Head to fuente-australia.com for more information.

For your chance to win Truffle by Fuente Shampoo and Conditioner answer the following question in 50 words or less: Who is your hair hero and why?

TERMS AND CONDITIONS: Competition is open to Australian residents only. Starts 24 May, 2013 and ends 7 June 2013. This is a game of skill and entrants must tell us in 50 words or less: “Who is your hair hero and why?” The most creative answer will win. Total prize pool value $350. Entries will be judged on 8 June, 2013 at nextmedia Level 6, 207 Pacific Hwy, St Leonards NSW 2065. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. All email addresses collected in the entry form will be added to the Yen Newsletter database. You may unsubscribe from this free service at any time. Winners will be announced in the ‘Winners’ section of the Yen website and prizes will be sent to the postal address provided on the entry form or contacted via email about collection.

You know the way a film that’s anything other than Hollywood-sterile is referred to as “gritty”? How it’s insinuated that anything aesthetically visceral or thematically true to life’s sometime darkness is cloaked in filth? It’s overused and undercooked, but wait one second because buried in the heap there are films that deserve the title of “gritty”, and not just for lack of a better word. They are the rough, the dark and demanding, and The Place Beyond the Pines is one of these. There’s enough grit here to fog the lens.

Derek Cianfrance (My Blue Valentine) teams up with the thinking woman’s pin-up Ryan Gosling for an intense crime drama. Grungy James Dean-ish motorbike stunt rider Luke Glanton (Gosling) discovers he has an infant son with ex-lover Romina (Eva Mendes) and embarks on a bank-robbing spree to provide for the baby, with whom he has felt an immediate connection. Imagine his train of thought: “I love you, son, but instead of going all Cats-in-the-Cradle, my way of showing love is stealing money at gunpoint then hightailing it on my motorbike at a speed that will turn me into flying mince at the slightest mistake! What could possibly go wrong?” It doesn’t make much sense, but we all know bad decisions make good films – and wicked chase scenes.

This story interweaves with the life of Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper) a policeman tortured by his conscience, all while raising his own infant son with his wife Jennifer (Rose Byrne). Cooper’s Avery comes off as two-dimensional against the excitement and stone coolness of Luke. C’mon, Avery, just a little badassery is all we ask. The tensions and emotions of the protagonists’ stories will have a lasting effect on the lives of both men. So we have character and feeling and action, does it all work? Well… almost. This film is captured best through a line you know made the writers high-five each other after they thought of it: “If you ride like lightning, you’re going to crash like thunder.” That loss of momentum happens – sure, thunder is good enough, but I think we all prefer lightning.

The proverbial lightning of this film is the first third, with Cianfrances’s deft hand blending stunning visuals by DOP Sean Bobbit and designer Inbal Weinberg to create atmospherics and character within seconds, the best example being the swing-bang-humdinger of a opening shot tracking Luke through a seedy carnival to the tent where he performs. Succinct version: it’s fucking awesome. Besides these strengths, Ryan Gosling shines. His Luke is an enigma; his face tells us everything and nothing at the same time – we know all about the pain he is in, but none of how he came to be that way. Gosling also did most of his own stunt work, as if he wasn’t annoyingly perfect already. Besides being burdened with glorious talent, Gosling is also working with a stellar screenplay by Cianfrance, Ben Coccio and Darius Marder. They sketch character and feeling perfectly, and in refreshingly few words. Credit also goes to Erin Benach’s costume team for transforming Ryan “Mr Dream Boy USA” Gosling into a passable mix of carnie hick and bohemian punk.

Gosling’s stellar performance is given solid backup by a satisfyingly glammed-down Eva Mendes (whose journey as a woman in pain is palpable) and the young Dane DeHaan. To tell you who he is will spoil the fun, but be assured his intensity rivals a dubstep bass drop. The let down, most unfortunately, is a strained and impassive Bradley Cooper as the insipid Avery, locking the film’s engine. To make multiple protagonists work, they have to be as interesting as each other, and that simply doesn’t happen here. For all their skill in crafting conversation and character, the screenwriters don’t know how to handle a plot, particularly one so sprawling with difficult emotion and moral tragedy. The whole business is just about saved by the performances and undeniable coolness, but there’s still something missing. Cianfrance took on such a passionate and complex story about humans trying to deal with what life gives them, even if he doesn’t quite manage it perfectly. He messed up at doing something unique rather than adding another conventional story to the pile, and for that, for this film, he should have our respect. (He also opens with a close-up of Ryan Gosling’s abs and let’s face it, that is worth the entire price of your ticket. NOPE WE DIDN’T JUST SAY THAT, BYE.)

