Minuit - Making Their Own Wayho
Author: Amanda Mills
Photo: Matt Grace Photography
The Minuit three have been in action for 10 years, carving themselves a niche as a class live electronica act, releasing EPs, two well-received albums, an international compilation and award-winning website. The trio’s reputation for providing electronic- and beat-based music with that special X-factor is well established, their live shows infamous for the theatre, energetic performances and singer Ruth Carr’s onstage persona. Amanda Mills met up with Carr and multi-instrumentalist Paul Dodge (Ryan Beehre wasn’t in Wellington), to talk about the last three years and creating their lengthily-titled new album, ‘Find Me Before I Die A Lonely Death Dot Com’, due for release here in July.
For much of the time since the release of their second album ‘The Guards Themselves’ in 2006, Minuit have been travelling the world, initiating new audiences to their sound.
“We’ve played some cool places, mainly in Europe. Russia, Finland and Prague, as well as Germany. We’ve played with the Crystal Method in L.A., which was really cool,” Ruth recalls.
Paul is emphatic about his highlight. “We turned up in Prague to 300 people, all singing along to the songs. One of the local DJs a year before had been playing Fuji, so we hooked up this gig, and he pushed it really hard, playing a lot of the album on his show. That’s the power of someone locally getting hold of what you do.”
Ruth cites Finland as a favourite. “We’ve played there twice, and that was hooked up by the guy who plays with the Bomfunk MCs. We’ve had fun – it’s been cool to see different cultures’ reactions. The coolest place we’ve played would be in Berlin. The Germans are horrifically cool, in good ways and bad.”
The trio also performed recently in Vietnam, something of an eye opener for them in dealing with bureaucratic red tape.
“The people who brought us over said that ‘… Government officials will crack down on everyone – they will say you are not doing this gig here. It’s a risk that could happen.’ Then they said we had to send the set list in, then the first two songs’ lyrics, then an mp3 – it was surreal,” relates Paul.
They also spent some time in the UK last year, where they released ‘I Went to This Party and There Were 88 Guards with Guns’ through their UK indie label Doll House Records. The ridiculously lengthy title reflects the fact that it was a compilation of tracks from their three previous NZ releases, and doubtless helped garner attention as Ruth explains.
“We got to record live sessions at Radio One in Maida Vale, which was pretty cool. It does help to have something out as well, so people can own it physically or digitally. There were a few other radio stations that we got to go and do gigs at because of the release. It wasn’t a money-making concept, but it did help to have something out.”
As you’d expect Minuit’s digital catalogue is doing nicely. Paul reckons half their digital sales are in the US.
“There is something in the digital world where people read reviews. We’ve sold a surprising amount for a comparatively unknown band.”
“We’ve played some cool places, mainly in Europe. Russia, Finland and Prague, as well as Germany. We’ve played with the Crystal Method in L.A., which was really cool,” Ruth recalls.
Paul is emphatic about his highlight. “We turned up in Prague to 300 people, all singing along to the songs. One of the local DJs a year before had been playing Fuji, so we hooked up this gig, and he pushed it really hard, playing a lot of the album on his show. That’s the power of someone locally getting hold of what you do.”
Ruth cites Finland as a favourite. “We’ve played there twice, and that was hooked up by the guy who plays with the Bomfunk MCs. We’ve had fun – it’s been cool to see different cultures’ reactions. The coolest place we’ve played would be in Berlin. The Germans are horrifically cool, in good ways and bad.”
The trio also performed recently in Vietnam, something of an eye opener for them in dealing with bureaucratic red tape.
“The people who brought us over said that ‘… Government officials will crack down on everyone – they will say you are not doing this gig here. It’s a risk that could happen.’ Then they said we had to send the set list in, then the first two songs’ lyrics, then an mp3 – it was surreal,” relates Paul.
They also spent some time in the UK last year, where they released ‘I Went to This Party and There Were 88 Guards with Guns’ through their UK indie label Doll House Records. The ridiculously lengthy title reflects the fact that it was a compilation of tracks from their three previous NZ releases, and doubtless helped garner attention as Ruth explains.
“We got to record live sessions at Radio One in Maida Vale, which was pretty cool. It does help to have something out as well, so people can own it physically or digitally. There were a few other radio stations that we got to go and do gigs at because of the release. It wasn’t a money-making concept, but it did help to have something out.”
As you’d expect Minuit’s digital catalogue is doing nicely. Paul reckons half their digital sales are in the US.
“There is something in the digital world where people read reviews. We’ve sold a surprising amount for a comparatively unknown band.”
