Madison Avenue - July 2000
Madison Avenue, currently one of Australia's hottest dance act's and arguably one of the best Australian dance acts to hit the music scene, are enjoying continued success with the release of their second single "Who The Hell Are You", the follow up track to their infectious dance hit "Don't Call Me Baby". With their fresh unique vibe and passion for music, Andy Van and Cheyne Coates of Madison Avenue are already making their mark on the rest of the world. In this exclusive interview, GIRL chatted with Andy Van about music, success, bungy jumping and those Popstars...
Girl: How was Madison Avenue formed?
Andy: Cheyne and I have known each other for ten years. We had been working on individual projects prior to Madison Avenue but we have always wanted to work together. I came up with the basic idea for a house artist and approached Cheyne and asked her if she wanted to become involved and she said 'yes'.
Girl: Why the name Madison Avenue?
Andy: I've always liked the name 'Madison' and plan to call my daughter that name if I have one in the future, so that is where the name came from in regards to 'Madison'. Then 'Avenue' was a pretty obvious choice.
Girl: Andy, you have worked as a DJ for the past twelve years both on a national and international level. Has it always been a passion of yours to produce music?
Andy: It has always been a passion of mine and is kind of a natural progression coming from a DJ background. A lot of the main dance producers in the world today are DJ's, so I think it happens all by itself. You love music and you end up playing it as a DJ; you then want to alter the music you have because you don't like the sound of it, so you end up remixing it. The next step after remixing is generally production. So I guess it's a natural cycle that every DJ might eventually want to be a producer.
Girl: Who have been your major musical influences?
Andy: My influences have been any music that really pushes the boundaries of what house music is all about. I like real quality vocals with dynamic beats. There are a lot of artists that Cheyne and I look to for inspiration for Madison Avenue such as Everything But The Girl, Moloko, C&C Music Factory, Soul To Soul, and Ultra Nate to name a few. These artists produce so many vocal tracks with good beats.
Girl: What was your first professional gig?
Andy: My first gig was playing at a club called Stone Tavern, in Frankston.
Girl: The single "Don't Call Me Baby" recently debuted at Number One in the UK. Did this surprise you?
Andy: No, not really because prior to the single being released, we were in the UK for five weeks to promote the single. So we visited every radio and TV station, and had interviews with every magazine in the country. Each week we were getting updates that it was going to debut in the Top 20, then the Top 5 etc. So we kind of heard that it would do very well. However we were up against artists like Britney Spears, but we just crossed our fingers that it would make Number One. It was great when it happened, but it certainly wasn't the be all and end all of what Madison Avenue is about.
Girl: Has your life drastically changed since the release of your first single "Don't Call Me Baby"?
Andy: Nowadays, we have to juggle everything. We have an American release of 'Don't Call Me Baby', at the same time we have an Australian release of 'Who The Hell Are You'; the same single is about to be released in the UK, so we are busy juggling all these different countries. Every country in the world wants us to go there at the moment and I love Australia so I am sort of a bit partial to staying here. But we have to do an international focus as well, which involves us going off overseas.
Girl: Is the track "Who The Hell Are You" based on a particular experience?
Andy: Neither song we have released is gender-based, so they're definitely not directed at men. 'Don't Call Me Baby' is saying don't judge a book by its cover. 'Who The Hell Are You' is basically saying treat people the way you would like to be treated. Girls can treat men like sh__, just as much as men can treat girls like sh__ so just be aware of people's feelings. Because Cheyne is singing the song, people think that she is some sort of man-hater or something, but she's definitely not.
Girl: Congratulations on the success of your second single "Who The Hell Are You" which recently debuted at #1 on the Aria singles charts - a first for an Australian dance single. Do you think the success of Madison Avenue will open up doors for other Australian dance acts trying to establish themselves in the music industry?
Andy: Absolutely, without any doubt at all. Overseas labels are now basically saying to local labels, if Vicious Vinyl can find this talent, why can't you? At Vicious Vinyl we allow 100 per cent creative control for our artists and we don't tell them what to make. We encourage our artists to make whatever they feel like and then present it to us. Creative people should be able to be creative, it's a fairly obvious sentence. A lot of record companies like to mould artists into who they want them to be, rather than what the artist themselves, wants to be.
Girl: What do you think of the whole Popstars phenomenon?
Andy: There are good and bad points, I have a favourite saying for Bardot "You live by the sword, you die by the sword". They created this massive marketing hype. Marketing is potentially a balloon, and if you can't support the size of that balloon because you may not have the talent, there is going to be a problem. They may have built themselves up to be bigger than what they are. I believe those girls didn't sign on thinking that they were going to be marketed so massively and then cut down so harshly by the media. It's unfair and those girls are talented but I just don't believe that they should have been put in the same spotlight as Mariah Carey, because that is years and years of work, brilliant songwriters and production. I think they really blew the balloon up too large.
Girl: Who thought of the concept for your latest music video?
