Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release.
“Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir and former Black Seed Andy Christiansen, according to the duo themselves.
Their idea of their own perfect weekend looks pretty similar. It’s all about “having a few libations with good humans over, either smoking some meat, or some other solid fuel cookout – either way, eating good food in good weather,” Christiansen says. “The kids are happy and healthy, [and we] have a few mates over while the adults converse and celebrate whatever we feel the need to celebrate. I would also add the chance of making music with good people in the forever hunt of the perfectly imperfect tune.”
He and bandmate Weir only recently formed TRiPS, and have already released their debut self-titled album as a duo. Christiansen described the album as “a timeline of experiences, having families and celebrating different musical relationships we have built over the years of being musicians. We also wanted to highlight some of our favourite artists and present them in a way that you may or may not be used to hearing them, at the same time celebrating what we love about them,” Christiansen says. “Barney, myself and Lee [Prebble] worked hard on getting good tones, fat drums and a big sound, so you could also just enjoy the production.”
Christiansen shared his picks for the 10 best tunes to play whether you’re smoking meat or chucking back drinks, to even out the perfect weekend.
Jack White – Humoresque
This whole album inspired a lot of what I was writing at the time for TRiPS. His first attempt at using Pro Tools for an album, and he’s breaking all of the rules which I love. The tune itself has got an interesting history, but mainly I just love the musical frisbees he throws out into the world, and this is one of those. A few stand out tunes on the album are Respect Commander, and Corporation for me.
Billy Cobham – The Pleasant Pheasant
The live version at the Kongsberg Jazz Festival – 1974 in particular. This tune inspired me to write a tune or two. Great playing from the Brecker Brothers on it too!
Rage Against The Machine – Born of a Broken Man
Possibly my favourite riff they wrote. Tough and takes no prisoners.
Them Crooked Vultures – Scumbag Blues
Great tones that are worth studying. Especially love the drum sound in this too, great songwriting and playing.
The Dead Weather – Treat Me Like Your Mother
Great tune that has great tones. Love the interesting approach to song form too. The tones and vibe on this are great.
Anderson .Paak and André 3000 – Come Home
Love the choices in the production. Inspired a few production choices for TRiPS too.
LCD Soundsystem – Tonite
An absolute banger of a tune. Great production as always. I really like the canvas that the drums and bass provides, everything else provides drama when needed. A good example of sitting in and sitting out.
Queen – The Miracle
Impossible to choose a favourite Queen song. This song in particular I find amazing. Lyrically almost impossible to fathom the positivity with what Freddie was dealing with in his own life. Musically great, and again proves why they were masters at hacking the technology that was available to them.
Nine Inch Nails – The Collector
A hard one to pick from NIN. I went through a massive NIN phase 15-ish years ago. The whole catalog is great. Amazing drum tones and playing. Always interesting production and possibly the best live gig I have been to.
Dave Douglas – Poses
This album introduced time stretching to me and challenged the idea of saying “why not” in music. His melody making is something I obsessed over when I first heard it and has for sure stayed with me.