Pranksters' ball

As MGMT-mania grips the country on the back of the hit single `Time to Pretend', singer Andrew VanWyngarden regales us with tales of drug-fuelled run-ins with Kelly Osbourne, difficulties with America's moral majority and the debt they owe to a pet praying mantis.

"Emmmm….”
Andrew VanWyngarden pushes a lock of mousy-brown hair from his face and adjusts his pink bandana. He is searching for an answer to my query about the most rock ‘n’ roll moment thus far in his burgeoning pop career.
“The last show in London was a bit surreal,” says the singer, one half of uber-buzzy electropop duo MGMT (his partner Ben Goldwasser is a hippy-dippy yin, to VanWyngarden’s motormouth yang). “I ended up at this swanky club talking with Mark Ronson and a guy from The Klaxons. They’d just been at our show and really liked it, that was cool.”

What happened next is a story worthy of Happy Mondays in their hallucinogenic prime.
“I took a tab of acid and ended up at this club, which was not where most people would want to go when they’re on acid!,” he divulges. “Then somehow Kelly Osbourne charged eight bottles of champagne to my bar tab. It was £500 or more! I don’t know how it happened, the tab was open and I was out of my mind. It was a really weird night. I talked to the owner and they understood my situation. Kelly denied it, but it was her. Or I imagined it was!”
Had he said something to annoy Ms Osbourne I wonder?
“No! I think I was saying something about her dad, I don’t remember. I love Black Sabbath so I think I was talking about them. It’s a fun story but I don’t know if I want to put it out there. I don’t want to sound like we’re a drug band!”
The excessive rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle is the central theme of the hit single ‘Time To Pretend’, which has caused a backlash in conservative American circles.
“That happened when we were the iTunes single of the week,” Andrew explains. “The 30-second clip they put up had all the bad parts. You couldn’t really tell by listening to it that it was tongue-in-cheek. There were lots of mothers getting angry and calling us druggies.”
Rather than playing down the couplet in question – “Let’s make some music, make some money, find some models for wives/I’ll move to Paris, shoot some heroin and fuck with the stars” – the MGMT press release declares it to be their mission statement.
“Well, we don’t really want to become drug addicts and die in a few years,” he smiles. “The models for wives would be good though and we do like Paris.”
The song’s infectious keyboard melody was inspired by the movements of an unusual pet.
“We had a praying mantis as seniors. We kept it in a terrarium and fed it crickets for a few months. It was quite a party house and she would dance when we played music. (Throws half ‘Walk Like An Egyptian’, half Night Of The Living Dead zombie-stagger shapes) She was probably just trying to get out of the cage but it looked like she was dancing.
“It feels weird because we wrote that song as seniors in college, never thinking that we’d be on a label or that the band would go anywhere,” he muses. “It was a strange feeling when we got signed because we weren’t trying to get signed.”
The duo are in the minority of acts whose door the record company came knocking upon.
“They emailed our band address,” Andrew explains. “At first we thought it was a joke so we didn’t respond. We were on a really tiny label called Cantora Records that put out our first EP. They responded and set up a meeting for us.”
For a band who claim they want to inspire people to be subversive and ‘scare squares’ going the major label route seems a strange choice.
“There are stories about indie labels screwing bands over as often as major labels,” he contests. “We wanted to be different and be on a major label. We also like a lot of music that came out on Columbia in the ’60s and ’70s – we’re huge Dylan fans.”
Andrew lists Psychic TV’s Genesis P-Orridge and poet, activist and MC5 manager John Sinclair amongst his favourite subversives.
“John Sinclair spoke at our school once,” he enthuses. “We had a class called History Of Rock And Roll, that will tell you what kind of school we went to. I bought a copy of his book Guitar Army and he signed it. It was really cool to read about his strategies of subverting the yippies.”

In addition to inspiring subversion and irking conservatives they’ve also gained a reputation as pranksters. The list of potential producers for their debut album, Oracular Spectacular, which they submitted to Columbia included Barack Obama alongside the likes of Todd Rundgren and Brian Eno. Live performances are another opportunity for the pair to indulge their comedic tendancies.
“We had an inflatable snowman on stage at a show we did on campus once,” Andrew smiles. “We played a 15 minute weird electronic noise set while we were blowing up a seven-foot snowman and then we covered ‘Closer’ by Nine Inch Nails. That was a fun party.”
The music produced by the Brooklyn band has simultaneously captured the hearts of fans and baffled critics who struggle to put a label on the space-rock/funk fusion. It’s drawn comparions to a dizzying number of acts, from Captain Beefheart to Hall And Oates.
“I’m glad it’s not easy to pigeonhole us as one genre or style. We drew inspiration from so many bands for the album.”
The album promo trail has included high profile appearances on the likes of Letterman and Jools Holland. The respective experiences were very different.
“We didn’t meet David Letterman, he didn’t even come and shake our hands,” Andrew rues. “It was good that we were on the show, we got a lot of exposure but I don’t know if we were quite ready for it. It felt a little bit uncomfortable.
“Jools Holland was more us. We met him, he was a nice guy. It was much more relaxed and we got to hang out with all the other bands on the show: We Are Scientists, Martina Topley-Bird, Steve Earle and Duffy. She’s got a really cool voice.”
In addition to MGMT duties Andrew also has a side-project with Kevin Barnes from Of Montreal.
“Yeah, we were gearing up to do it while Ben and I were on a six-month hiatus right before we signed. Kevin and I signed the contract with Polyvinyl so we’re obligated to make an album at some point. We have a bunch of ideas.”
We may be waiting a while for that one: the MGMT schedule for the rest of the year involves back-to-back touring. The hype monster needs to be fed and it’s nowhere near full.
At this stage of a new band’s trajectory it’s common for some elder statesman of rock to be spotted at shows. Has he recognised any famous faces in the audience?
“That hasn’t happened yet,” he replies despondently.
I assure him David Bowie is just tying to juggle his schedule.
“I went to one of the performances of Lou Reed’s Berlin in Brooklyn last year and David Bowie walked right past me. We need some legendary people to come to our shows. It’s happened to other bands. David Byrne was at a Vampire Weekend concert.”
I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

MGMT play the Dublin Academy on May 7 with CSS and The Futureheads