alpine says...

Alpine first captured our attention when their demos hit the airways. After months of hard work, they have perfected their sound for their debut EP Zurich, and an Australia tour kicking off this month.

With their serene vocals and lofty harmonies, it's no surprise this Melbourne band has a fixation with all things Switzerland. Previously named 'The Swiss', Alpine's Zurich will transport you to a dreamlike world of snow capped mountains against a backdrop of synthy pop. I caught up with Phoebe Baker (vocals) as she tapped into a reception sweet spot in her bathroom in Melbourne.

Covered: six-person songwriting, drum-kit injuries, cat food and australian tours

Danielle Le Toullec: As the lead vocalists, Lou James and you have great vocal chemistry, how did you come together?

Phoebe Baker: We were friends from school; we’ve known each other for almost 10 years. It does help to be singing with a friend.

DL: You have a very clean sound for a band with six members. Can you tell me a bit about the song writing process with that many people involved?

PB: Quite a lot of the earlier songs were mainly written by myself and Christian (guitarist). He came up with a basic instrumental idea and we’d develop from that and I would come up with the melody. Then for the more recent songs, we’ve all written them together. We have an idea of the sound we are looking for and we are all in tune with what we want from the music. It comes naturally.

DL: What about when you do live performances? You tend to move around alot, have you ever run into each other while playing on a smaller stage?

PB: Definitely! We’ve played some really small venues, I fell into the drum kit once and Lou has been banged in the head by Ryan’s bass. We’ve definitely had a few injuries but we’ve learnt to observe the space beforehand and say "Right, this is my space for dancing."

DL: How did you celebrate getting signed to Ivy League Records last year?

PB: Oh, that’s a good one. I think we just went to a fancy bar in the city, we were all together and it was just really exciting.

DL: There has been a lot of speculation about the lyrics of Heartlove, including a pretty funny comment on YouTube saying "I like this but What the f!@k are they saying? ...."I love catfood tonight ill be happy"?? Was that intentional to have slightly ambiguous lyrics?

PB: Oh yeah, I know! I think we’re going to have to sing with more diction next time. It’s definitely not singing cat food! It’s just the sensuality of singing about food, I guess. The lyric is "Vinegar salsa on my chips, I’ll be happy". It’s pretty simple pleasure, eating chips! I don’t know how vinegar salsa came into my head; I think it was just one of those hot days! But all the cat lovers out there, they can think of it what they will.

DL: You underwent a name change from The Swiss to Alpine when a band emerged with the same name. Did it take a long time to decide on a new name?

PB: Yeah, it did take a while. I think there were a few arguments and discussions. It's so hard for six people to agree on a name. Alpine we all agreed on, it was neutral and fit with our sound. It was in tune with our initial name, something that was natural... we feel at home with it now. Although a lot of people were saying Alpine Cigarettes, we are trying to make sure people don’t think of that!

DL: You were residents at Melbourne’s Northcote Social Club for a month, what was that like?

PB: It was our first residency so it was really interesting to play at the same place for four weeks. It was a mid-week set, so the crowd varied. It also seemed to rain every time, and people are so much more likely to stay at home in bed with a hot chocolate so we really had to promote it. It was good to get that practice and experience. You really feed off the crowd.

DL: Villages is one of my favourite tracks, what was the inspiration behind it?

PB: It’s a song inspired by love. Love can make you feel shit and pretty horrible, like the worst thing in the world and other times it is the most amazing feeling in the world. It's like, I don’t care about the suffering, fuck it, let it happen, in the end it’s worth it. The song is celebrating it but also talking about how much pain it’s causing.

DL: Icypoles is another great track; one that inspires the common description of Alpine as Indie-Dream-Pop. What do you think of that tag?

PB: We’re pretty happy with it; Dream-Pop sounds pretty good to me! I like listening to dreamy soundscapes. It's always hard to pick a genre that your music would fit into; it’s interesting to hear what other people come up with.

DL: What does 2011 have in store for Alpine?

PB: We’ve got the EP launch coming up and the tour for that. It’s really special for us as it’s the first thing we’re really putting out in public. After that tour, we have another one with Sparkadia & Operator Please. So lots of travel coming up which I am really excited about.

Alpine Tour Dates:

28 October @ Workers Club, Melbourne
3 November @ NSC with The Naked and Famous Melbourne
4 November @ NSC with The Naked and Famous Melbourne
5 November @ OAF with The Naked and Famous Sydney
6 November @ Jive Br with Jinga Safari, Adelaide
11 November @ OAF with Jinga Safari, Sydney
12 November @ Northern Star with Jinga Safari, Newcastle
18 November @ Karova Lounge with Jinga Safari, Ballarat
19 November @ EBC, with Jinga Safari, Melbourne
26 November @ Purple Sneakers / Miss Libertine, Melbourne

alpine, phoebe baker, lou james, northcote social club, the swiss