Amongst rumours of exorbitant sums of money being dangled as bait, Nick
Littlemore and Luke Steele have dropped a few hints as to taking
Empire of the Sun live for the first time.
With their mega-hit LP
Walking on a Dream being released internationally in the coming weeks - after having hit 70,000+ sales in Australia (!) - the duo have been doing the rounds of the foreign media. During which they've dropped a few hints as to how - and when - they'll perform their music live. Oh and that they're making a film.
Prefixmag recently asked Empire of the Sun how they plan on translating the album to the stage. According to Steele, it will be a visual treat.
"The band hasn’t really done a show, and
when we do it’s going to have to bring in all of the visual imagery.
The footage from the videos is obviously going to be a large part of
that, and we’re in the process of shooting another video as well as a
film to go along with the first two. The new video, for “Standing on
the Shore, will be shot outside Perth at a place called The Pinnacles.
It’s sort of a collection of spiky rocks that really looks like the
surface of another planet. And during the whole video process, we’ve
been shooting the vignettes for concerts. When everything comes
together, it will be pretty fantastic and something that does justice
to the scope of the music."
A film!? It's an idea which ties in to a strand of inspiration gleaned from none other than one Kanye West. Really. Steele explained that "When we were making the record, we felt that the vision
needed to be greater than just the music". Hence the
Storm Thorgerson/child-entertainer style imagery.
"We wanted to make it
flamboyant and colorful and make it real entertainment. We sort of took
a page from Kanye’s book on that one. His music is great, but he also
adds another layer that makes it so much more. It’s impossible to think
of him merely as a rapper. He’s an entertainer. We wanted some of that
for Walking on a Dream. That’s where the album art, the videos, and the movie we’re shooting come in."
This film concept no doubt ties in with his mention to
MTV UK that "round August-September there will be a live show in the UK and it will be colossal". Australian fans should expect something similar with the duo's label saying to expect local live shows "later in the year".
With rumours of obscene amounts of cash being offered to the duo to play live, not only does it sound like, well, they'd
need it, anyone worth their dreamcatcher can see that Empire of the Sun as a live entity is a cash cow waiting to happen. And in times like these, perhaps a duo intent on using this true groundswell of love to put on a live show to rival all live shows is rather admirable. And intensely anticipated. I mean, when the man who was
hoisted over a crowd on a harness at Homebake last year is being
quoted as saying "It’s going to be more like a play than a rock
show, as we want to distance ourselves from that sort of
guitar-and-drums set up. Music, as Luke said, is clear, it’s invisible;
we really want to create something that’s visible, and that takes you
somewhere further than just sonics could", it's time to wonder if Australia might be in for very own Daft Punk "Pyramid" show. Or even, Spinal Tap "Stonehenge" set. Either way, sign me up.