Don’t be alarmed, our BOTW: Clubfeet are not what the name may imply. Hailing from Cape Town-via-Melbourne these gents 2013 sophomore album, Heirs & Graces, features some tunes to get those hips twitching (‘Cape Town’, ‘My Shadow’). Even when these boys manage to make our booty bump, they still wear their heart on their sleeves and keep every track profoundly perfect. As it’s Friday the 13th the boys have put together 13 random influences that make them who they are. I bet Joan Didion has the same view on tonic water as these boys do.
Joan Didion
“We consume literature and have a long ‘best of’ list including the likes of Bret Easton Ellis, Jay McInerney, Jonathan Franzen and Jennifer Egan to name a few. If we were to agree on a standout that has influenced our music it would have to be Joan Didion. Her writing about endless snaking freeways and the hot winds pushing into LA from the desert and the disconnection of society is both stark and beautiful. You can pretty much start anywhere but we recommend ‘Play it as it Lays’ if you’re into fiction or ‘Slouching towards Bethlehem’ if you swing toward non-fiction.”
Slim Aarons
“We’ve always loved the photography of Slim Aarons and his visual style influenced our imagery for our last record ‘Gold on Gold’ in a big way. Yves has a giant print of his hanging in his apartment (above his bed no less) which he cherishes!”
Sex Lies and Videotape
“On the other end of spectrum of the John Hughes films of the eighties there was a bunch of ‘slightly’ darker films which we love like ‘Less than Zero,’ ‘Bright Lights Big City,’ ‘St Elmos Fire’ and ‘Sex Lies and Videotape.’ The latter is one of my personal favourites of all time.”
Sebastian Tellier
“Now here is a man we all aspire to be. A) he has the music side down pat but B) his sense of style is pretty damn awesome. Sometimes we really do wish we were born French.”
Mad Men
“Nothing beats good TV! We cut our teeth on high-brow pseudo-intellectual offerings like Baywatch, 90210, The OC and Nip Tuck. But shows like The Wire and the massively underrated Carnivale (David Lynch meets dust bowl America) were game-changers for us. And then there’s Mad Men. This show is the holy grail. We’ve even used some sound grabs of dialogue from the show in our live shows. This is a classic scene!”
Proper tonic water
“For a band that drinks a lot of G&T’s this is an important issue. Once we’d tried a G&T with a non-sugary tonic with actual quinine in it we never looked back. There are plenty of options these days (Fever Tree is just one) but I promise it’ll change your world…”
Justin Edward John Smith
“We met Justin in Perth many years ago and he’s been a big influence on our style and visual identity ever since. Justin left a career as a virtuoso violinist to become a highly successful fashion photographer and artist. He wears these flowing trench coats and has this mane of silver hair…he’s such a dude. Artistically he’s taken the best of Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton and pushed it into this surreal territory that he fully owns. Above is a photo he took of long time muse Tiah Eckhardt – who also stars in our video for Count Your Lovers ”
Ottolenghi
“Would it be weird putting food as an influence? Probably. I should probably speak to my therapist about this. I personally love cooking and this dude is something special.”
KLF
“The KLF are an inspiring band on so many levels. They managed to combine fashion, art and subversive social comment into a pop project which sold millions of records. Their anti-music industry antics are pretty legendary, not the least being the story of them burning a million pounds sterling in front of music execs which they’d flown especially to an island. Wow.”
Rodriguez
“Growing up in South Africa this man was a big influence on both Sebastian and Yves. I was at his comeback concert in 1998 I think it was when he played in Cape Town. It was so surreal watching someone we thought had been dead for years – it was probably the best live show I’ve ever seen. We highly recommend the documentary that came out recently ‘Searching for Sugarman.’”
Twin Peaks/ Angelo Badalamenti
“I remember watching this show with my older sister late at night and it being the scariest thing I’d ever seen! Over time we’ve become big David Lynch fans – but also of Angelo Badalamenti. His haunting synth scores are a constant influence on our music.”
Bill Henson
“A mildly controversial Australian photographer/ artist who has been in the news a lot of the last couple of years in this country. We’re big fans!”
Kindness
“It’s no secret we love this man and his music, but this is just a straight up great video. It’s also a lesson in never taking yourself too seriously! Looking forward to hearing some new music to come from this man.”
- Caroline Murphy
Check out Clubfeet’s BOTW page: here
