'Never meet your heroes' goes the old saying. Andre Hooke, frontman of Melbourne indie-folksters KHANCOBAN, threw all that out the window when he wrangled the support for his musical hero, revered US singer-songwriter Vic Chestnutt, on the man's 2009 Australian tour. “It was completely daunting,” Andre recalls. “We went out for dinner the night before the first show and saw him from afar - I almost fell over I was so nervous. There was some cool moments when we just got to hang out backstage. Victoria Williams was touring with him, those two are old friends so just to hang out and be a part of that was awesome.”
Chestnutt even had some choice words of approval for his devotee. “He said in his southern-American accent “y'all real good” so that was really nice. Victoria Williams apparently said that I had a really nice voice but she wanted to know which language I was speaking,” he chuckles.
Khancoban was formed in 2004 by Andre and his wife, drummer Jemima, and over the years the pair have remained the core of the group. As such, Andre admits that it can be difficult to separate the band from the rest of their lives. “We do sometimes have to make a point not to talk about the band and just have 'us' time,” he says. “Unfortunately being together and playing music is only a tiny part of [being in the band]. It is our lives completely, but we're happy enough for it to be like that.”
In the next couple of years after forming, the pair picked up a couple of extra bandmates as well as a deal with Half a Cow Records, run by former Canberra boy Nic Dalton – a veteran of Sneeze, Godstar, The Lemonheads, Ratcat and The Hummingbirds. “Apparently Nic didn't really get [our demo] at first and put it aside as a 'maybe',” Andre says, “but came back to it and really loved it.”
The band released their self-titled debut and follow-up Limbs May Fall on Half a Cow, but are now working on a full-length for Melbourne label Departed Sounds. The five-piece are settling into a more relaxed recording process for release number three. “We're taking a year to record it here and there,” Andre says. “In the past we've gone into the studio and recorded things really quickly and this time we're purposely taking it really slowly.”
The band's trip to the US last year has undoubtedly informed the direction of the new material: during the trip, Andre pulled a Dylan-style betrayal of his folk roots and purchased an electric guitar. “I'd always played acoustic guitar up until that point,” Andre says. “Now I just play electric guitar live, so it was a bit of a watershed moment in some ways.”
Khancoban launch their new single This Block on Saturday September 4 at The Front Cafe and Gallery in Lyneham, with supports Ruby for Lucy and Nic Dalton. From 8pm, $6 entry.
