Jordan Luck and David Gent from The Exponents stopped by The Sound studio for a chat with Nik this week, where they covered their upcoming tour, as well as remembering stories from their previous tours.
Have a watch of the interview above.
When chatting about what songs the band are most enjoying playing - The Exponents or Dance Exponents - Luck says he’s really enjoying playing the latter at the moment.
Gent told Nik that a lot of The Dance Exponents songs were actually put together live in front of a crowd, saying: “[Jordan] would come in with a song and we’d play it live that afternoon and then work it out on stage in front of the audience, then [we’d] go ‘that was too long, that was too short’... There was a bit of that going on.”
“In 20 years, there’s probably been about 20 rehearsals in an actual space, and that would often just be if we were doing a record,” Luck added.
Speaking about their tune ‘Victoria,’ Gent says the first time they played it, it was about eight-minutes-long and had about six or seven verses in it.
The two said they were pretty much learning the song as they went, but actually stumbled upon making the tune that we know and love it as today - all infront of a crowd at Christchurch’s Aranui Tavern.
“Just before everyone’s about to give up, [and think] ‘this song’s not going anywhere,’ Harry comes in with the role, Dave comes in on the bass, there was a tight rhythm section… and we basically stop there and go, ‘this is a great arrangement!’”
Luck says it’s not surprising that The Dance Exponents first record ‘Prayers be Answered’ and The Exponent’s record ‘Something Beginning with C’ were the two best-selling albums, because they had all already been road tested.
The three then dived into chats about how relentlessly they used to tour, and some of the memories they made along the way, including having a briefcase with a whole lot of cash stolen.
The Exponents are about to kick off their nationwide tour, and Dance Exponents have also announced a one-off headline show of their own. Tickets on sale now, details here.
