CONFIDENCE Man is one of those stories every group of musical friends dream about. Four housemates - from indie rock bands Moses Gunn Collective, Jungle Giants and The Belligerents - one night drunkenly mess about with electronic equipment to write a dance song.
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Despite possessing rudimentary knowledge of electronic music production the quartet produce a simplistic, yet amazingly catchy, slice of ’90-inspired dance-pop.
Boyfriend (Repeat) became a surprise hit in 2016 and soon triple j controversially described the Brisbane band as the “best up-and-coming live act” in Australia based on their 2017 Splendour In The Grass show.
London-based label Heavenly also dived in to sign Confidence Man.
“When it blew up we were like ‘oh my god, we need to have more than two songs’, so then it was just the four of us in the studio writing, figuring out along the way what we wanted our sound to be,” said vocalist Janet Planet, real name Grace Stephenson.
“We had only written a handful of songs before and we didn’t have a direction, it was just a general idea. That was a bit weird, so in the last year we’ve been figuring out what we want to sound like.”
Last Friday Planet and her bandmates - who use the pseudonyms Sugar Bones, Reggie Goodchild and Clarence McGuffie - released their debut album Confident Music For Confidence People. It’s packed full of Madchester beats and affectionate melodies.
Colourful song titles like Don’t You Know I’m In A Band and C.O.O.L Party signify their intention.
“Coming out of a rock background and deciding we want to write dance music, without any experience, it becomes this matter of, ‘I like this, but I don’t know how to do it’,” Planet said.
“I suppose that’s why it’s a happy mistake because we’ve jumped in and started writing dance music, which is why it sounds like dance pop but really confused. It’s come out in a cool way that was actually an accident.”
Not surprisingly Confidence Man have quickly become a live favourite due to their flamboyant stage presence, which includes Planet and Bones ridiculously dancing while Goodchild and McGuffie play keys and drums under black shrouds.
Developing the character of Janet Planet has been an ongoing process and lyrics for their new songs have been written with her bratty persona in mind.
“She’s just a bit scarier than me,” Planet said. “We both like dancing and are a bit sassy. She’s probably just a more exaggerated version of me.”
Confidence Man perform at Groovin’ The Moo at Maitland Showground on April 28.
Josh Leeson
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
