Bangers of the Year (So Far) Q&A: Confidence Man

We’re more than half way through the 2018 auditing period, Dear Reader. That means it’s time to pull down the shutters, call in the staff, and do a stock check on the only thing that counts. Cold, hard Bangers.

We’ve run the sums, calculated the co-efficients, and come up with our definitive top 50 tracks of the year so far. You can read the full run down now in the new issue of Dork, or keep pace on readdork.com over the next few days as we count down.

As we go, we'll be checking in with some of 'the bands' to chat about the songs that made the list. Confidence Man have shaken up our scene, with a live set that's captured the imagination of audiences around the world. Successfully translated to a debut album full of bangers, they're one of the most exciting new acts on the planet. We caught of with Janet Planet to talk their standout track, 'Out The Window'.

Hey Janet, how’s it going?
We’re good, just sitting at a bar in Bordeaux watching the World Cup. Our bar is about 40 seconds behind the bar next door though so we always know in advance if someone’s scored.

‘Out The Window’ features on Dork’s Bangers of the Year (So Far) list - what are some of your fave tracks from 2018?
So far, DJ Koze - Pick up. Peggy Gou - it makes you forget. Lots of summer dance tracks because we skipped winter this year in Australia. So we’re doubling down.

Tell us about writing ‘Out The Window’, where did it come from?
'Out The Window' was the last track we finished for the record. We originally started writing it on a writing trip we did in rural Victoria in early 2017. It started from a cool piano sample we found, which we ended up changing up and re-writing in the end. We pulled it apart, and rewrote it about ten times until we finally got it right. Almost killed us.

It’s prompted comparisons to Primal Scream, were they an influence?
Primal Scream is definitely an influence for us. We love a bit of cheeky homemade chorale here n there.

What were you lot listening to in the 90s?
I was a little kid, but my dad was always into new music. He showed me Massive Attack, Fatboy Slim, R.E.M etc. My sister was a teenager, so I heard lots of good trash like Spice Girls and Savage Garden too. Got a well-rounded pop education.

What do you think’s key to writing a super fun pop hit?
Good friends, party bass lines and a good dose of cheek.

What are you up to at the mo, you’ve loads of festivals right?
Yeah, we’re touring pretty much everywhere in Europe at the moment. So playing lots of shows and getting nice and plump on croissants. I’d expect some French on the next record!