Rating: 3.5/5
The Place Beyond The Pines is in cinemas now.

An extended version of this review can be read at Celluloidoxygen.

Very easy to paste your own face over Mendes’.

FIRST PRIZE: Short story published in Yen issue 65, $500 Gorman clothing voucher, $500 Bloomsbury book bundle, $500 Bailey Nelson optical and sunglasses voucher, $500 Pigeonhole pack including Polaroid camera, bag and jewellery and 1-year subscription to Yen Magazine.

FOUR RUNNERS-UP: Short story published on Yen Online, $100 Pigeonhole jewellery pack and 1-year subscription to Yen Magazine.

TO ENTER
You must be female, 35 years or under and an emerging writer. Complete the entry form below and upload your 800 -1000 word short story featuring this year’s signature item, a suitcase.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS:
Information on how to enter and prizes form part of these Conditions of Entry. Registration for and/or participation in this competition is deemed acceptance of these Conditions of Entry. Acceptance of these Terms and Conditions is a condition of entry. 2. Entry to this competition commences at 9.00am 24 MAY, 2013 and closes at 5pm on 15 AUG, 2013 AEST. 3. Entry to this competition is open to Australian and New Zealand residents who are female and aged 35 and under as of 24 May, 2013 AEST. Employees, suppliers, agencies and partners associated with this promotion (and their immediate friends and family) are ineligible to enter. 4. To enter the competition entrants must visit the Yen Magazine website, register as an entrant, upload their short story, fill in the entry form online and submit it to the Yen Short Story Competition. 5. The Promoter reserves the right to refuse any entry which is deemed explicit, offensive, derogatory, defamatory. (ii) The short story must be between 800 – 1000 words. (iii) All entries must be original work of the entrant. (iv) The uploaded short story must feature the signature item of a suitcase.  (v) Only one entry per person is permitted. 7. The promoter reserves the right to vet all entry entries prior to them going live on the website and reserves the right to remove any entries at any time in their absolute discretion. The promoter is not responsible for any entries uploaded to the site and visitors to the site view it at their own risk. 8. The Promoter reserves the right, at any time, to verify the validity of entries and entrants. Without limitation, entrants agree to provide identification to the Promoter upon request. The Promoter’s decision in relation to all aspects of the promotion is final and no correspondence will be entered into. 9. The Promoter is nextmedia Pty Ltd. Level 6, 206 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW 2065 ABN 84128805970. Judging and Finalist Selection: Finalists will be selected by the judges of this competition. All entries will be viewed and selected by the judges online. Judging will take place between 15 – 23 August, 2013. This is a game of skill and chance plays no part in determining the winner. Each individual entry will be judged by the Judging Panel. The judges are seeking creative and innovative works that demonstrate the writer’s skill and imagination. No further correspondence will be entered into. The Judging Panel consists of: Annie Sebel, Yen Editor and Jana Roose, Yen Writer. Only 4 finalists will be published on Yen Magazine’s www.yenmag.net website from Sep 18, 2013 and will be contacted by phone or email. Please do not contact Yen Magazine to see if your story has been selected. All entrants consent to the use of their name and story for the purpose of promoting, publicising or marketing this competition including any outcome. The work selected by the judges is final, and no correspondence will be entered into regarding their decision. In the event of a dispute regarding the interpretation of these Terms and Conditions of Entry, the decision of the judges will be final. The Winner: The Winner will be announced on 18 September, 2013. The Winner’s name will be published on the site and in Yen Magazine and on the Yen Magazine website. Copyright: The Promoter reserves the right to publish the submitted works for the purpose of documentation and promotion in any medium and on any other promotional material indefinitely. The information entrants provide will be used by the Promoter for the purpose of conducting this promotion and, in the case of the winner and finalists, in relation to the conduct of the Promoter’s marketing and publicity campaigns. The Promoter may disclose Entrant’s personal information to agents to assist in conducting this Promotion, to communicate with Entrants and to State and Territory gaming authorities.

