IN TODAY’S MINI-INTERVIEW with an ABSOLUT Fringe 2011 figure, we throw five rapid-fire questions at Robbie Kitt.
Kitt and his brother David are electronic music duo Spilly Walker – they performed Wild Combination as part of the Switched On series of music events curated by Darren McCreesh.
Robbie Kitt, tell us about your ABSOLUT Fringe:
Describe your show to TheJournal.ie’s readers in 20 words:
We try to make it genuinely fun. The most important thing is to get people dancing, that’s our main goal.
Do you have any special rituals you just have to carry out before a performance/reading/exhibition?
A beer and a bite to eat is as far as we get to ritual. We’re not really a nervy bunch, Dave and I. There never was much stock placed in superstition in the Kitt household growing up.
What’s the best/worst audience reaction you’ve ever had to your work?
I certainly remember the worst. There was one time, about three years ago, upstairs in Whelans. It was a really small crowd, maybe only 20 or 30 people, but I may have had a drink or two too many. I remember the faces of the people in the crowd falling as we were playing and I was clearly messing up. The sympathetic reactions afterward were even more painful! The whole experience taught me a lot for sure.
The best was definitely a toss up between a support slot we played for Crystal Castles in Galway, one we did with Girl Talk in the Button Factory, or the first Electric Picnic gig we played in 2007. All gigs were made special solely because of how much the crowd were up for it.
What/who do you recommend we go see at Absolut Fringe 2011?
Fortunately, two of the bands I most want to see played with us in the Workmans on the 16th. TR-ONE played an absolutely banging set at the Picnic and I can’t wait to see more of them in a slightly more intimate and club-y environment. Angkorwat’s live show has always been really impressive every time I’ve seen her and I’m really looking forward to that too.
What has inspired you or made you happy today?
Today (well, the day he answered TheJournal.ie’s questionnaire) it has to be the heroic defending of Richard Dunne and the boys over in Moscow. There were several moments in that match which just epitomised commitment to the cause, it was a pretty amazingly inspiring attitude from the Irish defence. I was beaming at the telly when Dunne was being interviewed after; even though he was fairly scuffed up, he kept the engine running non-stop.
