What do you get when you cross a years worth of studio time, a couple of run down musicians and some non toxic water-colours?

Well you don’t get a face painting expose, instead you get one brand spanking new album, locally released, all original material and a couple of run down musicians.

Yes I’m talking about Kid Kay Ferris. Brisbane’s favourite 80’s electro pop-synth-beats duo and their new album “Colour Me Badd.”

It was evident when Danny and Joel arrived at my place that strong coffee’s were well in order. Not just because it was 7 degrees and freezing (yes this is Queensland, anything below 25 degrees warrants a jumper) but the sleepless nights in the studio and on-going promo work leading up to the launch were quite visible on the dynamic duo. And here I am about to bombard them with more questions in the lead up to the launch on June 26. Life can be so cruel can’t it?

The basis of this interview was to probe Danny and Joel about their new album, dig up any dirt that may be lurking around and to enquire about what sort of clothes they wear when in the studio. Unfortunately they don’t cross-dress when in the studio, there wasn’t too much dirt, but I did manage to find out about their new album, the record label and recommended listening ages.

I proceeded with the tea, put pen to paper and enquired about the inspiration behind the album name. Joel, after giving me more insight into seminal early nineties band ‘Colour Me Badd’ (did you know they had more than one hit and three successful albums… in the UK) told me that the name for the album basically describes the tracks produced for it. Full of off beat colour designed to grab the attention of whoever listens to it. Not bad I reckon considering the world we live in is succumbing to more dark and twisted notions socially so it is good to have some colourful fun injected back into life so to speak.

I was also quite curious as to the length of time it has taken to produce the album considering all the club work KKF have been doing of late. Danny informed me that after their last album launch in March 2002 they hit the studio almost straight away. They put a lot of other stuff on hold including normal social engagements that would usually take up their time. Joel also remarked on how just two months ago they both ended up at the Moonbar for a bit of fun and realised it was the first time out in over 4 months where they haven’t been performing or doing studio work.

Danny explains that due to the intensity of this album, the work included had more of an emotional value to it as well, not just imaginative. This leaves one wondering whether things can get a bit heated in the studio from time to time. Danny says that if it does, then it’s purely over small insignificant things as they both “want the same thing in their work”.

Like all artists, in order to create your art you need inspiration and it was just fitting that I should ask the duo about their inspiration for the actual work on the album. Joel suggests that most of the inspiration comes from pop culture itself,

“We basically took ideas, things, and circumstances from pop-culture and turned it into music.”

Seeing as that pop-culture surrounds everyday life they hope to try appeal to punters with music that anyone can get into. Joel implied that the album was created with music that people could both like and dislike.

Since when did an artist hope that someone would actually dislike a piece of their work?

They have aimed to appeal to everyone. To be diverse in the extremes yet stay within the boundaries.

“We hope that if someone dislikes a track, then maybe someone else really enjoys that particular track and vice-versa,” Joel explains. He goes onto say that they would finish a track, think people would hate it but then may think that others would like it so it would be included. They feel that if they can achieve that particular effect, to them, it is a big accomplishment. Interesting logic to say the least but I must say that was the most refreshing thing I have heard come out of an artist’s mouth recently.

I asked about if any remix work would be included eg “Mysterious Cities of Gold” only to find out from Danny that all work on the album is completely original. Not one remix or sample is included on the album.

“We are doing a lot of remix work at the moment but didn’t want any included on the album as that can detract from a true artist album. We wanted to the album to go from start to finish, a beginning and an end and remixes can often break that momentum,” Danny said.

Just so I wouldn’t leave the tech heads out as well I asked about the equipment used to record the album. They were a bit reluctant at first due to the fact that this particular question is always asked but they did come clean and told me that amongst various equipment used, including old school Casio keyboards, the main instruments were various P.C. software, a Roland Jupiter 8 and an early 90’s synth called a Kurtzweil K2000. This is a synth designed strictly for “raw” electronic sounds.

Recently signed to new Brissy based label Nutznboltz, I asked the boys how this came about.

“Luke Klicka, Matt Aniki, and Richard Metrognome managed to get some cash together and decided it was time to form a Brissy based label that caters to good electronic artists. They came to us with some cash and asked if we’d like to be signed and have our album released under their label. We jumped at the opportunity as we were going to do it independently but that would have cost us a lot of money we don’t have,” explained Danny.

“We also respect these guys heaps so it would also be pleasure working with them. All round though, we have received a shitload of help on this album, we basically spent bugger all which was great, but that means we owe a million favours. Even the photography and art work was free. Brisbane does have that good ol’ Aussie ‘help ya mates out’ attitude at the best of times. We are really thankful for everything, especially the punters, they make it all worth while in the end,” he says.

Speaking of the artwork, one can’t help but notice the water colours and the recommended listening age, 5 and over. I enquired of this only to have a great chuckle afterwards. Joel says that the cover is like that because that is what the album sounds like.

“Each individual track has a co-relating water colour,” he says.

In regards to the listening age he remarked, “You can listen to it if you are under 5, you just can’t play with the artwork.” Baffling but strangely amusing.

When asked about any future plans to release another album in the near future. I was met with a determined NO. It would seem that this past year has taken a huge toll on these two both mentally and physically. Joel stated that after the 3 or 4 months touring promoting this album they plan to take a couple of months off all together before doing regular club gigs.

“With the nature of this album, we hope that it should stay quite fresh for about 2 years as it is music they feel that the general population haven’t really heard before. So it will probably be a good two years before we hit the studio again for another album,” Joel explained.

Lastly I asked how they would feel about their album relating to the critics and the general population.

“Critically, we hope that it should confuse the hell out of them because it is a very different album to the usual releases that are floating around. We hope that when they go to write a review etc that they will be thinking ‘Is it cheesy, is it really good, is it really bad, is this intentional’.” Joel explained. Danny remarked that it will probably scare the punters at first due to the commercialism but hopefully it would be too commercial to even rate a mention in commercialism so in the end it will have a massive appeal in the underground music cultures of Australia and the rest of the world. Talk about a head trip.

Wrapping up my interview I couldn’t help but think how great it is to finally have some great local talent making an impact on the rest of the country. With the launch of this album on June 26th at The Moonbar, followed by extensive local and interstate tours, Kid Kay Ferris are really “Colouring Us Badd.”

See Whats’s On for details about the Kid Kay Ferris “Colour Me Badd” album launch party.