The Iconic showcases the best in Australian and international labels, all from one easy location. The best part? They have free, yes free, overnight shipping in major cities, 100 day free returns and 3-hour delivery in Sydney metro areas.

The Iconic have packaged up one stylin’ outfit for us to give away. The outfit includes:

• Spurr Universe Boots
• RES Denim Trashqueen Skinny Jeans
• Hunt No More Jacket
• ATMOS&HERE Fortitude Oversized T-Shirt in Vanilla
• Quay Eyeware Sunglasses
• ATMOS&HERE Bracelets
• ATMOS&HERE Bag

For the chance to be the one lucky duck to add these amazing items to their winter wardrobe/floordrobe, all you need to do is answer the following question in 50 words or less: “Where would you wear your new outfit to and why?”

.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS: Competition is open to Australian residents only. Starts 24 May, 2013 and ends 18 July, 2013. This is a game of skill and entrants must tell us in 50 words or less: “Where would you wear your next outfit to and why?” The most creative answer will win. Total prize pool value $534.60. Entries will be judged on 19 July, 2013 at nextmedia Level 6, 207 Pacific Hwy, St Leonards NSW 2065. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. All email addresses collected in the entry form will be added to the Yen Newsletter database. You may unsubscribe from this free service at any time. Winners will be announced in the ‘Winners’ section of the Yen website and prizes will be sent to the postal address provided on the entry form or contacted via email about collection.

Cosy up with our winter issue, jam-packed with delicious illustrated recipes, our home wares wish list, and your very own winter soundtrack, thanks to a free CD. We also chat to Imogen Poots, James Blake, Vampire Weekend, and look at the youth of Hawaii through a photographic lens. Plus we want you to put pen to paper for our first ever Short Story Competition for emerging writers.

Bunker down for winter with issue 63, on sale Wednesday 22 May. Here’s a sneak peek!

It’s Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea tomorrow May 22, so for the love of all things edible here are some recipes to get charitable with in the kitchen tonight or at the crack of dawn tomorrow. Don’t laugh – we’ve never seen one, but we’ve been hearing rumours of ‘morning people’ for quite some time now.

These ideas are courtesy of our old friends at Trotski & Ash - if you don’t have your eye on them already then it is high time you jumped over to their page to see what’s going on for all three meals of the day, plus snacks, plus second breakfast, plus midnight fridge picking, plus sleepwalking supper, plus – and we’ve just had that long-awaited stroke. The girls are also lovely writers, and each recipe comes with a beautiful intro that will make you feel you’re in the company of an old friend. Pick one of these, nip to the shops, and do your part for Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea.

Warning: reading any further is going to rocket your appetite into the stratosphere. So much goodness!

plum financiers

Finally, something about finance we understand. These look delicious and wintery and will go a long way in getting you votes in the Bake Off this year. But if in doubt, it doesn’t hurt to bribe the people in charge – as long as the profits of the scheme go to Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea.

honey joys

Look at that foil cup! The secret ingredient here is nostalgia, and you won’t have to go past your pantry to put these together, and it’s the ideal packaging for sharing around the office. That’s a perfect three out of three.

cardamom almond scrolls

Simple flavours with a literal twist, be the pied piper of the office as you walk these aromatic spiced scrolls into the staff room. If someone tells you they’re amazing, you say ‘That’s just how I scroll,’ and it should immediately undo all the respect you just won from them.

chocolate coconut squares

These are almost as cute as a baby hedgehog. Almost. Even if not for Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea, save this recipe to make for birthdays and other gift times, because the wrapping is so fucking adorable we want to print a photo and put it in our locket. Even if it means we have to take that photo of Nicolas Cage out.

lemon curd butterfly cakes

If you don’t love lemon curd then you are not human. Not human, we say! To get back in our good books, give these a try and our heart will be aflutter with love for you, like the wings of a butterfly. There’s only one way we can make this intro more objectionable and we’re going to do it: #nomnomnomnom.

crumpets

We are so serious about crumpets there will be no joke here, just holy silence as you follow this link to see what you’ve been missing while scanning barcodes on supermarket versions all your life. These take a while to set, but they’re easily made tonight, left while you sleep and toasted tomorrow morning.

