Modular People

Before revving up the Bouletmobile and stepping out on his first headline tour, we had a chinwag with our main man Jonathan Boulet. Jono spills the beans on his song-writing process, what makes him happy and sheds some light on album two's process.

Modular: A lot of emphasis has been placed on the fact that you recorded the album by yourself and played all of the instruments. How does it feel to perform the songs with a band rather than have complete control over every aspect?
Jonathan Boulet: I think it's good. It's different because I like to make it a bit more open to those guys, so every now and then we'll try jamming, or maybe I'll start playing something and everyone will join in and they don't know what I'm going to do. It's totally different, it's not all set out, it's all just sort of open. If you feel like something - you can try it.

How did they come to the music? Did you just play a track and say "here it is, you've got to learn it?"
For the first lot of practices everyone would turn up and I'd say, "okay let's play a song" and most of them hadn't even listened to a song they were like "how are you supposed to play a song if you haven't listened to it?"

Have they (the songs) changed much?
Yeah, totally. We've felt them out and figured out how to make them work, properly. They've changed lot from the record to the live setting as well.

Has it been nice seeing the tracks change like that?
Yeah, it's cool. It's a lot more energetic and louder. And more rockier.

Was it difficult reinterpreting the songs for live performances?
Kind of. It was because I've got very limited guitar skills - I'm not a guitarist, I'm a drummer - but I just tuned my guitar to open tuning, and figured out some stuff. I think we've done alright. It's still pretty simple without losing too much.

Something a lot of reviews mention is that people say the album makes them happy and makes them smile. I was wondering if you've noticed that kind of vibe form the crowd?
Yeah people are ready to party and have a good time and stuff, which is always good for us. We're the same I guess, we're ready to just have fun. And that's all we do.

Do you feel as though you feed off the vibe from the crowd?
Yeah, totally. If they're into it, we'll be a lot more into it. It's so hard. We've tried it before - if there's no one there, you have to try and feed off each other, and it's really hard to do that.

What's been your favourite gig so far?
Actually the last two gigs (supporting Mumford and Sons). For some reason they were really good. We felt really good, sounded really good. They were the nicest dudes, super humble.

Why do you think music has that kind of positive effect on people and makes people happy? Does it make you feel that way?
I'm not sure. I wasn't really out to write happy music, it kind of comes out that way. I'm trying to write more 'group music', something that everyone can sing. And I guess a lot of people like the 'happy' sound. I guess they've all got a lot of energy, but they're not all necessarily happy.

Are you happy when you're writing?
I'm not like smiling and writing. I just try and write.

I noticed when you were touring with Tame Impala, I think a lot of people didn't now your music then, a couple of songs you guys played everyone just came in. I was wondering when you wrote the album - did you have any idea what songs would have this effect on people?
When I was writing I wasn't thinking about playing them live at the time, I was just writing stuff.

Afterwards, when rehearsing did you ever think "this song is going to go off?"
Not like that, but I was kind of hoping so. I didn't try and set out the set list so it would be: "good song", "good song" "good song" "little break", "good song" "good song" "good song". You kind of get an idea what songs people are going to get into.

How much care did you put into creating the setlist?
Not long (laughs). I think we just figured it out one day and just thought "yeah, we'll do that."

You're headlining your own tour. What kinds of reactions are hoping to see from crowds?
I have no idea. I'm hoping it's a positive reaction, Or a negative - as long as there's a reaction of some description.

Are you writing more stuff?
Yeah, always. Always.

How long ago did you write the album?
That was over three years, but I wasn't writing for an album. I was just writing stuff and then putting it together.

Will you playing new material on tour?
Yeah, actually we've got a song that's going to turn into a song for the next album. And maybe another one or two.