Q & A with Cheap Fakes

After recently announcing a string of East Coast headline and festival shows Brisbane's best blend of soul-soaked, brass-fuelled pop, funk, and ska, Cheap Fakes are now releasing their impressive new single "Touch N Go".

The Sunshine Coast-adopted Brisbanites are coming back to Solbar on June 24 as part of their Touch N Go Single Tour.  We caught up with main man, Hayden for a few questions...

Hey Hayden! I have to admit, you completely caught us off guard with the new single 'Touch N Go'...  it didn't seem that long ago that (album) 'Modern Vintage' was released and toured.  Did this song come together pretty quickly?

Good day! For me modern vintage seems like a lifetime ago! Although it only came out 2 years ago, the preproduction and recording was done pretty much 2 years before that.. but yes, we did some pretty epic touring to support that album and a lot of fun was had by all.

The new tune 'touch & go' was actually a song I began writing in maybe... 2009 I think, I watched a Groove Armada live DVD at my cousins house and it inspired me to write a dance tune played by real instruments.. then it sat on a hard drive for 10 or so years until a drunken jam at Love street rediscovered it & turned it into a full 'jazzercise party in ya pants'!, Scotty French worked his magic & boom! Touch n Go, the 2017 version was born!

When it came out, I let it sink in for a bit, then had a lightbulb moment (which I messaged you about), saying that it reminded me a lot of early Jamiroquai. How has the reaction been like for this single, given that it does stray away from the sound the 'Fakes have been known for?

Touch n Go definitely has some Jamiroquai vibes, not intentionally but I am a fan. Its getting a really good reception so far and it's so much fun to play live. I guess It's maybe not what Cheap Fakes fans are used to but on this new album I think there will be a lot of surprises, we're not really sticking to any genres or styles, just making music we wantto make & we are having fun with it & I think our supporters will adapt & appreciate the new directions we are heading.

And now your in the middle of a tasty little tour... how's that one going for you?

The tour has been great so far. Playing live has always been a strong point for us, we love it. We always like to keep it fresh for ourselves so we change up the set each night and we try not to stick too much to the structures of the songs, play a bit more free flow and see where the songs take us.

Last year, the band headed over to Japan for decent tour.  How did the Japanese audiences react to your material?  One generally doesn't associate ska/funk with Japan...

Japan was incredible. We had so much fun. Fun shows, great people, everyone was so keen to help us out. We had so many laughs & just had the time of our lives. There are so many different 'scenes' over there, they love all kinds of music and there was definitely a strong following of our kind of upbeat music, they loved it!

Did you see some absolutely crazy shit over there?

We saw lots of crazy stuff. The culture is so different, it's exciting, and also very inviting. The food in Japan is amazing & the people were so humble & friendly. Nice one Japan!

Back to 'Touch n Go'. With 'Modern Vintage', you went pretty full on with the production of it, but with the latest single (and the following album), you're keeping things more local, recording at Love Street Studios in Currumbin Valley.  Do you feel that this is more 'freeing' in a sense, and you placed less pressure on yourselves for the studio time?

We are definitely keeping it in house and local with Scotty French engineering at Love street but I also feel that this album will be a lot more 'produced' & experimental. We have some songs with massively layered horns or loads of different percussion.. stuff we can never play live but we don't really care. For us, playing live and recording are 2 seperate beasts.. both are incredibly fun but both can be interpreted differently.

And now for the question (that you'll get asked a tonne, I'm sure)... is 'Touch n Go' reflective of the direction of the new material at all?

Touch n Go isn't really a representation of where we are heading.. we are off in a lot of different directions! It's a surprise.. even for us...!

Finally, you're a vinyl enthusiast... what would you deem to be your holy grail for your collection?

Vinyl holy grail... hmmm... I have first pressings of the Beatles that are pretty special to me. Led zep, stones.. heaps of great stuff!

Cheers mate! Have a great tour, and we'll see you at Solbar on June 24!