See more amazing recipes at Trotski & Ash, and have a very happy morning tea!

We lined up an interview with one of the guys from Flight Facilities and got the other one for free. Two words: bargain city. Meet Jimmy Lyell and Hugo Gruzman as we chat to them about sandwiches, hot older ladies, broken bones and what they’re working on next.

Flight Facilities are touring nationally this week. Check out the dates here.

Hugo and Jimmy.

Hi Jimmy, how are you?
JIMMY: Hi! I’m well thanks. I think you can actually have both of us we’re just going to put an earphone on each. We’re pretty technologically advanced here at Flight Facilities.

It’s impressive.
JIMMY: We’re just unravelling the cord.
HUGO: Technologically advanced but not very organised.

I’ll hold for technical difficulties. Where are you guys at the moment?
JIMMY: We’re at Kings Lane sandwich store in Sydney. Do you know that place?

I’ve never been there.
JIMMY: Oh man, it’s so good.

What kind of sandwiches are you getting?
JIMMY: Hugo gets a schnitzel one. Schnitzel with cheese, tomato and lettuce. And I haven’t decided yet – it’s quite late in the piece, I know – between chilli chicken and schnitzel, so I’m just going to see what happens.

I feel like you can’t really order the same thing.
JIMMY: I know, but you can actually because another rule is stick to what you know.
HUGO: You find your perfect combo over a number of ‘Yeah that was good, but I think this might work more now’ sandwiches.
JIMMY: I think I’ve found the perfect combo but I’m thinking about veering away today.

Risky.
JIMMY: The daredevil.

Do you guys watch Curb Your Enthusiasm?
BOTH: Yes!

You should try to get a sandwich named after yourself.
JIMMY: Yes!
HUGO: So good when he steals Ted Danson’s one.

Who gets the whitefish?
HUGO: (laughs) We actually saw Ted Danson when we were in America at the airport being mobbed by people but it was the first thing I thought of, that sandwich.

That’s incredible! Did you say anything to him or did you just stand back?
HUGO: We were just a bit in awe. And his wife is – do you know who his wife is?!

Mary Steenburgen, I know!
HUGO: Yeah! I reckon she’s the most beautifully ageing woman in show biz.

She’s so graceful, there’s her and Andie MacDowell up there leaving everyone else in the dust.
HUGO: Totally.

Andie MacDowell hasn’t acted in 15 years though.
HUGO: She hasn’t aged in 15 years either. It could be all the non acting.

So how did you guys meet, do you remember the first conversation you had?
HUGO: The first time I really remember chatting to Jimmy was at Kings Cross. He and Bobby and stuff were playing there and I’d done a mix and left it in someone’s bag and somehow it fell into Jimmy’s hands and…
JIMMY: Oh yeahhh!
HUGO: … and he’d been listening to it.
JIMMY: And I freaked out, I remember that! Someone got the mix to me, it was not meant for me and it got to me, and I just went ‘What the hell is this?’
HUGO: And through that, the first time I remember talking to Jimmy, he came up to me at the club and was like, ‘I really like that mix you did,’ and I was like ‘Ho ho thanks,’ and then ‘How the hell did you get it?’

When you say putting it into someone’s bag, is that something you do, secretly drop CDs in the bags of strangers?
HUGO: Yeah that’s guerrilla tactics of a bedroom DJ.
JIMMY: Someone asked him for it, he was playing it at a party…
HUGO: Yeah, we were playing it at a party and then someone goes ‘Oh, can I have it?’ so I just burnt it and chucked it in their bag, and I think jimmy ended up with that person’s bag or something.
JIMMY: You remember details like an elephant so that’s probably exactly what happened. If you say it happened, it did.

Hugo & Jimmy in original pilot gear from Hugo’s grandfather’s flight company that operated until the 1980s. The Flight Facilities insignia is the original logo of the flight company.

