Keeping the beats from London to Brooklyn

Hot Chip guitarist and synthesiser player Al Doyle talks about juggling duties between two bands on either side of the Atlanic.

LONDON BEATS ... British synth-pop fans won’t want to miss Hot Chip’s ( from left ) Felix Martin, Joe Goddard, Al Doyle, Alexis Taylor and Owen Clarke at Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall next month. Picture: Ronald Dick

Juggling duties between two major bands is a big ask for anyone, but it’s made all the more difficult when those bands happen to be on opposite sides of the Atlantic.

But British musician Al Doyle, who is set to play Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall next month, has it down to a fine art. The multi-instrumentalist joined London-based indie electronic band Hot Chip in 2003 before the band’s debut album.

Then he went on to join Brooklyn-based rock band LCD Soundsystem as a live member soon after the release of their debut album in 2005.

“They couldn’t be more different in some ways as band projects. It is a little difficult to flip from one to the other but I’ve got used to it over the years,” Al says.

“It’s just by accident rather than design really that it has worked out. It literally just happens to be that when one band’s got a record out, the other one is writing, on a hiatus and recording, and vice versa.

“There’s definitely been times when I haven’t been able to do shows for one or other of the two bands but it has generally worked out pretty well.”

Al also founded the band New Build with fellow Hot Chip member Felix Martin in 2012, but it is his work as guitarist and synthesiser player for Hot Chip for which he is best known.

And it’s Hot Chip that will bring Al to Brisbane for next month’s performance.

The band released their seventh album A Bath Full of Ecstasy last year, working with outside producers for the first time.

“We’ve got quite a recognisable sound now,” Al says. “Even without a vocal coming in you can usually have a good go at guessing what your production is. That’s a really nice position to be in where you are not really thinking of that anymore, you are ploughing your own furrow.”

Trying to pigeonhole Hot Chip’s sound though is tough, with Al saying the band’s influences run the gamut.

“It’s a bunch of music fans who listen to and collect a lot of music trying to synthesise that experience and trying to push a couple of things together that normally wouldn’t get pushed together and see what happens,” he says.

Over the years the five-piece has earned Grammy nominations and their song Boy From School even featured on an episode of The Simpsons, titled A Totally Fun Thing That Bart Will Never Do Again.

The band’s quirky approach and playfulness can be likened to American band Devo.

“Yeah, well they were a huge influence and we still listen to a lot of Devo and think about their approach to music and the place that they occupied at that time. A band that other bands would be into but never quite were the household names,” Al says.

“In a way that’s what we always wanted for the band. We were aware that we were never going to be some huge crossover pop, smash project.

“The fact that we have been able to stick around for so long and still be able to come out to places like Australia, it justifies the way that we approach things because there is a bit of depth to what we do.

“It’s a super fun process to be involved in this – five guys messing around with synthesisers and kind of getting paid for it.

“I’m pretty pleased that that’s the way my life ended up really. I wouldn’t have necessarily guessed it 20 years ago.”

■ Hot Chip, with guest Harvey Sutherland, March 4, Fortitude Music Hall, Fortitude Valley, $79.90. ticketmaster.com.au