Cosmopolitan

Is a music career something you both actively pursued or is it something that just came naturally to you?
A creative career was what I was interested in. My parents didn't push us but led us towards creative endeavours. Early on, my brothers and I were naturally interested in that. In school holidays we were doing pottery classes or life drawing. I wasn't very sporty.
I met Peter when I was 10; he tripped me over. We hated each other for a couple of years and then we started sneaking out and going to raves when we were about 13 and we formed a bond over intense music. We started making music when we were 13 or 14, made our first album when we were about 14 or 15. It never came out, it was called Fractured Geometric Spaces Made of Light which was probably why it was never picked up.

What was the first CD you ever owned?
Hmm, CD - that's interesting, because they weren't around when I was younger, it was tapes that I owned. I'm so old! The first tape I owned was Man of Colours by Ice House. I had a couple of compilations but they don't really count. Hot Hits '86 or whatever it was.

Each of your albums have a different sound - do you feel that you're growing as musicians and that's affecting your musical style?
I'd like to think we're getting better - I need to think that, to be honest. I was working the other week in New York with a producer by the name of Phil Ramone who did the Midnight Cowboys soundtrack, all the James Bond films, all of Barbara Streisand's records. He's 73 and we worked till 3am in the morning every night. For him it's all about the next thing. It's very inspirational for me; I never want to get to a stage where I become complacent and think that the best things I've done are behind me. I never want to get to that stage where I feel that I don't have anything to offer anymore.

How did the Elton John apprenticeship come about? What does that involve?
He was having dinner in Surry Hills with Toni Collette, and they were talking about Pnau, as you do. And Toni's band  are represented by our same agent, so she put us in touch. Elton gave me a call and we went and had tea - he said move to England so we did. We were there for three weeks, and I didn't go home for three years.
Elton is a friend and he's brutally honest, which is what you want. We play music to each other and talk about what could be better, what's great about it. He pushes me forward, he introduced me to Cirque Du Soleil. We're making an album which is part of a series of three albums.

Where are your favourite places to perform in the world? Are the audiences really different between Australia and the UK and USA?
France is good, don't really like playing the UK. Australia's fun; we're good here, people like us. Splendour in the Grass is probably my favourite.
We're making the Empire of the Sun record now in Leichhardt so we rehearse here, then as soon as we've finished, we go and work until 4am, and come back and rehearse.

You're in town for the Russian Standard Vodka Live At The Chapel - what's it like to follow acts such as Gaga, the John Butler Trio and John Mayer?
I've watched a few of them, especially the Gaga one, and I don't think you should compare us to that! I'm full of excuses, but with live TV you can't make any excuses -  if you suck, you suck.

What has been your greatest career perk to date? Working with Elton John? Free tickets to Cirque Du Soleil?
Luke [Steele] and I were in LA the other day and we're working with J.J. Abrams - we're actually doing a movie with him. We just kind of fell in love with the idea of doing a large project with him. Luke's been working with Usher a bit and I've been working with Mika on his new album. That's exciting because it's all new.
We're also talking about doing a ride at Disneyworld for Empire of the Sun, like a roller coaster, some kind of Empire ride. I don't want to say that the best things have happened yet, I just want to keep kind of topping the next one, see how far we can go.

Can you tell us more about your involvement with Cirque Du Soleil? How did that come about?
Initially it was [through Elton John] then I pitched for the show. Eventually they took me up as the composer and I worked for three years on [Zarkana]. It ran the summer in Radio City, we sold 555,000 tickets. It's touring Europe now, but we're talking about putting it as a permanent show in Vegas.

What was the greatest career/life advice anyone has ever given you that you can pass on to our readers?
My grandfather said to me always surround yourself with the most talented and gifted people that do everything you can't and you'll never fail. And that's what I did with Empire - I have Luke [Steele] and I have Peter [Mayes] and everyone works to the best of their ability.

Success has obviously changed your lives, has it changed your love lives for better or worse?
I've always been unlucky in love, but I'm in love now which is wonderful, but it's really hard in this business having a significant other. We live in New York together and she'll be coming here in December, but it's hard to see each other. We have to keep the magic alive so I take her to Paris every couple of months, I take her to Italy. We try and meet up and do special things.

Your latest album is all about a break-up though - how does your girlfriend feel about that?
It was cathartic for me, but not so good for my relationship now! It's cool because Empire of the Sun is all about love and that's beautiful and a very positive record so I have creative outlets for both sides of the story.

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