Entertainment

Saturn art-rockers Django Django out of this world

Art rockers Django Django start their final run of 2015 tour dates in Dublin and frontman Vinnie Neff’s hometown of Derry. Neff talks to Brian Campbell about new album Born Under Saturn, Michael Fassbender and playing The Middle East

Django Django play Derry on Wednesday
Django Django play Derry on Wednesday Django Django play Derry on Wednesday

DJANGO Django frontman Vinnie Neff is understandably excited to be playing his hometown of Derry next week. London-based Neff and his English and Scottish bandmates play the Nerve Centre on Wednesday as part a run of dates to see out a busy year of touring.

“I grew up going to the Nerve Centre, so it’ll be good to get back. I used to go to Deep Fried Funk nights and DJ sets by Andrew Weatherall and Two Lone Swordsmen and stuff,” says Neff.

“I remember seeing people like Ron Sexsmith and Shaun Ryder from the Happy Mondays – although that wasn’t the best one; he got bottled off stage.” By all accounts Ryder had been a little too 'merry' after frequenting a bar and was somewhat below par.

There’s not much chance of the experimental indie/electro heroes Django Django (Neff, Jimmy Dixon Tommy Grace and Dave Maclean) getting bottled off, as they continue to tour their excellent second album Born Under Saturn – the follow-up to their 2012 Mercury-nominated debut. They will also be supported by another fantastic act – Stealing Sheep.

“They’re amazing,” says Neff of the Liverpool three-piece of Rebecca Hawley, Emily Lansley and Lucy Mercer. “We first played together in Liverpool in 2010 and I think the two of us will work well.”

Neff has good memories of his band’s first Derry gig at the Culturlann three years ago.

“It was to about 300 people, but it was mostly my aunties and extended family running around the place and losing their minds. I think the other fellas in the band were slightly terrified, so it was a good initiation into the Derry lifestyle,” he laughs.

As a man who started singing in St Columb’s choir, he jokes that he might be tempted to “bring in the choristers to hit those high C's".

"But we will have the sax player [James Mainwaring] from Roller Trio, who were Mercury-nominated with us in 2012.”

The band toured America in October and one live-show review mentioned an “acoustic guitar and whistling section”, referring to the band’s western-influenced title track for the soundtrack of Slow West, released earlier this year and starring Michael Fassbender.

The film was directed by John Maclean, formerly of The Beta Band and brother of Django Django drummer/producer Dave Maclean.

"Jim, our bass player, is an amazing whistler. If anything ever happened the band, he’s got a whole new career there,” laughs Neff.

"We always have a midpoint bit in the set where we do Love’s Dart [from the first album] and Slow West, to give people a wee change of vibe. Slow West went down well in Nashville because it’s a bit of a 'hoedown’ moment in the set.”

He says it was great to be involved in the Slow West film.

“Bryan [Mills] from The Divine Comedy, who starred in it as well, wrote a lot of the score and the lead singer of The Aliens, Gordon Anderson [aka Lone Pigeon], did some stuff too, so it was nice to be asked. I was obviously gunning to meet Fassbender but it didn’t happen,” he laughs.

He says Fassbender has been to a couple of Django Django gigs in the past.

“When our first album came out we played XOYO (in London) and I didn’t realise it at the time but he was there at the back. When my sister found out about that, she lost her mind. And we used to do a club night in east London and he was at that a few times too.”

The band enjoyed their most recent US tour, according to Neff.

“It was good to go to the Deep South, because we’d never been before. We got to Atlanta and Nashville and New Orleans. We’d done LA and New York and Chicago and stuff before, so it was good for us to take in the culture and see it all.

“Nashville has its own vibe completely but they always keep an eye on British and Irish music. We played New Orleans on Halloween night and we finished the tour at the Middle East club in Boston.

"It was a good way to finish it. Boston has that whole Irish heritage thing, so they have good drinkers!”

So Django Django can now add 'The Middle East’ to the places they’ve toured, on top of the US, Japan and Australia.

They return to Australia for a run of dates between December 30 and January 10.

“It’ll be full on, but we’re looking forward to it,” says Neff. “We play Field Day in Sydney on January 1 and people at that will have already been on the go for two days.

"After those dates we’ll shut down and get cracking again,” he says, referring to starting work on the third album.

Before the Derry gig, the Djangos play Dublin on Tuesday.

“We played the Button Factory a couple of years ago and we’ve done a few other Dublin gigs and they’ve always been amazing. The audiences are crazy in a good way.”

Pause Repeat is one of the new ones that’s been getting a good reception live.

“It’s been good to open these songs out. When you start touring the songs they sound like they do on the album but then the more you play you add more pace and sections to them and dub-outs at the end, so it’s been fun to build them out.

"So 18 months down the line a song can become almost unrecognisable; they can morph into a 10-minute monster.”

Before going into music full-time, Neff was an architect. “I think I made the right choice. My parents might say differently,” he laughs.

“But I still really like architecture and if I have a day off in a town I’ll go on to architects’ forums and see if there’s any good buildings around and sometimes I’ll drag the rest of the guys along.”

And as their upcoming dates come in the run-up to Christmas, will they throw a festive song into the set?

“I might have to think about it. Maybe a bit of Paul McCartney’s Wonderful Christmastime.”

:: Django Django play Vicar Street in Dublin on Tuesday and the Nerve Centre in Derry on Wednesday, with support from Stealing Sheep. Born Under Saturn is out now (www.djangodjango.co.uk).