Firefly Bands: Grooving the Physical with Client Liaison
“From my first impression of you, I got a Stephen Colbert/American Psycho vibe.” This was the start of my interview with Monte Morgan and Harvey Miller of Client Liaison, an Australian duo that is disco, electric, and oh-so ‘90s.
“American Psycho without the savagely murdering people part,” I threw in.
Surprisingly (or not), they’ve had the Patrick Bateman reference before in a previous interview.
“American Psycho is absurdity,” Morgan said. “We like to play on absurdity.”
“It’s not like a joke with a punchline,” Miller added.
It’s not just about the music for Client Liaison. Indeed, the accompanying videos are almost just as important for the irony they convey. The visuals are of wealth, fun, parties, and dance, and some of the videos are filmed with circa 1980s cameras.
“Just like a rock musician would boast about his 1969 guitar,” Miller said, “we too boast about our mint condition 1985 VHS.”
Client Liaison is difficult to dissect initially. They have corporate iconography. They wear sequined jackets, lots of denim, and big prescription glasses. They consider themselves materialistic, but not in a Top Forty, trashed-celebrity way.
“The idea of an exclusive night out at the fanciest hotel doesn’t exist anymore,” Morgan said. “It’s re-appropriating that, but it’s fun.”
Basically, they aren’t celebrating Ferraris. They do, however, memorialize corrupt businessmen and sports heroes who won the gold by default.
“Materialism is a poignant topic, and that’s what we’re commenting on,” Morgan said. “It was nothing conscious on our behalf, but we started celebrating the financial crisis.”
“We’re honest with our inherent materialism,” Miller said.
The patriotic pop duo wants to bring the golden era of 1980s Australia back to the people.
I wondered how they found American patriotism.
“It exists here,” was the answer. “There’s no sense of national identity in Australia; there’s a lot of self-deprecation.”
They explained that the deep-seated shame in how the black indigenous were treated when slavery was legal still plagues the country.
“What we’re trying to do is create a proudness and unity within the nation,” Miller said. “The enthusiasm shouldn’t be discounted. When we grew up anything that was foreign was cool. We had a bit of a heyday in the 80s, and it wasn’t that the music stopped - it just wasn’t considered Australian anymore.”
Out of the Australian time capsule, Miller and Morgan want to see the return of corrupt businessmen like Christopher Skase along with musicians Daryl Braithwaite and John Farnham.
“My favorite artist is Prince, though he’s American,” Miller said.
“Bring back some people that make their own music,” Morgan quipped in response to a cover of “We Will Rock You” coming from the Backyard Stage.
Along with their original pop influences, Client Liaison is pro “shrimp on the Barbie”. It is the idea of life on the beach, no war, no poverty, and lots of space.
“We’re about first and foremost the music being poppy and awesome and people can dance to it,” Miller said.
“We spend a lot of time working on that,” Morgan said. “Our passion is music and performance.”
They are also amused by Outback Steakhouse.
“They have this thing called the Bloomin’ onion,” Miller said. “What is it?”
As a nearby friend explained the fried flower, Morgan commented, “It’s like an Australian corndog but without the corndog. We want to start celebrating things Americans think are Australian but really aren’t.”
“We’re on a diplomatic mission,” Miller said. “Tell the Americans we’ve been tasked by the Australian Embassy to review the ‘bloomin’ onions’ and decide if we want to consider it Australian.”
A totally awesome mission by the most tubular duo at Firefly.
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