What have you guys got coming up this year?
HUGO: Well, the next track after ‘I Didn’t Believe’ is called ‘Stand Still’ and it’s with my long time friend, she’s like a Parisian kind of pop star. She’s Australian but she speaks fluent French and was a big model over there and stopped to be a singer. She’s a pretty cool chick and she’s got an amazing voice and amazing writing skills. We wrote a song with her, it’s really upbeat, like 170 bpm, which is like think of ‘Millionaire’ by Kelis.
JIMMY: Yeah, that was probably our greatest reference.
HUGO: You can kind of hear that in the drums but nothing else so we didn’t rip it too hard.
JIMMY: We ripped it a little bit but everything’s been recycled.

So it’s a faster track than ‘I Didn’t Believe’?
JIMMY: Yeah, it’s a lot faster.
HUGO: It’s 170 so it’s like…  I’m not going to do the drum beat.
JIMMY: it’s the same tempo as ‘Millionaire’ so it’s really fast.
HUGO: Or slow. Depending where you sit on the hip hop scale. The references would be Kelis ‘Millionaire’, and then for some reason when we were writing the base line and little bits and pieces, there’s a lot of – for some reason – Midnight Oil. You know, the quirky machine noises in between the breakdowns and then the base line is very Midnight Oil eighties-esque, so it’s quite an interesting thing and I really like this one. I think this one and ‘Clair De Lune’ would be my personal favourites.

‘Clair De Lune’ is a lot slower and now ‘I Didn’t believe’ is really high-energy, are you trying to keep in mixed?
JIMMY: I hope so, I hope we can keep surprising ourselves to tell you the truth. We were actually making a hip hop song when we made that song, and then we sped it all up and just put an ’80s twist on it and it just came together. We kind of want to do a bit of everything because it would make the show incredibly interesting to be able to go down to this and then up to that, not 125bpm of straight electro.

Are you building an album? For the last few years it seems to be just singles.
HUGO: I think that is sort of the idea, but if we do something like that we probably won’t call it an album.
JIMMY: We’re just building a body of music.
HUGO: We just want to have something where people will listen to ten of our songs in a row and go ‘That was nice.’ And we’ll probably mix them or something cool like that. When we have enough songs to be an album, we’ll do something interesting with it, package it a different way, try to be innovative, but in essence it’ll be a body of our work.
JIMMY: We’re not going to say it’s a brand new album because you can’t piss on your fans and call it rain. It’ll be a compilation and we’ll make it so it’s a collectible thing so people will want to own it if they know the music and people who haven’t heard it will get something new to hear.

How do you pick your vocalists?
HUGO: Sometimes it’s people we meet coincidentally and you kind of click with the vibe, other times it’s been just by coincidence, one was through the junk filter in the email, and then for ‘With You’ Rob (drummer Rob Smoughton aka Grovesnor) is part of Hot Chip, he was asking if anyone wanted any drum lessons and we asked if instead of a drum lesson would he like to sing on a song.
JIMMY: He said yes. Rob is the most amazing, loveliest guy too. He’s in it for the love purely and will do anything, he’s really cool.

What kind of musical skills do you guys have in the bank?
HUGO: Between us we play most of the main instruments…
JIMMY: A triangle. A Tamborine.
HUGO: A glockenspiel.

Does anyone have the recorder covered?
JIMMY: I did recorder; I did ‘Three Blind Mice’ and ‘Hot Cross Buns’.
HUGO: Yes, so did I! I did that in year two.
JIMMY: I’d go off on tangents and try to figure out songs that weren’t good for school – because I went to a strict Christian school – and my teacher would get ‘No you can’t play that’ and I’d be all ‘Damn.’

You were a recorder radical.
HUGO: That’s a recorder radical (laughs).
JIMMY: I learned bagpipes in school as well.
HUGO: Nooooo, that’s so good!
JIMMY: Just wait for the bagpipe solo in one of our songs. I can play some AC/DC or some Farnsy.

Are you guys touring this year?
JIMMY: Yeah a little bit of travelling, mostly in Australia. I think we shifted our focus outside so it’s nice to be back for a while with a home crowd. They tend to be the most appreciative given how little we’ve toured here.
HUGO: We’ve toured Europe and I think this will be our fourth or fifth time coming up at the end of this month. And America we’ve done three times now. We’ve really been concentrating on getting a following over there and it’s just starting to bubble now so we’re kind of coming back to home this year. And it just feels like the right thing to do.

