Epic Travels with Lawrence Arabia

New Zealand has been producing some great talent these past few years, most notably dream-pop song man Liam Finn and the hilarious comedic duo Flight of the Conchords. And most recently, a bearded young chap by the name of Lawrence Arabia has joined those ranks with his second album, Chant Darling, which is filled with the sunny ’60s tunes reminiscent of the happy days when the Beatles and Beach Boys commanded the airwaves. Originally released last March (yes, in 2009), Chant Darling has created quite a fuss in the U.K., and finally we Americans can get a piece of the Kiwi pie.

Speaking of pies, FILTER had a chat with James Milne, aka Lawrence Arabia, who gave us the inside scoop on his single “Apple Pie Bed” (and what the heck that actually is), the dreams and passion of his alter ego, and America as the bastion of fried foods.

FILTER: Your newest album, Chant Darling, took you two years and several different cities to record [Stockholm, London, Auckland, Wellington and Port Chalmers]. Why was it so challenging to complete it? 

Lawrence Arabia: It was challenging. Even though I got used to it with the making of my debut album, I found myself in a place where I didn’t know so many people and it was just really hard to get stuff happening. I think I just went through periods of loss of confidence and motivation. I think that is why I made the process so much longer.

Explain what an “apple pie bed” is. What does it mean in reference to your song?

At the time when I came up with the song, I didn’t even know what it was. It must’ve been something in my memory from years ago; it’s called short-sheeting a bed, where the bed is double folded so you can’t actually get your legs in. But at the time I was writing the song, I just heard it and it was something nonsensical that represented the idea of not actually being able to get out of bed. It was written at a time when I just finished my first album and I was tired of trying to keep myself motivated. I just started to write songs ’cause I was unemployed and just being a professional musician/bum. But, it was just going through a period of basically sleeping in too much and general frustration, I was trying to motivate myself into actually living in the artistic lifestyle with direction. 

In your video for “Apple Pie Bed,” you have middle-aged men dancing around you in quite an erotic fashion. Where you really as indifferent as you seem, or did you do your best to keep a straight face?

There were some women on the shoot as well but I thought it would be funny if it’s just men in the bathroom. It wasn’t actually that hard to keep a straight face in there because it was genuinely disturbing. It was all shot in double speed and to be in slow motion everything looked double slow motion, so there were all the guys trying to dance in slow motion. It was just sweat and groaning and the occasional brush of body that would touch me and…uh, yeah. I consider myself a liberal person but it was still quite stuffy in there. 

Your real name is James Milne, but on stage you’re Lawrence Arabia. Who is Lawrence Arabia, what is it that he’s seeks from this world?

I suppose I just wanted to be somewhat more heroic than the person I am and especially the person that I never saw myself as. I’m just an awkward person in general, and I felt like I needed to have some sort of heroic persona in order to be able to adapt. It’s not like I do anything particularly bizarre in the live setting, but I used to dress up in robes and have a theatrical approach, which used to help with nerves in a way. 

Looks like you’ll be making your U.S. debut as a solo artist at SXSW. What are you looking forward to the most?

I can’t wait. I’ve toured in America before with The Brunettes for a few months and had a real blast and really tons of profound experiences. There are lots of long drives and you get to eat fried eggs and burritos. I’m looking forward to doing that again. It seems like a real adventure in the States, I can’t wait. F