The Brag

Tim & Jean
Coming Around
By Jonno Seidler

Tim Ayre is more than likely the world’s worst ambassador for Dominos Pizza. In a tale that has now become folklore, he and bandmate Jean-Christophe Capotorto (let’s just call him ‘Jean’) binged on the stuff and drank a ton of Pepsi while recording their first hit single, ‘Come Around’. “We were just high on that shit and eating fuckloads of Dominos pizza, which is probably the worst pizza – but fuck it’s great, you know what I mean?” Tim & Jean put their debut record out last week, so it’s safe to say they’ll need a better diet plan if they’re considering writing more songs in the future. “Yeah,” laughs Tim, “We’ll run 100 metres – once a month. Or we’ll just spend more time with our parents, who know how to cook us good meals.”

Like the beverage they love, Tim & Jean’s Like What is full of brilliantly-crafted sugar bombs, a few of which have already been circulating the airwaves for months, garnering them the title of ‘Perth’s answer to Passion Pit.’ But it’s a bullshit, lazy categorisation of a duo whose skill set encompasses the best of jazz, rock, reggae and dance – and Tim is quick to point out that there’s a lot more happening with the band, as fans will discover during the upcoming album tour. “I used to play in a blues band before and I throw in heaps of different shit, which I really enjoy playing live. Our manager was cool with it; everybody’s there to hear some pop tunes, but I can mix it up a bit.” Last year, Tim opened the band’s shows with a jazz number performed solo on piano, which impressed anyone who went there expecting pop without depth. “It went down really well,” he laughs. “Nobody threw anything at us.”

At 17, Jean is the baby of the pair, which means that Tim (now 21) has the enviable task of moulding him into his own image. “It’s great, I got to feed him a whole lot of soul records and funk and grunge and watch him soak that all up and incorporate it into his playing,” he says. “It’s almost like more organic writing, because when we cut the album he was really young and just hadn’t listened to that much. There was nothing really informing how he wanted to write, he wasn’t worrying about anything like that.” It’s possible that his mentor also introduced him to Dominos during this period…

Tim admits that the sudden attention on the group (which now includes three extra touring members) was incredibly strange at first. “We weren’t really thinking of what we were doing when we first got together,” he says. “It’s not like we wrote songs worrying about how we could get it onto high rotation on triple j or whatever.” While Tim knows lots of bands who have business plans in place for each next project they do, he confesses that he and Jean had next to no idea. “For us, we’re going to try and get the songs better live, and differ them from the record. That’s pretty much the start and end of our strategy!”

Like What has been finished since about halfway through last year, but Tim can’t believe how quickly the release date has come; “It’s almost like being pregnant; you’re excited but it’s like, ‘Something’s coming out!’” Mixed by John O’Mahoney in New York, the record saves the best tunes for last, like live favourite ‘Afrika’ and the 80s-happy ‘Solina’, definitely more Temper Trap than Passion Pit if you’re big on categorising. One thing that certainly sticks out is Tim’s use of falsetto, which is more often that not double-tracked, and inspired by a very different movement to the noughties synth-pop they’re often bundled in with. “Singing wasn’t always my strength,” he says. “My grandad was a classical opera singer and he taught me when I was little. The falsetto thing sort of comes more from being inspired by Jeff Buckley and Elliot Smith, but that’s really difficult to do live.” Tim says his sound guy has saved his life on a few occasions and is “essentially, part of the band”, helping to mix his vocals to sound as fat as they do on record. “When you sing with your diaphragm it’s coming out a lot fuller,” he says. “With falsetto, you have to push far more to get the same impact.”

As they head back out on the road to swag out their new collection of tunes, Tim already has a template for how he wants the band to ultimately sound. “I saw an old video of Lynrd Skynrd from the 70s, and there were four chicks – must have been like their wives or something – in the back on this riser just singing the harmonies, and the band’s singing too, and everything was so raw. I’m pretty sure their gear was terrible, too. It would be nice to get to that level where you can just pull it out like that.” Perhaps if they drink enough Pepsi, Tim & Jean will transform into a classic rock band – but in the meantime, they’re just happy to have the kids Coming Around to their shows, and singing along in high voices. And there ain’t nothing wrong with that.

What: Like What is out now through Universal
Where: Oxford Art Factory
When: Saturday April 30