It sounds like you’re playing hard-to-get with America.
JIMMY: We’ve kind of gone on three dates with America, but we haven’t given it up.
HUGO: (laughs) Exactly. At the moment it’s so interesting with America because you can over saturate if you want to and it’s kind of fine. With Australia you can’t over saturate. Which is why we’ve been so careful.
JIMMY: America has like over ten times our population.
HUGO: And they don’t have tall poppy syndrome either so you can really get in everyone’s faces.

What’s the best place you’ve visited while travelling?
JIMMY: I’m still going with Perugia in Italy.
HUGO: Yes! It’s the most incredible place.
JIMMY: It’s probably about a three hour train ride north-east of Rome.
HUGO: Is it like the shin of the boot?
JIMMY: Imagine where your calf muscle meets the bone. If I can get that specific. There’s not many countries you can give that analogy to but it’s about there, right in the middle.

Did you do a gig there?
JIMMY: Yeah we did, it probably wasn’t the greatest gig. We were very hungover and there weren’t too many people there. We were relatively unknown, but it was the most unbelievable place you’ve ever seen.
HUGO: It was like medieval cobblestone paths everywhere still. The place we were staying in was a castle that looked over this incredible backdrop of grass and hills. And then we got taken out to dinner and there was a different wine with every course and they just chose everything perfectly. We were just so content the gig didn’t even matter.
JIMMY: That was the night I sat there and had this really overwhelming sense of guilt because I was like, ‘I think… they think we’re someone else.’
HUGO: It feels like we’re cheating sometimes. Well, most of the time actually.
JIMMY: You go ‘Why do they want us here?’

Have you ever had a chauffer or a driver? Because that’s a weird experience.
JIMMY: The weirdest one was in Jakarta, we had a police escort and they cleared the traffic for us.
HUGO: We felt pretty awksies.

Where do you guys weigh in on the New York vs Los Angeles battle?
HUGO: Well the thing is…
JIMMY: New York.
HUGO: Yeah, we’re New York. The thing is, LA is starting to get better but getting around is just fucking annoying. But if I had a cool crew in LA, the restaurants are great and the weather is great.
JIMMY: It’s always where your friends are. I think it takes longer to get settled in LA and have your base and to know what’s up. We’ve had little moments of appreciating it. It’s nice, it’s definitely more laid back. If you were in New York for six months it’d be pretty intense.
HUGO: There are six months of the year you don’t want to be in New York, weather based. Especially when you’re in this shoebox apartment.

Have you done any celebrity spotting?
JIMMY: I don’t know how you’ll gauge this one but we went to dinner at a restaurant in LA and this girl that I was dating for a while when she was working in Sydney, she came to dinner with us and she’s like ‘Can I bring my boyfriend?’ and I was like ‘Yeah of course.’ So she gets there and she goes ‘Here’s my boyfriend.’ And I shook Zac Braff’s hand and was like ‘Holy shit!’

That’s kind of awesome.
JIMMY: Yeah I’m a huge Garden State and Scrubs fan for sure. But the funny thing was that I was like ‘Okay, play it cool’ and Hugo was just gushing which was the best thing to do because it was just honest, he was like ‘I really love your work.’ I wish I was honest now.

I would have been going ‘Just call me Mocha Bear. Just one time.’
JIMMY: Totally! That same night we saw Keanu Reeves and Milla Jovovich and then on other tours I’ve seen Liev Schreiber, the chick from Dexter. I stood behind Hank Azaria at the airport. I was too afraid to say anything. It’s such a common occurrence over there, but I freaked out too hard. Of anyone, I wanted to speak to Hank Azaria the most but in the airport it’s just a no-go zone. You’re not going to get the best side of someone, but I wanted to let him know how big a part of my childhood The Simpsons was.

Further on the theme of city rivalries, what about Sydney and Melbourne?
HUGO: Far out. I mean I love Melbourne but I couldn’t live there.
JIMMY: I think the way to do it is take everyone from Melbourne and move them to Sydney.
HUGO: Totally.
JIMMY: The people in Sydney aren’t as good as the people in Melbourne. So you can have that, Melbourne.
HUGO: And hanging out in Melbourne isn’t – I mean there are good clubs but I think all that’s based on the people that are there.
JIMMY: Our licensing laws are shithouse as well, so anyone in council in Sydney who is listening to this: Shit. House.

