Introducing - L.A. duo Night Club, Interview

Night Club. 'She Wants To Play With Fire'

Info: My first impressions when I watched the video for 'She Wants To Play With Fire' (above) were 'Oh behave!' and I don't think I could sum up their style any better than Philthy Mag's Izzy Cihak; 'Night Club produce dangerously arousing songs that take synth pop to its pleasantly dirty and transgressive edges'. The duo behind Night Club are Emily Kavanaugh and Mark Brooks and they've been working together since 2011, with Black Leather Heart being their third E.P. release. When I properly sat down to listen to the tracks on the new E.P. my first thoughts were they are playing a dangerous game, an unapologetic pop sound, mixed with pounding synths and beats are a combination that are very hard to pull off without sounding like everyone else. 

Vocally Kavanaugh is excellent with an undeniable 80's sound very similar to Madonna, and Brooks' production is spot on, the synths on 'She's Playing With Fire' and their fantastic cover of INXS' 'Need You Tonight' are like an industrial sledgehammer, and massively addictive. Sometimes you just need some good unadulterated pop music and this is a slot Night Club happily fit into, but with a darker edge. Listening to the final track on the E.P., 'Cruel Devotion' it's impossible not to picture a festival crowd or, nightclub dance floor (!) filled to the brim. The louder you play Night Club's music, the better it sounds, it scratches that itch and I love it. 

Here's a few questions I fired over to Mark and Emily to find out more about their influences and background;

Remy: A quick question first, the video for ‘She Wants To Play With Fire’ is admittedly an homage to Tarantino films, if you had to pick one, what would be your favourite out of Quentin’s  repertoire?!

Night Club: Our favorite Tarantino film is Reservoir Dogs. First of all, it has some of the most gruesome footage of any of his films as well as some of the sharpest dialogue. It also gets bonus points for an opening scene where criminals are arguing about Madonna.

Remy: On your SoundCloud page I came across your cover version if INXS’s ‘Need You Tonight’ from their excellent album Kick, and I can’t stop listening to it, it’s just as catchy as the original, have you any plans at the moment to cover any other 80’s songs?

Night Club: Actually we weren't planning to cover an 80's song at all, it just happens to be a song that we both wanted to try our own take on. Right now, we're not planning to cover anything else at the moment, but who knows?

Night Club, 'Need You Tonight'

Remy: Listening to some of the other tracks on earlier E.P.s such as Love Casualty and your self-titled release, I can hear other eighties influences such as Eurythmics, Madonna, Visage, and even Ultravox (if they were on speed!), would it be fair to say that 80’s synth music is a big influence?

Night Club: It would absolutely be fair to say that. In fact we're quite honored to be associated with such great company. We both love music and style from that era as much as we dig current stuff. 

Remy: Emily, vocally you seem to have a nice mix of 80’s / 90’s club vocals, but also at times a contemporary pop sound, are there any vocalists currently making music that you would admire or, perhaps, would love to work with, and actually, the same question to Mark regarding production?

Emily: Charli XCX. I totally admire her and would love to collaborate with her. She's a super talented songwriter and she has rad style and big crazy hair. Plus she's obsessed with Britney and the Spice Girls as much as I am, which is a plus. 

Mark: I also would love to collaborate with Charli XCX but more than anything: Madonna. I have no interest in collaborating in production, I'm all about pop stars. 

Remy: Your latest E.P., Black Leather Heart, was only released this month, you now have 3 E.P.s totalling 15 tracks, are you planning on amalgamating all three E.P.s to make a full-length album, or will you be using your latest E.P. as the launch-pad instead?

Night Club: We actually prefer releasing E.P.s because we can release new music more often and it gives us the freedom to experiment. Right now, we have no full length plans as we really enjoy the EP format. 

Remy: Finally, have you any plans to tour soon, and if so, are you planning on coming to Europe (or Ireland!) or will you be mainly concentrating on recording over the next while?

Night Club: Right now we're really busy scoring the upcoming television show, Moonbeam City (Comedy Central starring Rob Lowe), but we are planning on touring the UK in 2015. Let us know where we should play in Ireland and we'll make sure that we are there!  

Remy: I'll get my people to talk to your people ;)


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