Banoffee—aka Martha Brown—and Oscar Key Sung spend a lot of time together; something we considered when we were thinking who should chat to them for this article. Over the past few years the longtime friends have taken turns producing, styling, directing, and assisting across each other’s projects and are regulars in each other’s bands, photos, and cars.
Later this month they’re taking on one of their most ambitious projects to date and teaming up with acclaimed Australian artist Prue Stent for Samsung Sound + Vision, a special one-off performance and showcase of music, art, and, technology at the Sydney Opera House. It’s going to be epic.
Despite being considerably consumed by such an undertaking, they were nice enough to take a break from preparations to attempt another collaboration, byway of interviewing each other. We think it’s safe to say it was another piece of excelled teamwork.
Martha: Hello Oscar.
Oscar: Hello Martha.
Welcome to our interview, want to try asking me a question?
Sure. Have you ever seen anybody do a Snapchat video where they break down a song into eight second segments and make a video clip to a song for their friends?
I haven’t seen it but I’ve heard about it being done.
If you had to do a Snapchat video clip, what song would you do, and what would be the concept?
I would do Sorry by Justin Bieber. Just to be typical. I’d do it on an escalator, I’d be in the fast lane and holding up the queue with all my groceries. I think we came up with a similar concept for one of my songs, but I could see it to working for Sorry.
That’s a great idea. We talked about doing something similar for one of my songs too. The concept was me holding up traffic, singing to the camera, “I don’t want to be that guy”.
But you are that guy, you drive pretty slowly over speed bumps.
You drive too fast over speed bumps.
Maybe. Anyway, it’s my turn to ask something. Are you ever going to cut your hair? Or are you going to turn into some sort of wildman?
My goal is to have long hair, so I’m working towards my dream.
We have this pretty amazing show coming up, a Sydney Opera House extravaganza, how are you feeling about it?
I’m very excited, I spent a lot of my childhood living in Sydney, so it’s especially exciting to my childhood self. Plus obviously the Opera House is the most esteemed venue in Australia. I actually sang there once when I was in the Sydney Boy’s Choir. I remember I didn’t sleep at all the night before because I was so excited.
Cute. Also, you’re collaborating with someone special, I hear she’s pretty nice as well.
Yeah I’m very excited to be collaborating with Prue, she’s super cool [laughs]. She’s an amazing visual artist and I think she’s really going to suit the stuff me and this girl Martha are doing [laughs]. I’m excited to be working with Martha too.
I’ve heard terrible things about her.
She’s a long time collaborator, close friend, much more and I can’t wait to share the stage with her.
Ask me another question. This is your last one, so make it really good.
Okay, what else are you excited about?
Laneway is coming up, and my live set is going to be pretty spesh. I’ve got an amazing man playing with me, a sexy bro calledNick Mulhall who does Queen Magic. He’s part of my band, he’ll be playing just Melbourne. Oscar Key Sung will be playing in my band for the rest of it, he’s alright. He’s not the best producer but he’s gonna give it a go. Joking, he’s the best. I’m looking forward to seeing Grimes play too.
You’re a big Grimes fan, what do you like about her?
I like that she’s unapologetic about following her nose in terms of music and she’s not tied down to a genre or her audience’s expectation. She’s gotten a lot of shit for this new album but I think it was a brave move. I really respect her for that. I’m also just really excited about working with Prue. She’s so clever. I’m just really excited all round!
Banoffee, Oscar and Prue will be performing at Samsung Sound + Vision at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday 31 January.
The night will also include one-off collaborative performances by Empress Of with Nonotak Studio and Charles Murdoch with Tin&Ed.
Best of all, it’s free. But make sure you RSVP to secure a spot.
Credits
Photography Prue Stent