Regular contributor and columnist Sandi Tighello caught up with electro wunderkinds Mink Engine, to celebrate the launch of their DVD Acres Of Diamonds. Holly Anne a.k.a Touch Me Tiger and Adam a.k.a Askii are the brains behind the music, art, video and performances of Mink Engine. Formed in 2002 Mink Engine have played worldwide to various crowds and are the masters of colour and wow. Check out their vibrant website to learn more about their music and art.
1. One of the first questions most people get asked when first meeting someone else is “so, what do you do?” How would you answer that question?
Touch Me Tiger: Drink lots of cups of tea, do a lot of daydreaming and make music and pictures that go together. Create.
Askii: I usually respond first with a “well…” then expand further with a series of “ums” and “ahs”.
2. When did Mink Engine form? How did you meet?
TMT: We made eyes at each other, indulged in some awkward magnetic moments, formed a mutual admiration society and started collaborating artistically at first with graffiti. We were living in Tokyo in 2002 and I had been VJing at various parties, we had toyed with the idea of making music and visuals together… then someone offered us a show, and within a couple of weeks we became Mink Engine.
Askii: I can confirm that.
3. You’ve played at clubs and festivals from London to Berlin and Tokyo to all around Australia. Does any particular gig stand out as a favourite? Why?
TMT: Vanity in Tokyo because it has the biggest projection screen in Shibuya…enormous, and all the cool Japanese people holding up their mobiles and taking video and chanting “Dick Chicken”. Ex-pat models getting sauced smashing champagne glasses and no room to move, yeah that was a favourite! Recently we played at The Carnival of Electric Illusions in Sydney -kids who love to dress loud and proud, that was a lot of fun.
Askii: Yes, the Vanity parties were always a mad night! I really liked playing at Falls Festival too, ‘cos we started at the tail-end of Wolfmother…maybe the crowd had had enough of guitars and drums and wanted to hear some synths and drum machines, but the tent got more and more rammed as our set went on and everyone was right into the Minkers that night!
4. Your gigs are a fusion of media art, sound, visual and performance – where did the idea to fuse so many art forms come from?
TMT: I think true art happens when there is a synthesis between several mediums, without constraint: no rules or formulas. The idea behind Mink Engine is that it can be anything: a vehicle for whatever we can dream up. Describing it as a band or audio-visual act helps people to classify us and be able to understand and that’s fine. Recently we have played gigs, designed wallpaper, made a pilot TV show (Mink TV), written a TV jingle, produced an album, painted giant bananas and put on a Mink Engine Party.
Askii: For me it’s a case of not being able to have one component without all the others. Plus, we like to have other people’s skills involved. It’s very Warholian…
5. Who and what are your influences, in your art and music?
TMT: Travel has been the biggest influence, meeting people from different cultures and opening your mind to new experiences. Snorkelling in Samoa, hanging out in Harajuku, cruising the Tate Modern, dancing in an aeroplane hangar at Sonar in Barcelona, bargaining in Shanghai: it’s a manifestation of multiple cultures which has become a hyper technicolour beast.
Askii: I’m innately inspired by the shapes and sounds machines make, but more importantly the way a person will interface and manipulate the machines to make them sing, or evoke something strange or beautiful or bizarre. For example, when I look out my window I can see the city behind different layers of trees and other buildings, and I’m thinking about how to synthesise that somehow, visually or sonically, with elements at different depths or distances or scales – but always with a little twist somehow.
6. Popular culture and kitsch seem to feature prominently in your vibrant performances and artwork. What it is that attracts you to pop culture?
TMT: If you live in the city it is inescapable, it’s like cooking: you use the ingredients available to you.
ASKII: And it’s about juxtaposition too – putting unlike things together, in unlikely ways.
7. Do you use your music and art to make statements, whether they are social, cultural or political?
TMT: We definitely are sending messages with Mink Engine, it’s subjective though and more interesting for you to work out what they are. We want to get people thinking, and offer an alternative to all the generic slop.
Askii: I think for us it’s always about saying “this is what we do. Like it or leave it, it’s what we do…we can’t help it.” And so the statement that comes from it, I suppose, is that we would like to see as many people as possible doing their thing, in their way, rather than just trying to rip someone else’s style.
8. Last Thursday was the official premiere screening of your DVD ‘Acres Of Diamonds’. What’s it about?
Askii: It’s about an hour, depending on how skilled you are with a remote.
TMT: It is like stepping into the world of Mink Engine for an hour. Music videos with narratives, characters that weave in and out of plots, Mink Engine dancers, mucking around on camera with artists such as Trentemøller, Modeselektor, Acid Jacks, Not Happy Jan, Bang Gang Djs and much, much more.
9. What inspired you to create a DVD? How long has it taken to complete?
Askii: Because Mink Engine is about sound and vision, the DVD has a certain equivalence to an “album” in the classic sense.
TMT: We were thinking about creating a more immersive experience for our fans. It has been a huge project, its been about three years in the making…we have learnt a lot about life throughout the journey and wearing a helmet has been required.
10. Tell us about the fabulous raunchy banana. How did it start and what is its purpose?
TMT: The raunchy banana is the lovechild of the naughties. Constructed from an internet clip-art banana, the eye of Marilyn Monroe, the mouth of a friend and Andy Warhol’s art for The Velvet Underground, the raunchy banana has become a mascot for Mink Engine, a half peeled banana that comes alive in our video clips. He is a loveable pervert that everyone wants their photo taken with.
Catch Mink Engine this Thursday the 9th of April at 6.30pm for a live performance at Federation Square, Melbourne, as a part of the square’s Synaesthesia program.
