GUEST BLOGGER: Wally DeBacker (AKA. Gotye)

I'm really excited to share with you guys an interview with Wally (who goes by the stage name Gotye in the musical world). Gotye is my favorite new artist (new in terms of me discovering him within the past year), and I was absolutely thrilled he could do this for us. Gotye started off playing drums with some friends when he was a teenager, covering grunge and metal bands. He then taught himself piano so he could write original songs, and from this he learned to do production with computers, synth and sampling. Another reason why he decided to become a musician? "I found an ancient book collecting dust in the area under my childhood home when I was 11 years old. It prophesized that I was a chosen child who would one day travel to a dark, distant land and be challenged by an evil wizard to free the beautiful princess from his castle fortress. What a heap of horse shit! As a result I vowed to become a musician and never listen to prog rock music from the '70s that mentions unicorns."

Q: What is the most embarrassing CD in your collection?
A: My Little Unicorn- cd soundtrack. It's not prog rock. I may have relented on the unicorn thing.

Q: What is your all-time favourite band / musician?
A: Rolf Harris. That man is a national treasure, whichever country claims him. It doesn't get any better than when he covers Stairway To Heaven.

Q: What's the first CD you can remember buying?
A: CD I don't remember, but I have a vivid recollection of the first cassette tape I ever bought. It was a pirated copy of WHAM!'s "The Final", dubbed onto a C-90 cassette and sold to me by a questionable fellow with a music stand in the transit lounge at Abu Dhabi airport. I was 8 years old.

Q: What are some songs you're really into right now?
A: Some tracks I'm listening to a lot right now

New stuff:
Mirando- Ratatat
Kids- MGMT
The Kids Don't Stand a Chance- Vampire Weekend

Older stuff:
Fight Test- The Flaming Lips
Be (Jonathan Livingston Seagull soundtrack)- Niel Diamond
Outside World- Midnight Oil
What's It Take?- Robert Palmer
Who Are Parents?- The Shaggs

Finally, as per our request, Wally gave us his pick for a music video of the day! "One of my favourite videos: Curare by Bogdan Irkuk. The video is made by a Swedish production house called Pistachios. www.pistachios.se. This video
just adds such a sinister story to an already very dark sounding '80s
Moroder-esque club track"