Andy: That was a culmination of ideas from both Cheyne and myself. Basically I said to Cheyne that I want to kiss the girl in the music video and I want the clip to be blue. Then Cheyne presented a number of concepts to me. It's the same way the vocals work - she presents me with ideas, we talk about it, I then choose an idea and tell Cheyne to go crazy. We do that with the lyrics of songs and our videos. Cheyne is very creative visually and lyrically so I let her do her thing.
Girl: Do you enjoy making music videos?
Andy: I love the creation process of music videos. The actual shooting of the video is very tiring. Cheyne and I are involved every step of the way from the basic concept to the finished product.
Girl: Describe the sound of your up-coming debut album?
Andy: It is very diverse. There are songs which have an American soul R&B sound, freaky French disco-style songs, house hits like 'Don't Call Me Baby', different guest vocalists and session musicians. This album is a real journey into club land - club land being anything from freaky disco to R&B etc.
Girl: What will the album be called?
Andy: We haven't worked out a name as yet, but we will be coming up with one shortly.
Girl: If you could choose an artist you'd like to perform/work with, who would it be?
Andy: I've always wanted to do some work with Kylie. We worked on one track with her but that didn't come into fruition. It was really great to meet her and just hang out with the girl. I just love working with creative people and not so much people with well-known names.
Girl: Now Cheyne describes herself as being a 'damn good cook'. Would you agree with this statement?
Andy: She is an amazing cook. Cheyne is an organiser, if you say to her you want a dinner party for ten, she'll organise everything from the little name tags at the dinner table, through to the five course meal, desserts and wines. She is amazing in regards to how she puts things together - be it a dinner party or a video.
Girl: And while we're on the subject of Cheyne, on your recent UK promotional tour, she managed to take time out from her busy schedule to bungy jump. Do you also consider yourself a bit of a daredevil?
Andy: Not as much as Cheyne is. Cheyne likes physical challenges as well as mental challenges. I was very close to saying yes to the bungy jump and I probably would have if I had a couple of my personal, close friends egging me on. The only peer group pressure came from Cheyne and everyone else was telling me not to do it. I lent to the side of caution and didn't do it.
Girl: Finally, what are Madison Avenue's plans for the immediate future? Do you guys have any plans to tour Australia?
Andy: Yes we're finishing up the album, then doing some international touring in the US and UK in August and September, and then after that we would like to do an album tour in Australia.
A few extra Madison Avenue facts...
The "thankyou's" on the cd's from Cheyne are to her pet dogs!
Andy own's a dalmation.
Both love their pets!
Cheyne loves interior decorating
ANDY'S starsign is Scorpio, CHEYNE'S starsign is VIRGO.
- Annemarie Failla & Michelle Palmer
Girl: How was Madison Avenue formed?
Andy: Cheyne and I have known each other for ten years. We had been working on individual projects prior to Madison Avenue but we have always wanted to work together. I came up with the basic idea for a house artist and approached Cheyne and asked her if she wanted to become involved and she said 'yes'.
Girl: Why the name Madison Avenue?
Andy: I've always liked the name 'Madison' and plan to call my daughter that name if I have one in the future, so that is where the name came from in regards to 'Madison'. Then 'Avenue' was a pretty obvious choice.
Girl: Andy, you have worked as a DJ for the past twelve years both on a national and international level. Has it always been a passion of yours to produce music?
Andy: It has always been a passion of mine and is kind of a natural progression coming from a DJ background. A lot of the main dance producers in the world today are DJ's, so I think it happens all by itself. You love music and you end up playing it as a DJ; you then want to alter the music you have because you don't like the sound of it, so you end up remixing it. The next step after remixing is generally production. So I guess it's a natural cycle that every DJ might eventually want to be a producer.
Girl: Who have been your major musical influences?
Andy: My influences have been any music that really pushes the boundaries of what house music is all about. I like real quality vocals with dynamic beats. There are a lot of artists that Cheyne and I look to for inspiration for Madison Avenue such as Everything But The Girl, Moloko, C&C Music Factory, Soul To Soul, and Ultra Nate to name a few. These artists produce so many vocal tracks with good beats.
Girl: What was your first professional gig?
Andy: My first gig was playing at a club called Stone Tavern, in Frankston.
Girl: The single "Don't Call Me Baby" recently debuted at Number One in the UK. Did this surprise you?
Andy: No, not really because prior to the single being released, we were in the UK for five weeks to promote the single. So we visited every radio and TV station, and had interviews with every magazine in the country. Each week we were getting updates that it was going to debut in the Top 20, then the Top 5 etc. So we kind of heard that it would do very well. However we were up against artists like Britney Spears, but we just crossed our fingers that it would make Number One. It was great when it happened, but it certainly wasn't the be all and end all of what Madison Avenue is about.
Girl: Has your life drastically changed since the release of your first single "Don't Call Me Baby"?
