After intense recording sessions and extended post-production, Brisbane sextet Cheap Fakes are on the verge of releasing their third studio album, ‘Modern Vintage’.
“We are extremely excited,” says frontman, Hayden Andrews. “It’s been a long time in the making this album, so we’re really happy to have it finally out and letting some people hear it.”
The band will launch ‘Modern Vintage’ in Brisbane before setting off on a national tour. Having formed and established a loyal fan-base in Brisbane, Hayden says the launch will be a fitting tribute to the band’s hometown. “We’re doing a lot of other shows as well… but the official [launch] date is the date at The Triffid and it’s very important to us to launch it on that day because our hometown has been very loyal to us and we love playing to lots of familiar faces and people who know our songs and love them.”
Cheap Fakes worked with US producer John Merchant, whose impressive CV includes production credits for the Bee Gees, Michael Jackson and Barbara Streisand. “It was just an unbelievable experience working with him,” Hayden says.
“You can see why he gets to work with all the big bands… he really knows what he’s doing and his knowledge of production and the way that he does things was just so beneficial to the overall sound of the album. And the performances he gets out of his musicians are just unbelievable.”
‘Modern Vintage’ is an album that’s been in-the-making for some time, with the band spending a year just in post-production perfecting the final mix. At the same time, they were also preparing to welcome some new additions to the Cheap Fakes family. “Just when we booked in John to fly over I found out that my wife was pregnant, so that was happening at that time so the release of the album got postponed because of that. Then our drummer also had a baby not long after that and so it sort of just threw a spanner into the works.
“But it was all good and we ended up doing another couple of tunes in that long period as well, so it worked out really well for the album I think. It was just hard, the long wait; you want to get it out there to people, but it’s been beneficial to us to hold off and it feels like perfect timing now.”
With their modern approach to big-brass funk, Cheap Fakes have gained a strong following both here and overseas. Their popularity lies not only in the warm, vintage sounds of their studio recordings, but the energy and stagecraft the band exudes on-stage. “Well, on the record we’re pop and a bit of reggae and I guess a bit of funk and dance-y kind of stuff, but live, it’s a totally different beast,” Hayden explains.
“There are massive build-ups and we just try to have fun on stage and try to be as energetic as we can be. We treat live and studio as two totally different beasts. It’s just the energy that comes across when we’re playing live and I think that’s really important as well for bands; there’s nothing worse than going to see a band that plays their songs exactly as they are on record. I like to see something different and be surprised and get something exciting from the band you didn’t really expect.”
Cheap Fakes Tour Dates
Fri 9 Oct - The Triffid (Brisbane)Sun 11 Oct - Miami Marketta (Gold Coast)
Fri 16 Oct - Solbar (Sunshine Coast)
Thu 29 Oct - Tokio Hotel Live (Sydney)
Sat 31 Oct - Granite Town Festival (Moruya)
Sat 7 Nov - Originals Festival (Sunshine Coast)
Fri 13 Nov - Sooki Lounge (Melbourne)
Fri 20 Nov - Mullum Music Festival (Mullumbimby)
