INDIE record label Modular is home to some of the coolest kids on the musical block – from the Klaxons, New Young Pony Club and Ladyhawke to Australia’s own Sydney-based Cut Copy, The Presets and Van She.
Chatting to Van She vocalist/guitarist Nick Routledge, you get a sense that those outfits on the Australian roster are quite a tight-knit crew.
“Kim (Moyes) from The Presets lives down the road from me and we’re often having coffee together,” he said.
“And Tim (Hoey) from Cut Copy lives in the next suburb along from where I am so we catch up all the time.”
Collectively, the three bands have helped propel electro-rock/pop into the mainstream, with ARIA awards and chart-topping hits to their credit.
Van She came into being four years ago, after Routledge met frontman Matt Van Schie at a barbecue.
“We started talking about disco and punk-funk and then we met our drummer (Tomek Archer) at a nightclub and brought in Mike (Di Francesco) on synths and it just worked its way from there,” Routledge said.
“A month later, we had our first gig in a club that held 350 people, so we quickly had to make another three songs as we only had two.
“We got signed by Modular pretty much after that first gig.”
Though not as well known as some of their Modular label mates, the band has managed to attract media attention thanks to their beautifully melodic song Strangers receiving generous airplay on Triple J and 2008’s debut full-length album V peaking at number 10 on the ARIA charts.
Recently, they gave the album the remix treatment in the form of Ze Vemixes, with seven songs off V reinterpreted plus the addition of a new number, Techno Music, which Routledge refers to as “a post-modern take on new electro-techno”.
The band is currently taking its remix album to a live audience around the country.
Having traditionally traversed both rock and electronic territory, this tour will see them deliver on more of the latter.
“What we do live nowadays is pretty much a combination of both; we have created the best of both worlds,” Routledge said.
“This remix tour though is just synthesisers, drum machines, live drums and bass guitar.”
Van She plays the Capitol, Perth, on July 4.