Classy North Brit dance duo FC KAHUNA had previously slipped beneath the Whisperin'& Hollerin' radar, but that was before the release of their beguiling new single "Hayling" where slo-mo grooves meet icy seduction courtesy of guest vocalist Haftis Huld. TIM PEACOCK catches Dan Kahuna for a chinwag on the band's current UK tour in support of Dirty Vegas.
I get hold of Dan just outside the Glasgow Arches venue where FC KAHUNA are due to soundcheck for their evening slot with Dirty Vegas. He's on his mobile but more than happy to fill in the details of all the developments in the FC KAHUNA world at present. Seeing as they're on the road at present, the talk kicks off with news from the tour.
"It's not going badly so far, " admits Dan. "We're three dates in as we talk now. I'm looking forward to this one tonight. We did the Barrowlands (legendary large Glaswegian ballroom and scene of many a historic gig) with Royksopp on the last tour in November and the crowd were barkingly enthusiastic to put it mildly. We've previously done the Pressure Club Night at this venue too and the promoters got great feedback, so it's gonna be a good one."
You mentioned the Royksopp tour. What did you learn from the experience of trawling around the larger venues?
"Well, the organisation was dead slick on that. It was planned for ages and fully advertised. It was a sell out tour, actually. This time round it;s a bit more low-key and we're working on gettin' awareness going."
"We're into it live with this line-up now (featuring the aforementioned Haftis Huld -ex- GUS GUS as vocalist and bassist John Thompson)" Dan continues. "It's something we've worked hard with and it's gelling really well now."
Meanwhile, Dan, the new single "Hayling" is a cool calling card. It's the first time we've really been knocked out by your stuff and your first release on the prestigious Skint label. How did you come to sign with Skint?
"Bit of a long story, " repiles Dan.
"Basically we were on City Rockers and they had major financial support withdrawn and they doubted they could release "Hayling." Our manager also looks after Dave Clarke (fellow Skint artist) too, so after he spoke to Skint they called to see if they could buy the tapes and release the single and album."
Simple as that?
"Yeah, pretty much," says Dan, matter-of-factly. "It was all very amicable, but y'know, our links go back a long way with Skint. The first time we were ever in a studio was with Damien Harris (Skint boss)."
I'm major league impressed with Haftis' vocal on "Hayling" How did you get involved with her?
"Again pretty easy," shrugs Dan. "We were after suitable people to do some vocal tracks with the new songs and her name got mentioned. She's someone we've admired for a while and we really hit it off with her when we got introduced."
Another striking feature of the new single is the SUPER FURRY ANIMALS remix as it's so rhythmically and radically different to the original. The new FC KAHUNA album , "The Machine Says Yes" (due in May) features several intriguing guests like vocalist Eileen Rose and ex-Verve bassist Simon Jones, but none more so than the SFA frontman. He's on a track called "Fear Of Guitars" I believe? Tell us more, Dan...
"Yeah, Gruff came down to the studio twice over a period of two years," Dan recalls.
"That track ("Fear Of Guitars") originally had this mind-bending, stream-of-consciousness lyric Gruff wrote about this woman who lived in a lighthouse and she had fingers made of fish."
Hunh?
"Yeah, really," laughs Dan. "She ate herself in the story, but it all got too mental and we ended up reducing the vocal right down. We told Gruff and he came back down and worked on it again, bringing Bunf (SFA guitarist) with him."
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"The title ("Fear Of Guitars") was relevant to the whole project really in that everything was done originally to avoid using guitars, and that song was the last we named. The title's ironic as we'd actually got over the phobia of guitars by then and there is some acoustic guitar on the track."
"Hayling" is much slower and sweeter than I'd expected. Dare I say it, it does have a bit of a trip-hop influence? Are you fans of trip-hop, or - in a broader sense - soul in general?
"Yeah, soul, of course," answers Dan with the incredulity of a man who couldn't believe anyone COULDN'T be a fan of soul.
"Not hip-hop though. To be honest, I view this in a more spiritual sort of way, more like 'electronic' rock, with a small letter 'r'. I enjoy a drone-y kind of dynamic. With the new album we worked for a long time on the tracks so it would be a big listener experience. People deserve the chance to immerse themselves in songs."
Meanwhile, your press release suggests that "The Machine Says Yes" harks back to the days of the Acid House explosion. How accurate is this and how involved were you with those days yourselves?
"Well, the title's a reference to the fact that before this album we always sampled organic stuff," reveals Dan.
"Doing this LP was the first time we'd really moved into a major electronic area. About Acid House, though, well, no, during the 80s Jon and I were into stuff like The Jesus And Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine, we got into electronic stuff from there."
"I mean, we went to clubs in Leeds in the early Warp days," he continues.
"The times kinda over-lapped and dragged us in and it all combined. People tend to think nostalgically about that era, but it influenced me in that it sounded fresh and also accessible at the time. I mean from there it got me into early Nightmares On Wax, that kind of thing... stuff that's got a lot of depth and you'll still enjoy much later. We like to think the new album's got similar depth to it."
Dan, I know you've gotta go soon now - after all you've got a soundcheck to attend to - but finally, you went to the US for dates after the Royksopp UK tour. Any abiding memories?
"Yeah, DJ-ing with ZERO 7 and we've done bits over the past few months," says Dan.
"We're off to Miami soon, but I loved New York and San Francisco especially of the places we've been so far."
"People have so much character in those cities, " he muses.
"I explored a lot in San Francisco, went down Haight Ashbury, it's still got a great vibe, it's still got loads of hippies hanging around. There are cool second hand record shops, really special buildings, great sights...kids selling you draw on the corner...nothing like here..."
"Well, perhaps apart from the last bit, anyway!" he laughs.
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