Interview: Alex Cameron - New Zealand Shows

Presently calling the US his home, Australian sensation Alex Cameron returns to Aotearoa this week, playing headline dates at San Fran and The Hollywood, Avondale with six-piece band including saxophonist and collaborator Roy Molloy. Previously here during the turbulent days of early 2020, Cameron was the last overseas artist many local gig-goers got to see live until pandemic border restrictions finally lifted. Touring his new album Oxy Music — a commentary on the opioid crisis in America — Cameron got on the blower with Daniel Vernon aka Danz of Pōneke's DARTZ, who are themselves in the midst of a bustling tour for their chart-topping debut album. The well-matched pair chatted about the tricky balance of satire with seriousness, Cameron's distinctive dance style, inclusive online projects, collaborations during isolation and more. Scroll downwards for the full interview and don't miss Cameron with band and special guest Sean Nicholas Savage at the following dates...

UnderTheRadar proudly presents...

Alex Cameron
with special guest Sean Nicholas Savage 

Thursday 1st December - San Fran, Wellington
Friday 2nd December - Hollywood Avondale, Auckland

General public tickets on sale HERE

Daniel Vernon: You are actually the last international act that I got to see before we went into that Covid lockdown.

Alex Cameron: We were right there before it happened. Right fucken there.

It was crazy. As someone who makes a living off of music, and I'm sure you love performing live as well, how did that abrupt stop affect you and your plans?

We had a tour booked for the rest of the year. It was a strange year because in 2020 we had no idea how long it was going to go for. It was a strange feeling of being on hold. There were agents and promoters trying to book shows for later in the year. Eventually we just had to say enough's enough, as I'm sure everyone did. It was just like, we're not doing it. We're pulling up stumps. We're not doing anything.

I dip between extremes, I think I've learned to do that. When I'm not on tour I'm a real homebody and when I am on tour it's go go go. Maybe it was so fucked up that my brain can't access it. I remember being pretty disappointed and upset by the whole thing, but also... I don't really wrestle with my surroundings all that much I guess. Whatever I'm doing, I'm doing it.

Did the lockdown lead to Oxy Music, or was Oxy Music in the works?

I had a couple of different titles, but I think it was always going to be somewhat about the opioid crisis. It was probably helped along by the pandemic, but it was always gonna be in that territory.

I really love the new record man, it's really great... I'm looking forward to see how that transitions live.

Thanks Daniel. I've been really grateful and happy with how it's turned out. How the crowd's been receiving it... a lot of gratitude.

Your previous records have been a bit more satirical, because you're going for topics such as toxic masculinity and fame and stuff, but with the opioid crisis it's a bit more of a serious topic and a serious perspective to come from. How did you approach that... and still maintain the Alex Cameron voice that everyone loves and knows?

That's a good question. It's funny how... depending on what the subject matter is, people can decide whether or not they find something funny. Coz to me there's still a lot of my humour in it, but given the subject matter it may not come across as very funny. I never really write to be funny, it's not something I consciously do.

I think I'm a pretty basic writer in the sense I just try and say true things, and the more honest it gets it tends to get a pretty funny response out of the audience. I think I was just trying to be as honest as possible. If it falls in a dark place or a funny place, that's kind of up to how people perceive it.

Did you think you had a unique perspective on the crisis, as an outsider — obviously you're Australian, but now based in [the US]?

I don't know, coz culturally the big pharmaceutical push to prescribe pain killers to the public, is more or less unique to a few different territories — America being probably the most culturally powerful. I think once you're doing drugs and hooked on drugs, it doesn't matter where you are. All that matters is if you can get them. America has that wild combination of access and a culture of drug abuse.

I know this record was made over lockdown, which was an isolating experience for all of us, yet this seems to be one of your most collaborative records. You work a lot and collaborate with Roy Molloy, but this also has prominent features from Lloyd Vines and Jason Williamson (Sleaford Mods). Was this a direct result of wanting to have some sort of a connection over lockdown, or was it more like what the songs demanded?

What probably happened when I think about it, is that the subject matter, naturally in conversation with people — you either find people who have something to say about it, or who don't have something to say about it. So when I was talking to Jason about the record and what I was writing about... we were always going to collaborate on something, but we both had something to say about drug use and abuse generally. We just connected on that level. A lot of collaborations happened remotely, so I think in an odd, inverse way, being apart actually helped the collaborative process. I'll finish something and send it to Jason and Jason will write something and send it back. Those features were born out of that remote collaboration.

I can imagine Jason had a great perspective on it, especially since his music seems to be from a certain class perspective as well.

Yeah he's a motherfucker, he's unreal. The more I get to do with him and the more I get to be around him, the better.

I've always been a big fan of the creative work... you and Roy market your music and are a bit more inventive. For example, you did the lockdown Patreon. Roy has a great presence on Twitter — the Roy Squad and the merch, and especially the Alcamathon. As a musician who is more on the indie side, how important is maintaining that relationship with fans, but also being innovative in the way you market your music to people?

