LA-based New Zealand quintet The Naked And Famous have returned with their second album In Rolling Waves, the follow up their hugely successful debut, Passive Me, Aggressive You. The record has a couple of notable Nine Inch Nails links, with former NIN bassist Justin Meldal Johnson on co-production duties, and long-time Trent Reznor collaborator Alan Moulder handling mixing responsibilities.

 The band’s NIN fixation becomes further apparent when you consider that they named their label Somewhat Damaged – on which they issued their early releases – after one of the industrial group’s songs. With both bands being based in LA, I wonder if The Naked And Famous have crossed paths with the dark prince himself?
 “We supported Nine Inch Nails back in 2009; they did an arena show in Auckland and we played with them,” replies the band’s guitarist, Thom Powers. “It was before we even had the first album out, so that was really cool. We haven’t met Trent Reznor, although we know some of his inner circle – Justin Meldal Johnson, who’s played bass with NIN and also Beck, did some production on our new record. So we know some of the people from that crowd and I feel like that’s enough. I almost don’t want to meet him!
 “It’s nice not to ruin your idols, and to keep them on a pedestal in your head. Especially being a musician, one of the biggest problems that I face is knowing what’s going on in the industry. Sometimes it really does spoil the magic for me. There’s something wonderful about being naïve and not knowing anything about record labels and producers and so on. Especially when it comes to live music – it’s not that I can’t enjoy it, but I find myself analysing it and trying to steal tricks.”
The Naked And The Famous’ first record, Passive Me, Aggressive You, established the band’s template of electro-tinged indie anthems, a style they’ve further refined on In Rolling Waves. The debut album was a substantial international hit, and I wonder if its success took the group by surprise?
   “Yes, definitely,” Thom nods. “But to be completely honest, it wasn’t like we had no ambition. It wasn’t like we were disinterested in becoming professional worldwide touring musicians. Musicians often give you this impression that they’re oblivious to it and they don’t care – and it’s kind of bollocks. Most artists want an audience, it’s why they’re on a label and they have management. So that was always on our minds; we weren’t just going along for the ride to see what happened.”
The Naked And Famous have had their music featured in a wide array of adverts and TV shows, including English reality series Made In Chelsea, which used their song ‘Punching In A Dream’ as its theme. Given that show revolves around spoilt London socialites, were the band uneasy about the association?
“I think Alisa (Xayalith), our singer, was watching it once and I saw a bit of it,” recalls Thom. “I’ve never watched a full episode of a reality TV show – I just can’t stand it. I think it’s the most mundane, boring thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life. But you know, some people watch and enjoy it, and who am I to judge? Alisa was watching it and she’s quite smart. There’s no use trying to say who can and can’t hear your music, and how they can get into it. You’re far better off letting go.
‘More generally on the subject of adverts and TV shows, this is the world of sync licensing now – and honestly, for some bands, it’s their bread and butter. It’s a problem that maybe the general public aren’t so aware of that; I hate to think people see our song in something and think we’re endorsing it. Because that’s how people used to think, when record labels had all the money in the world in the heyday of the 90s music industry. People would label you a sellout, but I think that’s changing. I used to be very precious about it but now I don’t really care. Unless of course the product is evil or the ad is horrible. We’ve definitely turned things down, I can tell you that!”
Finally, though the band haaven’t met their creative inspiration Trent Reznor, have they run into any other musical heroes?
“We know M83 pretty well and see them all the time,” notes Thom. “We stole a couple of their live checks for our own tour. Anthony Gonzalez was really cool and we hung out with them a bunch. We’ve both gone to each other’s gigs and so on. It was amazing to meet him because Saturday’s Youth was a really big record for us when we were writing Passive Me, Aggressive You. I wasn’t disappointed at all by meeting M83. They were awesome, so I didn’t ruin it for myself!”