Andy: Nowadays, we have to juggle everything. We have an American release of 'Don't Call Me Baby', at the same time we have an Australian release of 'Who The Hell Are You'; the same single is about to be released in the UK, so we are busy juggling all these different countries. Every country in the world wants us to go there at the moment and I love Australia so I am sort of a bit partial to staying here. But we have to do an international focus as well, which involves us going off overseas.
Girl: Is the track "Who The Hell Are You" based on a particular experience?
Andy: Neither song we have released is gender-based, so they're definitely not directed at men. 'Don't Call Me Baby' is saying don't judge a book by its cover. 'Who The Hell Are You' is basically saying treat people the way you would like to be treated. Girls can treat men like sh__, just as much as men can treat girls like sh__ so just be aware of people's feelings. Because Cheyne is singing the song, people think that she is some sort of man-hater or something, but she's definitely not.
Girl: Congratulations on the success of your second single "Who The Hell Are You" which recently debuted at #1 on the Aria singles charts - a first for an Australian dance single. Do you think the success of Madison Avenue will open up doors for other Australian dance acts trying to establish themselves in the music industry?
Andy: Absolutely, without any doubt at all. Overseas labels are now basically saying to local labels, if Vicious Vinyl can find this talent, why can't you? At Vicious Vinyl we allow 100 per cent creative control for our artists and we don't tell them what to make. We encourage our artists to make whatever they feel like and then present it to us. Creative people should be able to be creative, it's a fairly obvious sentence. A lot of record companies like to mould artists into who they want them to be, rather than what the artist themselves, wants to be.
Girl: What do you think of the whole Popstars phenomenon?
Andy: There are good and bad points, I have a favourite saying for Bardot "You live by the sword, you die by the sword". They created this massive marketing hype. Marketing is potentially a balloon, and if you can't support the size of that balloon because you may not have the talent, there is going to be a problem. They may have built themselves up to be bigger than what they are. I believe those girls didn't sign on thinking that they were going to be marketed so massively and then cut down so harshly by the media. It's unfair and those girls are talented but I just don't believe that they should have been put in the same spotlight as Mariah Carey, because that is years and years of work, brilliant songwriters and production. I think they really blew the balloon up too large.
Girl: Who thought of the concept for your latest music video?
Andy: That was a culmination of ideas from both Cheyne and myself. Basically I said to Cheyne that I want to kiss the girl in the music video and I want the clip to be blue. Then Cheyne presented a number of concepts to me. It's the same way the vocals work - she presents me with ideas, we talk about it, I then choose an idea and tell Cheyne to go crazy. We do that with the lyrics of songs and our videos. Cheyne is very creative visually and lyrically so I let her do her thing.
Girl: Do you enjoy making music videos?
Andy: I love the creation process of music videos. The actual shooting of the video is very tiring. Cheyne and I are involved every step of the way from the basic concept to the finished product.
Girl: Describe the sound of your up-coming debut album?
Andy: It is very diverse. There are songs which have an American soul R&B sound, freaky French disco-style songs, house hits like 'Don't Call Me Baby', different guest vocalists and session musicians. This album is a real journey into club land - club land being anything from freaky disco to R&B etc.
Girl: What will the album be called?
Andy: We haven't worked out a name as yet, but we will be coming up with one shortly.
Girl: If you could choose an artist you'd like to perform/work with, who would it be?
Andy: I've always wanted to do some work with Kylie. We worked on one track with her but that didn't come into fruition. It was really great to meet her and just hang out with the girl. I just love working with creative people and not so much people with well-known names.
Girl: Now Cheyne describes herself as being a 'damn good cook'. Would you agree with this statement?
Andy: She is an amazing cook. Cheyne is an organiser, if you say to her you want a dinner party for ten, she'll organise everything from the little name tags at the dinner table, through to the five course meal, desserts and wines. She is amazing in regards to how she puts things together - be it a dinner party or a video.
Girl: And while we're on the subject of Cheyne, on your recent UK promotional tour, she managed to take time out from her busy schedule to bungy jump. Do you also consider yourself a bit of a daredevil?
Andy: Not as much as Cheyne is. Cheyne likes physical challenges as well as mental challenges. I was very close to saying yes to the bungy jump and I probably would have if I had a couple of my personal, close friends egging me on. The only peer group pressure came from Cheyne and everyone else was telling me not to do it. I lent to the side of caution and didn't do it.
Girl: Finally, what are Madison Avenue's plans for the immediate future? Do you guys have any plans to tour Australia?
Andy: Yes we're finishing up the album, then doing some international touring in the US and UK in August and September, and then after that we would like to do an album tour in Australia.
A few extra Madison Avenue facts...
The "thankyou's" on the cd's from Cheyne are to her pet dogs!
Andy own's a dalmation.
Both love their pets!
Cheyne loves interior decorating
ANDY'S starsign is Scorpio, CHEYNE'S starsign is VIRGO.
- Annemarie Failla & Michelle Palmer
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