Turns Out Flume And Dave From Gang Of Youths Were In The Same Band At School
Apparently Harley Streten is a mean sax player.
Most peoples’ memories of school bands involve terrible renditions of ‘Walking On Sunshine’ and being forced to play the trumpet. But for Gang of Youths frontman Dave Le’aupepe, the extracurricular experience was a little different.
Speaking to triple j’s Ben and Liam ahead of GOY’s set at Sydney City Limits this Saturday, the singer revealed that he was once in a school band alongside none other than electronic hitmaker Flume.
The youngsters both attended Mosman High School on Sydney’s north shore, where they jammed during lunchtimes and performed tracks like Curtis Mayfield’s ‘Move On Up’ — with Le’aupepe on vocals and Harley Streten accompanying on saxophone.
“We met and did music together and hung out most lunch times and he’s an amazing sax player,” Dave told Ben and Liam. “It’s kind of a weird thing…when you find out two prominent people were mates and been friends all along, it’s sort of not anything we’ve really talked about or publicised because who cares. It’s just a thing.”
According to Dave, the young Harley was an absolute boss on the sax:
“Anyone who ever accuses electronic musicians of not being musicians needs to think about Harley, because the guy can actually play a lot of stuff — sax, keys. He’s really gifted,” he says. “I think there’s a cynicism that people developed with EDM that it’s just a bunch of idiots on laptops but it’s not, it takes a lot of energy, talent, consideration to get where he is. He’s talented.”
The two have remained friends over the last decade, and Le’aupepe only has good things to say about his former bandmate.
“He wants to change pop music,” he says. “There’s a real collaborative part of what he does songwriting-wise and I’m not collaborative when it comes to songwriting…. I think that’s why he’s become so enormous because he has his own thing. He’s his own entity, has his own drive and mechanics.”
Read the full interview with Ben and Liam here. Gang of Youths are set to play the inaugural Sydney City Limits this weekend, alongside Phoenix, Justice, and Grace Jones.