| CSS like New Zealand for our wine and Japanese restaurants... |
| Written by Sarah Mudgway |
| Monday, 17 January 2011 11:32 |
 Brazilian indie-electro-rock band CSS [Cansei de Ser Sexy] are no strangers to playing in New Zealand. This year's 2011 BIG DAY OUT appearance will be the third trip to our shores for the group, who shot to worldwide fame - they are the highest ranked Brazilian band on the U.S. Billboard charts! - when their catchy single 'Music Is My Hot Hot Sex' was picked up for an iPod commercial. Coup De Main was lucky enough to chat with guitarist ANA REZENDE about the band's upcoming shows, their next album, and the importance of a band being in control of their own image... COUP DE MAIN: CSS are returning to NZ shortly for the Big Day Out... are you guys excited to be coming back? CSS - ANA REZENDE: Yeah we’re very excited. Last time we went down there we played Australia only. We haven’t been to NZ in a while and we kind of miss it. We really have had fun all the times we’ve played in NZ and we’ve always played club shows, so it’ll be cool to have the festival experience. CDM: Do you have any New Zealand memories which stand out? ANA: Lots! The first time we went to Auckland we stayed in a hotel which was pretty nice – I don’t remember the name - but we were there and then someone was like "oh my god, you’re staying at that hotel..." and we were like "what? It's a nice hotel..." and [then] they told us [that] "some guy was killed there and put in a suitcase in that hotel and then they put him in the river..." which was crazy! Then the next time we played there we stayed in the same place. <laughs> After the first time we went there and none of us died, we were okay to stay there again. CDM: It’s been a while since you released 'Donkey' and I’ve heard that a new album is on its way... ANA: Yeah we are recording it as we speak. CDM: What can you tell us about it? ANA: Well, it’s the first time we can afford to work and also be home at the same time. We’ve had a year to do it and before that we had a year to relax, so we’ve had a lot of time to make the songs and record it. It's kind of chilled and really fun to do it this way. We’re having fun. CDM: Music-wise, is it in the same style as 'Donkey'? ANA: The cool thing about doing records is that it reflects the moment that you’re going through when you record them. We’ve had very different moments for our three albums – the first one [self-titled] we had jobs and I was in college, and we made it because we wanted to have a band and we didn’t know if it would go anywhere. Then for the second album ['Donkey'], we had a record deal and were touring a lot, so we had three months to do it while we were very much on tour so it was influenced by that fact – I guess that one is more kind of like we are live, a bit more rocky. This one is like, we’re just hanging out and doing it in our own time which is a first for us. It's very different to 'Donkey', I think the atmosphere is more like the first – party time, happy. CDM: Will we hear any new songs at the Big Day Out? ANA: Definitely. I think we will play at least a couple. CDM: And do you have a favourite track so far? ANA: You know, it always changes. This week's favourite is different to last week's.  CDM: CSS are known for having pretty crazy live performances. Are there any other musicians that you look up to for inspiration? ANA: There are so many things we watch that we like – from the most ridiculous pop stuff like Lady Gaga or Beyonce. But they’re really rich and we’re not, so we like to do cheaper versions of that, and things that make us laugh. We’re also really big fans of girl bands like The Runaways and Joan Jett who are very rock, so it’s a mixture of poor pop stuff and girl-rock. Oh and we were in Japan once and we saw the Tom Tom Club playing – they’ve been there for awhile and it was amazing to see them play as they have so much fun, kind of like they’re playing their first gig. I hope in the future when I’m fifty [years old, that] I’m like that. We don’t plan too much stuff when we go on stage, we just have really good chemistry - we have lots of fun so it's almost like when we go on stage it's like the first time... I hope we can do that in thirty years [still]. CDM: Do you have a favourite concert that you've ever played? ANA: Yeah a few. The last concert we played was really special to us, as it was here in Brazil and it was kind of the only one we’ve done here so it was so amazing. We almost never play here, we haven’t played here since 2007 so it was really cool to play for people in our city. I remember we played Austin City Limits and we weren’t really expecting anything and [when] we got on stage it was really really hot with thousands of people who were into the show – it was good. I have good memories of The Kings Arms too, we played there both times and it's funny, I like small places where everyone gets really sweaty. CDM: Before your time in CSS you were at film school... Do you find that you get a different release of creative energy when working on film stuff compared to music? ANA: For me, I think having a band isn’t just about doing the music. It’s so easy to get the chance to do the music, the video, the cover art for the album, the show visuals... it's nice to put your energy into all of them, and that’s what makes us. We’ve never been the band who gives the label the freedom to do the artwork or anything for us – we really like doing that ourselves. So at the same time we’re doing the record we are already thinking of the videos and cover art. All the bands that we love like Bikini Kill, they’re really D.I.Y. and do their own thing and we really like to do our own stuff too... so we feel like we are kind of like them. CDM: I think you can tell too, when a band is invested in their own image instead of just letting someone else construct it for them. It's more personal.. ANA: Yeah definitely. And we’re really unhappy when someone else tries to do it for us. We have a very specific sense of humour that works between us, so when someone else does it, it doesn’t feel like ours. It's much more valuable when you get something from the artist that you know they did – it adds value. CDM: In the future, would you like to do more with your film qualification? Or is music where your passion lies? ANA: Yeah, I went to film school... but right after that I started touring with CSS so I never did any real work with that. I’d like to do stuff with that and some other stuff too. It’s cool that you can do a lot of music and a lot of CSS stuff and then turn your energies to somewhere else. CDM: Finally, do you have anything you’d like to say to your NZ fans? ANA: We’re really excited to come back! It has been a while and also, we really like NZ wine. You have really good Japanese restaurants there too <laughs> and we just want to hang out. Everyone is really welcoming and warm over there, which reminds us of Brazil so we’re really excited! |
