THE SUGARFIEND

Earlier in 2000, Guven released a fairly groundbreaking new single to the Australian music scene, Sugarfiend. It was a very unusual single for Australian listeners, with a darker feel than a lot of electronic music that's been around.

That single was the forerunner for Guven's debut album, which has just been released & is one very cool bunch of songs, from a new artist who is really making his presence felt. The album was preceded by another single, Wish I Could Be & it in turn has shown another side to Guven's greatsound.

I caught up with the man himself around the time of the release of the album & we chatted about the developments since Sugarfiend was released, the new single & of course the album. We also talked about what was happening with Guven's live shows.

First up was a short discussion about the difference between Sugarfiend & the new single Wish I Could Be.

"Yes, you might remember when I spoke with you last time, you mentioned that Sugarfiend was a sort of moody track with the vocal style I put on it. I think I said at the time that there was quite a lot of funk elements to most of the other songs on the album & I suppose that Wish I Could Be is definitely one of the more upfront tracks that has a real funky feel to it, but the others do too."

We turned our attention to one of the other songs on the album, which is about as similar to Sugarfiend as any of the others featured.

"Meaning Of Life? is one of those songs that just come to you. It was a very quick song to write & when we put it down, it ended up with that same feel that Sugarfiend did. I think on the whole album, it's probably the most serious of all the songs there, though it wasn't an intentional thing."

As always, my conversations turn around to the topic of airplay with bands & this one also turned down that familiar path.

"Triple J has been really great with Sugarfiend. They haven't picked up the next one as hard, but I hope when they hear the album, they'll come around. I've also been lucky with getting my video played on Alchemy too & of course community radio is very supportive, so I couldn't be happier at the moment."

When I spoke last with Guven, one of the questions I asked was how he was getting on translating his sound to a live environment. Things have certainly moved on since then.

"Look, when I first started, it was me with Ashley & since we were talking last time, I've now got a full band & the sound has really expanded to bring that across to people. The band has really become an integral part of what I'm doing & the extra things each person has brought with them has helped to broaden the styles we're able to come up with. They've picked up on what I was doing & we're all expanding it in a lot of different ways."

Lastly, where can we expect Guven to turn now that the album's out & the listeners can decide for themselves.

"I think probably the hardest thing for a band is working with what they think is really good & then when it escapes your own hands, it's something else again. Now that the album's out there & people can hear for themselves that there's more to the Guven sound than it first appeared, they'll hopefully think like we do. I think it's something that's not been out there before in a way, so we'll wait & see & of course get out there & do some live gigs."

Check out Guven's new self titled album out now through BMG.