The ChartBlog Slightly Annoying Email Questionnaire: Gotye
Do you remember last week when I was - probably unfairly - moaning about the way people react to the ChartBlog Slightly Annoying Email Questionnaire as if I didn't realise that it was, in fact, slightly annoying, and wanted everyone to join in the hi-LAR-ious fun? Well, the good news is, I have realised the error of my ways, and won't be complaining about this any more (unless I get a real shocker back).
The even better news is someone as finally stepped up to the plate, come up trumps and delivered the goods. They have also got my back and came through when times were rough, they were a bridge over troubled water, a shelter in a time of storm, and they were there for me, when the rain started to fall.
That someone, ladies and gentlemen, is the Belgian/Australian musical collagist Gotye (known to his mum as Wouter DeBacker). He's the man whose face was on a robot pepper-pot in the amazing video for his song 'Heart's A Mess'. It appeared in a recent Back Of The Sofa, if you missed it.
Anyway, it turns out he's also good with questions.
This is how it is done. No answers left out, no questions dismissed, and a lot of interesting things have been revealed about a man who - let's be honest - very few of us had even the slightest clue about, only a very short time ago.
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QUESTION 1: Where are you (as this is email, feel free to lie if you are somewhere dull)?
GOTYE: I'm at my computer in Merricks Beach where I'm currently temporarily living between touring commitments. It's my folks' place, a big house on a hill about an hour and a half south-east of Melbourne, Australia by car. A wonderfully quiet part of the world.
QUESTION 2: What are you doing (see question 1)?
GOTYE: Staying up too late and trying to check things off my to-do list. I think "go to bed" is number 11 at the moment. It's 12:35am.
QUESTION 3: Tell us all about your new product...
GOTYE: My album 'Like Drawing Blood' took about two and a half years to make. It was a drawn out process of collecting hundreds of samples and recording bits and piece at home, saving the money to mix the record by working at a library and then releasing it independently in Australia. It's something I'm very proud to be releasing outside Australia, because it represents such a challenging but fruitful creative period in my life.
QUESTION 4: How long did it take you to type the answer to question 3?
GOTYE: 2 minutes. But I don't touch type. I'm a two finger freak! A flow on from my childhood days obsessing over Sierra's Space Quest and King's Quest games.
QUESTION 5: Really? Did it require any specialist training?
GOTYE: What? Playing adventure games on my PC instead of doing homework as a child? Just a nerdish enthusiasm for fantasy worlds rendered in 256 colours (VGA all the way!).
QUESTION 6: Are you looking forward to a future where computers can just read your brainwaves rather than expecting you to use a keypad?
GOTYE: These two fingers work so much better for me on the piano than if I could just sit back and think up my responses.
QUESTION 7: What would you like to be wearing right now?
GOTYE: More clothes. And three scarves. It's freezing down here. The little electric heater next to me is working overtime, but there's still a little breath visible if I breathe out really hard.
QUESTION 8: And what are you actually wearing?
GOTYE: Two scarves. And a leotard.
QUESTION 9: What would you like the next person you see to be wearing?
GOTYE: A sign that says 'Repent Now - The end of the global marketplace is nigh'. With a chicken on their head for emphasis.
QUESTION 10: Why do you think Donald Duck wears a tunic but no trousers?
GOTYE: It's just easier to do what a duck's gotta do that way. I'm a big fan of the solo tunic. With three scarves.
QUESTION 11: What musical training do you have? Do you play any interesting instruments?
GOTYE: I've been working really hard on my air guitar skills over the last few weeks. But that gets dangerous while driving. So the electric kazoo is more my focus at the moment.
QUESTION 12: If you and your most musical mates all had your instruments in front of you right now, but were instructed to play a song, any song, right now without conferring, what would it be?
GOTYE: 'Smoke On The Water' in a "Moog Plays..." style. Ultimate!
QUESTION 13: Now be honest, did you cheat on question 12?
GOTYE: No. 'Popcorn' was a close second.
(ChartBlog note: is 'Popcorn', by Hot Butter)
QUESTION 14: What was the last thing you posted on your own message board?
GOTYE: A blog about Fabio's musical output. And a little Cassetteboy-style snippet of slanderous plunderphonics at his expense. Go to (in the blog section).
QUESTION 15: That's nice...
GOTYE: Not really. It's quite cruel. But so funny it's almost unreal. And the man comes across as if he's from another planet (wait...Italy...well it's close). So maybe it's alright.
QUESTION 16: Does this little bit of admin make you yearn for a simpler life without personal assistants?
GOTYE: I scare myself (workaholic!) when I consider how a P.A. might actually be awesome. But life wouldn't be very interesting if you had other people do all the real stuff for you.
QUESTION 17: One of the answers to these questions won't be interesting enough. Which one would you like to change?
GOTYE: Any of the ones about me. If I could try to answer on behalf of Donald Duck for all of the above, we might be on to a winner.
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Here's the amazing video for 'Heart's A Mess', which is taken from Gotye's album, out on August 18th.
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Previous ChartBlog Annoying Email Questionnaire victims:
Cut Off Your Hands
The Subways
Go:Audio
Alphabeat
Tokio Hotel
Princess Superstar
The Sounds
Sadie Ama
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