The eclectic pop group from Melbourne have four albums under their belt and have rocked festivals across the world. Singer Cameron Bird talks to ALEX HARMON about fans, fashion and FIFA…

Excited about the Big Day Out next year?
Incredibly excited, it’s our first Big Day Out tour.

What does the BDO mean to you?
For me, I grew up in the country in NSW and my first sort of experience with festivals was travelling with friends to go to the Big Day Out. It was a super-formative thing for me as a teenager. So I am really excited to be playing at one and knowing that there’ll be kids just like me there. So yeah, it means a lot to me.

Playing any of the NYE festivals?
Not a festival, but we’re playing a one-off show in Sydney down at Cargo Bar, Darling Harbour.

How would you spend you ideal NYE?
I’d be at home, cooking for friends. I’m not very rock and roll.

Ever read anything that’s not true about yourselves on the internet?
Most reviews (laughs). No, actually we have a policy of not reading reviews because usually they’re kind of depressing. A lot of the time people totally misunderstand your intentions. I think it got to a point where I’d read one too many reviews and I was just like, nah, I’m not going to read them anymore.

What’s been your most memorable gig?
Well it’s hard to say, we’ve played some pretty ridiculous and exotic places. I mean internationally, playing places like Russia, where we played earlier this year, was really surreal, it was such a massive culture shock. But I guess locally, Splendour this year was pretty awesome.

Your track “Escapee” features on a FIFA video game. Are you soccer fans?
Yeah, I have a soft spot for soccer for sure. We were asked to put the song on there and it wasn’t really a hard decision to make. It’s been pretty cool, we get a lot of strange teenage boys writing to us from all corners of the world saying how much they love our music.

Who’s the best musician you’ve met?
Oh, probably David Byrne from Talking Heads. He is the coolest.

Ever been to Helsinki?
Yes, we’ve been there a couple of times.They love us in a strange kind of way.

Tell me about your track “Desert Island”?
It’s just a song about living in Australia, it’s our weird sort of take on a song like the “Land Down Under” or something like that. In a much more esoteric, kind of detached type of way. It’s about living in Australia and being super isolated.

In the film clip for “Walking on Water” you swim with a dolphin. Was that fun?
Oh yeah it was a lot of fun. I was in the water for about eight hours filming that so I had mild hypothermia after that.

Was that really Flipper?
That was THE Flipper from the Flipper show, the one with Jessica Alba.

You and Kelly (vocals, percussion) met by chance. What’s the story there?
Well we just met a party one time with mutual friends and she just asked me if she could be in the band, then started coming to rehearsals and sort of just stayed in the band. She would be very open about that too!

What do you always travel with?
Vitamins.

Describe your fashion style?
I’m looking around my luggage right now. I’d have to say… ‘sports casual’.

You’re not a hipster?
No, I don’t know what that means really. I hope I’m not a hipster. I think it means someone who thinks about what they do and wear. Invented by people who don’t think about anything.

Dream drinking partner?
I don’t drink.

Great, the first time I ask that question and you don’t drink…
Yeah sorry, I did drink for a long time but I haven’t drunk for about four or five years now.

Is sobriety a hard thing while touring?
No, it’s actually easier because you don’t have to deal with hangovers.

Architecture in Helsinki are touring with Big Day Out, which hits Auckland (Jan 20), Gold Coast (Jan 22), Sydney (Jan 26), Melbourne (Jan 29), Adelaide (Feb 3) and Perth (Feb 5). http://www.bigdayout.com[bigdayout.com]