The Valentinos: Ewan And Whose Studio?

Sydney rock & rhythm crossover crew The Valentinos have made an auspicious start to the recording of their debut album, snaring the production skills of Berlin-based, English producer and electronic artist Ewan Pearson to record a track together. The five-piece spent three days at Velvet Studio on Pitt St in Sydney with Pearson last week, cutting a composition with the working title of ’17 Deaths’.

“It was a really good opportunity to work with someone world class,” explains the group’s bassist, Pat Santamaria. “It went really well.”

Pearson, who does remix and production work under a variety of monikers, has remixed Ladytron, Franz Ferdinand and The Chemical Brothers, programmed several songs on Gwen Stefani’s first solo album and, most recently, handled production on the forthcoming solo album by Everything But The Girl’s Tracy Thorn and the recent Rapture disc, Pieces Of The People We Love.

“We hadn’t thought about him as a producer prior to this,” admits Santamaria. “He’s well known for his deep tech and progressive house work, but the first time we heard of him producing bands was when he produced The Rapture album. I really like that record – it’s slick and well produced, which isn’t what you expect from them. We thought it would be interesting to work with him and it was.”

It’s not clear whether the band will do further sessions with Pearson – who spent a month holidaying and DJing in Australia, working with no other acts – or who else might feature in the producer’s chair on their album. For the moment the band are focused on writing new material, with half a dozen new songs currently ready for future sessions.

“Once we’ve got the body of work done we’ll know who is appropriate,” explains Santamaria. “It’s pretty serious when you say, ‘We’re writing for the album now’. We’re not just throwing an EP together.”

The writing and recording in 2007 follows their first trip overseas, to Britain and the Continent, at the close of 2006. “No-one knew who we were to a degree,” says Santamaria. “We’d had some web exposure via blogs, so we have this weird little following around the world, but overall it was very positive. It’s difficult to play outside what you’re used to, but it’s really rewarding to be able to do that and to get any kind of response.”

What was noticeable, according to Santamaria is that the doyens of cool in both London and Paris were enthusiastic about the new wave of Australian acts such as Cut Copy, Presets, and The Valentinos, who to European eyes exemplify the next scene worth shadowing.

“When we were in Paris people were giving us the feeling that they were looking towards Australia as this movement that’s happening and that a lot of people in the world are looking towards Australia for music,” notes Santamaria. “These are people who’ve lead the way over the last few years and now they’re keen to meet bands like us. That was odd, but good.”

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