We will take that message to the top. Now: Bloods or Crips?
JIMMY: I don’t even know, which one is blue? I like blue more than red.

I assume red is Bloods. But I haven’t checked.
JIMMY: I’m guessing bloods would have to be red, wouldn’t it?
HUGO: Imagine if they were blue though.
JIMMY: That would be confusing.
HUGO: Make love not war, how about that?

Wise words.  Can either of you guys sing?
BOTH: No (laugh).
JIMMY: We can sing as far as to tell the vocalist what we want them to do, but I did that for a guy and I stupidly recorded it in a friend’s studio. He Facebooked it to me the other day from like three years ago saying ‘Guess what I’ve got….’ I was like, ‘Fuck.’

That guy owns you.
JIMMY: It’s true!

What’s the most uncharacteristic album that you guys own?
HUGO: The Smurfs Go Pop.
JIMMY: (laughs)
HUGO: I got it when I was like nine years old, it seemed like a good idea at the time. It’s a whole bunch of covers of songs, like ‘I Wanna Be a Hippy’ is ‘I’ve Got a Little Puppy’. (sings) ‘I’ve got a little puppy and he lives in my home, yeah!’
JIMMY: (laughs)
HUGO: I still know all the words to it. Then ‘Mr Boombastic’ is ‘Mr Smurftastic’ – it was big at the time. It’s just someone singing and they’ve re-pitched the voice and paired it with some really bad instrumentals. But nevertheless, I owned it.

Have you ever snuck one of them into a set?
HUGO: Our career would finish.
JIMMY: And your friendship with me would finish.

And Jimmy?
JIMMY: It would have to be Korn, Freak on a Leash.
HUGO: That was a good song.
JIMMY: And they did the voices for that South Park episode, they’re actually really funny. But if my mum heard what I was listening to at the time I would have got into a lot of trouble. I wasn’t even allowed to watch The Simpsons, you know… Korn was in another league.

Do you have any favourite comedians?
HUGO: I have a lot. At the moment Bill Burr, and everyone likes Louis CK, he’s awesome.
JIMMY: I love Dimitri Martin.
HUGO: He’s unreal. And then you have Mitch Hedberg.
HUGO: He is amazing. Dylan Moran. And one other guy I’ve just found, Hannibal Buress. He is so good! He’s like the black Mitch Hedberg.
JIMMY: I am a mega sucker for Jimeoin too. I really love him, his tiny little mannerisms and he just owns the crowd. He can walk one step and make them laugh somehow, it’s pretty amazing.

What’s the last thing you broke?
JIMMY: I broke my knee, I just had ACL reconstructive surgery.

How did you do that?
JIMMY: Ready to not feel sorry for me? I was snowboarding in Switzerland. I’ve been snowboarding for four months, went off a kicker and landed straight-legged and it just tore my ACL.
HUGO: His injury is pretty bad but I hurt my little finger at touch football last night.

Still, it’s no paper cut.
HUGO: Actually I was getting paper cuts all last week.
JIMMY: What were you doing with paper in the desert?
HUGO: When I had to make the stencils for the car and I cut myself every five minutes on this cardboard. I clearly have very manly hands.

What were you doing in the desert?
HUGO: I drove Sydney to Perth for charity for the Shitbox Rally. The car has to worth less than $1000, including registration and the race went from Adelaide to Perth but I had to get from Sydney to Adelaide first.  It’s all through dirt roads, and basically they don’t want you to finish. When our car was spluttering the guy was like ‘Kill it, it’s dead, it’s gone.’ But then this amazing mechanic guys came along to fix it.

Just like Formula One.
HUGO: Yeah, with more dirt.

FLIGHT FACILITIES TOUR DATES

• 21 May Tues : Melbourne
  [Corner Hotel] Tickets

• 23 May Thurs : Melbourne
  [Corner Hotel] SOLD OUT
  
• 24 May Fri : Brisbane
  [Oh Hello] Tickets
  
• 25 May Sat : Sydney
  [Oxford Arts] SOLD OUT
  
• 26 May Sun : Sydney
  [Oxford Arts] SOLD OUT
  
• 26 July Fri : Byron Bay
  [Splendour in the Grass]