Deepface interview
Author: Stuart Evans
Friday, November 17, 2006
But life with Melbourne trio Deepface has remained grounded in reality. The trio produced perhaps the biggest track of '05 with their ARIA nominated hit, Been Good, which put a few smiles on clubbing punters across Australia.
With former Hunters & Collectors star Barry Palmer lending his support, and accompanied by an awesome remix, Been Good established Deepface as a success.
Deepface is Chris Corby, Fran Power and vocalist, Shirley Davis. Their story started when Corby and Power formed a working partnership during their stint at Melbourne's RMIT University, where they both studied music technology.
After setting up a studio in the bohemian suburb of Fitzroy, they moved on to writing and tinkering around with electronic music.
Corby's prior musical repertoire is damn impressive and not just a cliche-packed blurb on how great he is. Corby's a classically trained guitarist and has engineered records for indie bands You Am I and The Mavis's. Given that Power is a classically trained violinist, when matched with sultry songstress Davis, Deepface's juxtaposition with dance music seems odd.
And despite the mystique surrounding the endless nouns and adjectives used to sum up Deepface's music, it's hard to describe their rhythm without over-indulging. They have just released their debut album 'Feel the Love', a mixture of styles which pollinates from one genre to the next. Tranzfusion catches up with Chris Corby to find out more.
It's been a whirlwind few years for Deepface. What's been the biggest highlight-
"There's been many highlights and it's difficult to rate them. The most recent, of course, is finally releasing our debut album … phew! I also remember getting a call from Rob Scott at Fly Records to tell us our debut EP, 'Been Good', had been nominated for an ARIA. It came out of left field (and) I hadn't considered it a possibility at all. Definitely a big moment for us.
"Another highlight would be Shirley and I hearing Deepface (Paul Harris' remix) on London's Kiss 100 while visiting last year. [i]Been Good[/i] goes back a long way and was recorded in our little studio in Fitzroy, so to hear that vocal pumping over the radio on the hippest station in London was a great moment."
What difference did the ARIA nomination make to the career of Deepface-
"I guess it's an acknowledgement that people are listening; the music's getting out there and being heard, and hopefully appreciated. It's difficult to feel a tangible difference in our career, although I'm sure its led people to take a closer look at what's going on in the world of Deepface. It's still very early days in terms of releasing "product" but I like to think that the nomination is a little tap on the shoulder saying 'keep going, get on with it, and realise the potential'."
When Been Good started to get airplay and people began talking about Deepface as 'the next big thing' in Australian electronic music, what was going through your mind-
"Honestly, not much - other than getting on and finishing the album. The "next big thing" tag isn't something that motivates us at all. There's so much great electronic music being produced in Australia - and it's nice being acknowledged as part of a new wave of exciting new music, but the status thing isn't what Deepface is about.
"Deepface is really about ignoring all the trends and producing music that feels good. All the contributors including guest vocalists, musicians, song writers etc are generally connected to us socially in some way. For a very long time Deepface was our little studio freedom project: no rules, no expectations etc.
"Deepface is a collaborative project and it's the balance (or unbalance Tags