd, maybe the biggest one we've had. We were in like this villa kind of Spanish looking courtyard, and it filled up pretty good. It was early, 1.30 or something. Festivals are weird...no one's ever there five minutes before you're about to play and then when you play all of a sudden people start to materialise. It makes you nervous and then they all show up.
MTV: You guys were MTV Push artists. Do you think that helped to build your fan base across the world?
Hockey: Definitely right? I would assume so. Probably...almost definitely. That's just that kind of exposure is I think pretty special. I heard we got played before Seinfeld here in Australia. Like in between when they showed Seinfeld or Weeds, or I dunno what. Someone told me that, and it's like wow! Something special must of been going on for us.
MTV: Have there been any Aussie bands that influenced your approach to music?
Hockey: We know the Temper Trap. They're huge in the world. We actually played this random little festival in Sweden last summer with the Temper Trap and at the time we didn't know anything about them...I think I met a couple of them, we were just being nice...meeting another band but they've done really well since. Good for them. Doing Australia proud.
MTV: Are you big on interacting with your fans via myspace/your website?
Hockey: A little bit, I dunno. Sometimes, every now and then we do. But it's not like our main thing. I'm not very good with computers. You have to be very savvy with all that stuff...oh I'm going to tweet! But you gotta know what to tweet. Do I tweet I just had a salad? Every now and then we put together a little movie...a tour movie. So working on one of those right now. It's made in instalments instead of everyday little things. Just try and put something together every two or three weeks. They're just kind of like (tour diaries) a window into what we're doing and seeing. Our travelling life. We've got a flip camera...really kind of neat. You pull it out so it's the size of a phone and go around.
MTV: What's your favourite festival to go to as a punter?
Hockey: I don't think I've ever been to a festival as a 'punter'. The first festival we went to we played. I'm trying to scan my memory. I've seen a lot of bands but I've never really been to a festival. No no, we went to the Highly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco. And we went to that one in up state New York...we've seen some folk festivals. Those are cool.
MTV: You have been confirmed for Coachella in April, how does it feel to be on the same bill as artists such as Muse, Gorillaz and Jay Z?
Hockey: Yeah I wanna see Jay-Z...that would be cool. That's crazy! That's a big deal. That's probably the biggest festival in the States or one of them. Yeah that's cool for us. Really cool. We went to a school about 45 minutes from India where the music festival's held. We knew a lot of people that used to go to it. We never went ourselves for whatever reason.
MTV: Your album dropped last September, how has the reception to 'Mind Chaos' been?
Hockey: I'd say pretty good for a debut record. It's hard to say I guess. We just hear bits and pieces from everybody. I dunno, we're just kinda hanging in there at this point. Sort of seeing where things go. Already working on writing new songs for the record so that's exciting. A lot of the songs on this record we'd written a couple of years ago so we're almost feeling like we can get back doing some new stuff.
Check out Hockey do their thing with MTV Push below...
Copyright : MTV Australia
