Gypsy and the Cat

Gypsy and the Cat WHEN BEN HARLUM caught up with the guys from Gypsy and the Cat, Xavier is baiting Lionel about overstating Led Zeppelin’s influence in a previous interview with Triple J. They’re clearly having fun promoting their album, Gilgamesh, an excellent debut which is popping up all over the newspapers, magazines and radio worldwide.

Your first gig was in London, what was the reaction from the crowd?
Xavier: Really good, people were cheering and they hadn’t heard most of our songs previously so they were intently listening. After every song they were going haywire.

How did living overseas and working with international producers infl uence you?
Lionel: It didn’t really influence our sound, it only improved the sonics. The album was essentially written and produced in Melbourne, so it was only beefing the sound science.

You two clearly don’t have identical tastes in music…
Lionel: [laughs] Well we both like Led Zeppelin…
…what is the collaboration process like?
Xavier: Not like this, we’re just bickering. [laughs] It’s a really fun process, but it’s a secret!
Lionel: We can’t tell you, the magic just happens.
Xavier: Well, I wouldn’t call it magic.
Lionel: It’s magic to me!

A lot of the press brought up that you’re now using Lily Allen’s live band. How conscious are you of changing up the live set?
Xavier: We’ve been using them, and now we’re going to rehearse more players. The longer that Gypsy and the Cat go on, the more players that will come in for the live set. We aspire to have thirteen musicians onstage like Stevie Wonder does! [laughs] It’s really important because the band’s bread and butter is that live show, and it has to be rocking.

What about the festival set – you have Big Day Out coming up in January – do you change things up there?
Xavier: Our favourite song, Side of a Tear, never gets played at a festival because it’s too slow.
Lionel: We have to try and up the ante as much as possible.