NZ Musician

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.”

Ruth has also been in demand as a vocalist outside of Minuit, but it doesn’t mean any cracks are showing.
“I did one [track] with Rennie Pilgrem, and Crystal Method have asked me to do one on their new album. I actually don’t really like doing it, and I don’t think I’ll do it anymore because I kind of feel like I’ve given too much away. They don’t feel like my songs, and they aren’t part of our set, they aren’t Minuit songs and I don’t get to sing them live.”
Minuit have always “flown the flag” for their way of doing things. They decided a long time ago for instance not to do the industry showcases, but it hasn’t all been planned as Paul explains. “It’s just the way it worked out. In hindsight, you look back and you go, ‘Wow – that’s how we did it’. I don’t want to say we stumbled along, but we went out and did it, and met people that we liked and who liked our music. I do see it as success, just to be able to go and play shows overseas.”
Ruth agrees. “We’re quite lucky, we’re not part of a machine. Minuit is us, and we’re in control of our product, which for any artist is the only way to thrive creatively.
“We’ve evolved and moved with our music” she continues. “We really didn’t know what we were doing, and we still don’t know what we’re doing, what our sound is, or where we’re going, or where we fit. We’ve never fitted, but I see that as a positive. We’re currently doing some acoustic songs at the end of our sets, with Paul and Ryan playing acoustic guitars and that’s been really fun to introduce to people, as they forget that electronic musicians play instruments. It’s good to mess it up.”
Forging a sound of their own has always been Minuit’s way, regardless of whether or not it fits existing classification. The new album is no different in that regard.
“When we put ‘The 88’ out in 2003, the closest thing that we had at the time was breakbeat,” Paul points out. “But people were like, ‘This isn’t a breakbeat album at all’, but they didn’t really know what else to call us.”
The first single off ‘Find Me Before I Die A Lonely Death Dot Com’ has had the same effect, though Ruth’s strong feelings about Wayho are maybe more for personal reasons. “I like Wayho because I put my name in it. No one else is going to write a song with the name Ruth in! I’m glad I did, I’m kind of talking to myself in it.”
“We also have a song called Aotearoa on the album, which has the words ‘New Zealand’ in it, so Ruth was kind of under a similar dilemma,” Paul picks up. “Can you put ‘New Zealand’ into a song without any cringe factor?”
“Yay! Finally, we’ll get accepted as a Kiwi band,” Ruth responds rapturously and revealingly.
When Minuit were interviewed for the NZM cover story in February 2006, Paul commented that their second album ‘The Guards Themselves’ wasn’t a good example of how Minuit wrote, recorded and produced an album. It had been a prolonged (three years) process with a variety of setbacks including a very serious health scare for Ruth. I ask if this new record is a better example.
“It totally is. When we decided to do the album they were the songs we had been playing when travelling around. In the end we thought, ‘Let’s go back to NZ and trash all that stuff and just do what Minuit is’. Hence we have songs that are different – one that sounds like an Irish pub sing-a-long, to full-on electronica, to live instruments, synths out through guitar amps, and using vintage tape delay gear. That’s a classic example of Minuit.”
And they’ve thoroughly enjoyed the recording process this time around.
“It’s been done in Nelson at Ryan’s studio. It’s still been a long distance thing, but we’ve found that when all three of us get into that studio, it’s incredibly productive, and it’s been good to use real instruments. It’s brought the music to life a lot more as well and it’s been quite inspiring.”
Ruth adds that Nelson is “…where we began, and we still have that connection, and Ryan’s studio is there – he has such great studio skills, so it’s cool to be back”.
Unusually Minuit chose to have an outside producer contribute this time, bringing Andy Chatterly in to work on Wayho.
“Because we’ve always done it as the three of us, ‘What if someone else took the song – not as a remix, but as how Minuit would do it – what would they add?’ The track is the same, it was more about texture and atmosphere. That was quite early on, and it got us thinking more about getting outside the computer, that was a push in the direction that worked out well,” Paul explains.
The album is a typically diverse experience, taking inspiration from many sources while maintaining those impeccable Minuit qualities of sparkling energy and crunchy fragility. Maserati has a harder feel, with almost Japanese-sounding vocals, while Running has a loping beat, a distinctly funky rhythm. Aotearoa is stunning, elegant vocals over downbeat rhythms and evocative synth lines. I’ll be Alive and You’ll be Kicking is cinematic in scope, complete with string effects.
With a growing focus on live instrumentation could it be that Minuit have changed direction? Paul counters the assumption.
“It’s not a change in lyrical or song direction, just in the instruments that are used to play a specific song. Ruthie made one up, but that’s not electronic, so we tried other things, tried to get the electronic thing, but the song is what it is, and so we ended up playing it on guitars, that’s what works with the song.”
And fans can rest assured Ruth’s enigmatic lyrics are still to the fore, drawing you in with curiosity.
“It’s just life really. I don’t sing songs about boys. It’s just anything and everything,” she says. “It’s a typical schizophrenic Minuit album. Don’t expect anything, and expect everything, I guess. I really like this album. It feels good to like an album.”
And the concept behind the title? Ruth explains.
“If you were going to find me before I died a lonely death, how would you find me? Where is my place in the world, and what’s going on with the world? Most of our lyrics I try to make happy, but they end up not being happy. I guess because life is tragedy and farce”.
Still, Minuit never take themselves too seriously. Ruth presents what could potentially be the album cover art – a map of the world, in colour-separated hundreds and thousands. “I’ve got nothing better to do on a Friday afternoon than sit around and separate hundreds-and-thousands into different colour groups” she explains. ‘We’re trying to work out whether we’ll have a piece of white sandwich bread buttered underneath,” Paul adds. “We won’t know until the album comes out.”
So apart from more colour sorting, what is next on the cards for the band? They’re hoping to make a video or two (they’ve got some interesting ideas for Aotearoa), but other than a gig in Auckland in June, and a possible album tour, the future is curently open. Ruth smiles.
“The Japanese say, ‘Don’t tell your plans unless you want the devil to laugh’. One of our lyrics is ‘I may be falling off a cliff, but I’m still dancing’. That’s the future.”