Interview with Ruban Nielson, Frontman for Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Ruban Nielson isn't a wuss. And yet, he certainly sounded like one earlier this year, when he described how his "eyes get puffy," when he hikes, making him much more of a "city person." Now the New Zealand born front man of Portland indie troop Unknown Mortal Orchestra (UMO) reaffirms his masculinity recalling how rebuilding his instruments makes him a true handyman and how he revs chainsaws onstage.

You recently said: "I'm definitely one of those people that's benefiting from the way that society is now – I'd die if it all collapsed. I need to go to one of those camps where they teach you how to be a man.” Would fans of your former hard rocking band The Mint Chicks expect you to sound manlier?
I was just making fun of myself. I think I was trying to distance myself from the 'crunchy granola' healthy outdoorsy lifestyle that’s associated with Portland.

The New Zealand rock scene that you came up in certainly didn't sound hippyish. A recent Interview Magazine article described your old troop, The Mint Chicks, as “a band that embraced stage antics more familiar to the hair-metal set: think smashed guitars, people swinging from light fixtures, and, on one occasion, wielding chainsaws on stage.” How did all of that happen?
Our then drummer – Paul Roper, who plays in a band called Blouse now – said his dad had a chainsaw. So we stole it for the day. My brother started it in the dressing room at a festival, and then took it onstage while it was revving. Funnily enough, no one messes with someone wielding a chainsaw when it is turned on. Also, we were all wearing matching gold costumes. Like something David Bowie might wear. It was a really fun show.

But a chainsaw hasn't been your tool of choice lately. In an interview with Vice you sounded like a handyman, saying: “I built a whole guitar from scratch for one of my songs… if I need a preamp or something, sometimes I'll just go online and find schematics… and build it because I can't find what I'm looking for."  What have you been tinkering with lately?
The latest thing I did was a pedal for me. It uses three oscillators that react with each other and with the guitar. I use really old parts that I pull out of old tape recorders, tube radios and things like that. Then I rearrange them until they sound the way I like. The sound I like is kind of dark, but full of harmonics.

Fans and critics praised that duality on UMO’s 2013 album, II. But one review by Consequence of Sound said: “Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s mystique… lies in the uncertainty of their aesthetic. What kind of band are they exactly? Not accessible enough to be mainstream indie pop, yet the head-shakers and foot-stompers are there.” 
My idea of what is good involves that element of mystique, or some kind of minimalism. The drawback is stupid people don't get it, which is just another benefit.

Are you working on any new music as of late, and does it have that same mystique?
Art isn't social media or web design. Its goal isn't to provide ultimate user friendliness. Ambiguities and open-endedness are a necessary part of good art. So my answer is, my aesthetic will stay the same. But it might become more refined. I'm going to make UMO more and more UMO-ish.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra will perform at MAO LIvehouse on Jan 16. Tickets are RMB 100 at the door, RMB 60 for students. For more information take a look at our events.

Read the Beijinger magazine online here.