The one thing that is always on my mind is, the idea of crowd-sourcing and getting people to pay for my art... I never want to cross the line into being exploitative. There's numerous different constant reminders of that, especially when you're on the internet and you don't know who you're talking to. As long as I feel comfortable that we are providing something consistently — in lockdown we had that opportunity to release cover songs and do interviews, and exclusive photographs, and Roy's writing and everything — then I'm comfortable doing something like that. I would feel weird if it was like, "Hey we're a struggling band, can you give us some money". That's just personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with it for other people to do it. But just from my position I didn't want to do that.

Personally I'm pretty satisfied releasing music and touring and playing shows, that being my contribution to how I interact with people who are coming to the shows. But there is always a part of me that is going to want and try and use the internet and that sort of infrastructure to tell more of the story. I'm always thinking about, what's a new way of doing it? I think that's important and there's no reason why you can't flesh out an album or a tour with other avenues. We've been really lucky, getting back on the road and seeing our audience is still there was really something special.

Speaking of your audience, because of the perspectives and things you talk about and are coming from, do you ever find that some people kind of miss the irony a little bit? ... or is your audience pretty well understanding of your perspective and what you're writing from?

I think it's mixed. I think if someone's coming to a show and they've listened to the records then they get it. When we were opening up for The Killers, and then you'd get the odd angry email, coz someone would have just heard half a song and been like, "what the hell is this?" I think it comes down to how much time you've actually spent with any music or movie or book. The negative opinions tend to be ones that people are just repeating from someone else. If you've actually spent time with a piece of art, then you're going to be able to form your own opinions. If someone has a shallow negative opinion about my work, it typically means they haven't spent enough time with it.

I think that goes without saying for a lot of things at the moment, especially with the internet and quick jump on bandwagon things.

Yeah, never has someone's opinion been so worthless.

I'm sure you're pretty sick of being asked how it feels to be back on the road...

Let's talk about it man!

... after an interrupted tour and having released new music since then, do you feel like your perspective on touring and performing has changed? Or is it just business as usual for you?

It's new in the sense that getting back into it was quite emotionally powerful and even at points draining, coz I just wasn't used to the ups and downs. I've been doing it since I was more or less seventeen. You do that up until the age of whatever, your late twenties, thirties, you get into that rhythm y'know? So getting back out on the road the beginning of this year after a two year break was intense, but I gotta say we had such a ball and I had such a good time. It made me feel like it was the kind of thing I could do forever. It was really overwhelmingly positive. It doesn't mean there weren't tough times and there weren't the odd show that I struggled with, that someone else in the band struggled with, there were definitely emotional moments. But ultimately we were buzzing for sure.

This is just a question that I've always been intrigued about — you have a unique dance style, from your videos to your live performance. Do you have any inspections or does that come from anything? Or is it just a personal thing you've developed over your many years of performing?

I was always pretty shy as a kid. Then I started seeing my mum and dad dance at weddings, just sort of doing their own thing, getting excited. It's all about channeling and expressing excitement. If I'm not excited I just won't dance. I don't dance to get excited, I dance when I'm excited. However I'm dancing in whatever environment I'm in, if it's shooting a video or being on stage, it really depends on how electric the room feels. How I dance can also depend on, if the crowd's vibing then I'll vibe. And if the band's cookin' then I'll start cookin'.

It's pretty unhinged what I do and it's not really grounded in a style of dance, I've got zero training in dance. Maybe that's very obvious. Typically it's just an emotional response to wherever I am and what I'm doing. I am aware that I have a long frame and I'm trying to use it in a way, to either access what the song's about, or access the mood in the room. And enhance or modify, all of those things with the movement. I would like everyone in the room to dance and I think I'm still getting there as a performer, in terms of encouraging everyone else to move as well. Because I've never really gone in for the whole telling people to dance, on the microphone, yelling at everyone "put your hands up". I'd just like people to feel free and have a good time. I'm the most comfortable, day to day, on stage. I'm more comfortable on stage than off it.

Your live band in the past has featured musicians who are incredibly talented in their own right, such as Jack Ladder, Holiday Sidewinder and of course Roy. Who will be joining you on this leg of the tour?

We have a really solid bunch of musicians who we've been very lucky to get on board. We have lot of players out of Denver and Colorado. Jess Parsons on keyboard and Kramer Kelling on bass guitar. Henri Lindström, who's played drums with us for almost five years now, he's played on three of the albums now, and Justin Nljssen on guitar. So with me [and Roy Molloy], it's a six piece band and it's red hot. Sounds great. It's definitely the hottest band we've had for sure.

I'm so looking forward to seeing you guys live again. It will feel like, kind of a wrap of the last two and a half years since I last saw you perform. I hope everything goes flying and nothing else stops you from coming back to New Zealand.

Cheers, thanks Daniel. If you're coming to the show, come and say hello.

Absolutely, I'm away on tour unfortunately.*

No shit!

*Daniel Vernon aka Danz is touring with DARTZ this week — playing headline dates in Ōtepoti and Ōtautahi plus four cities in one day for Crate Day on Saturday. Grab South Island tickets HERE via UTR + head over HERE for Crate Day shows info.