Connan Mockasin
Tue 7 Apr 2009
Lost In London
Our favourite twee indie-boy Connan Mockasin has been back in New Zealand recently doing a few whirlwind shows. I talked to him while he was at his parents’ place in Te Awanga, where he was wondering exactly why he’d come back here.
In recent months Connan Mockasin has been very busy. Between putting the final touches on his debut album, he has been touring Europe with Late Of The Pier and playing his own shows around New Zealand. He’s also been gaining a bit of attention for his collaboration with Norman Cook (aka Fat Boy Slim) on Cook’s recently released Brighton Port Authority album, where Connan’s song rests in the company of Iggy Pop, David Byrne and Martha Wainwright, to name just a few.
As I greet him on the phone he sounds a little bit jaded, admitting “It was quite weird coming back over (to NZ) because it was such a short trip. It was an intense sort of three weeks and then back here.” After spending his first summer back in New Zealand since moving to the UK in 2006, he then returned to the UK to met up with Late Of The Pier for a three week tour. The tour covered the UK and parts of Europe, Connan says. “We did nearly twenty shows… It was really cool because we were sharing a motor van and one of the Late Of The Pier guys asked if I’d like to come along on a tour bus with them. I’d never been on one before so I ended up spending all my time on that.” Like a kid in a candy store, Connan felt like a rockstar, touring with one of the hottest bands in Britain. He says, “They’re quite strange guys, in a good way. They’re doing really well, every show was pretty packed. In London we played at The Forum which holds about 2,500 people.”
”…Norman was going to fly me over to do one show on a boat and I would have been there for three days or something. I would have got to play with him and David Byrne and Iggy Pop…”
While on tour with Late Of The Pier, Connan’s collaboration with Norman Cook finally hit the record stores. Cook’s new project, under the name of The Brighton Port Authority has seen the producer work with a number of high-profile artists, including David Byrne and Iggy Pop. Connan’s song ‘Jumps The Fence’ has received mixed reviews from both the music press and even Connan himself, who says “It’s a bit, you know, nothing wicked… I probably should be diplomatic I s’pose, but you know what I mean.” However, some music critics haven’t held back on criticising the album, and several reviews in particular have picked on Connan’s track. Rolling Stone Australia said “‘Jumps The Fence’, with helium-voiced Connan Mockasin, is already a contender for worst song of the year.” Connan laughs, “Oh wow, coming out of Australia. That’s funny cos Australians don’t really have much taste. I’ve had a little look to see what the British press has been saying and I found it a bit negative, which doesn’t bother me at all. Someone said I sound like a twelve-year-old girl, which is pretty funny.”
Unfortunately during the BPA project Connan never got to meet any of the other people involved. At one point Cook had an idea to bring them all together, but it never ever happened. “Norman was going to fly me over to do one show on a boat and I would have been there for three days or something. I would have got to play with him and David Byrne and Iggy Pop. It was going to be on the river Thames in a boat.” It’s pretty clear, however, that Connan isn’t too miffed with talking about the BPA. He’d much rather talk about his own work, which the public will get a chance to hear towards the end of this year.
In fact it’s his own album that brought him briefly back to New Zealand. He is putting the final touches on his debut album which he recorded in two parts. “James Milne engineered and produced the first half which we did ages ago in England and then I did the whole second half. It’s a double mini-album,” he says. His initial hopes of releasing the album in the next few months have now been put on hold. “There’s a few things coming up in the UK and I thought it’s best to wait rather than rushing and getting it out here. I might just leave it a while and then try and sort a release out over there as well. I’m just a little bit worried that it might come out over here and Australia and it might not be out over there for another six months.” Connan also wants to try and get it mastered by Erol Alkan, who worked on Late Of The Pier’s debut record. “I’m quite keen on him having a go at mixing the tracks. He did Late Of The Pier’s and I really love what he did with it, so I’m keen to see what he can come up with.”
For now Connan Mockasin is heading back to the UK, the place he now calls home. “This year I’m going to be touring Europe and America until about November then I’m going to come back here and do shows. But I’ll release the record before then.”
The BPA feat. Emmy the Great- Seattle: MP3
Posted by Nick Fulton under New Zealand, UK
April 7th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
How come you uploaded Emmy the Great’s track off BPA? Mistake I’m sure
That said you guys do a good job with the blog.
October 10th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
I loved the Jumped The Fence track, it is my favorite song on the album and I know others who feel the same way (love He’s Frank too)- I’m not kidding - I think it is great. It makes the album for me.