Getting to know Connan Mockasin: an interview

by Irene Lo

Neo-psychedelic musician, Connan Mockasin of Te Awanga, New Zealand, is currently on tour in North America with his recent release, Caramel. As a follow up to 2011’s Forever Dolphin Love, Caramel is a concept album about what the word caramel sounds like, an idea that was executed well and oozing with funk. Mockasin, with a reputation for being a bit of an enigma in general, was soft-spoken, casual, and innately guileless answering some questions I lobbed at him over the phone.

Irene Lo: So, we were talking about how you were growing up on the vineyard and what that was like.

Connan Mockasin: So to elaborate on it, it was just really lovely. Right by the ocean, off the Pacific, lots of nice wines. A neat little spot, not too many people. Quite different to go from there to London, from 200 people to London was quite hard.

IL: It is interesting that you grew up there ‘cos Caramel sounded like what a good buzz would feel like…

CM: With Caramel I wanted to make an album called Caramel. I wanted to make an album that would sound like caramel. I didn’t do any writing really. I did the first album, Forever Dolphin Love, in Te Awanga, at my parents’ house, but with Caramel I went to Tokyo and stayed in a hotel and made it in a hotel. Set up a small recording studio so I don’t know if it had too much to do with the vineyard, but who knows.

IL: Let’s talk about the sultry, retro album cover for Caramel, how did that come about?

CM: I wanted to do a simple photo. I wanted it to be easy, not too much art. The last one [Forever Dolphin Love] I ended up making two covers for. It’s tricky when you’ve got a few different ideas of how a cover should be. I might do a new one when I finish the tour.

IL: The song “Why Are You Crying?” feels a little personal, was it?

CM: Bit of a personal song? I had my friend cry quite a lot. I don’t remember too much and I wasn’t thinking too much about what was personal and what wasn’t.

IL: Your friend who was crying was very convincing.

CM: Yeah, she was crying so it was a matter of capturing the right time and recording some of it.

IL: Most of the album was done really fast then…

CM: It was done quickly. I find it hard to talk about since you don’t have any reason necessarily for doing stuff or thinking too much at the time, and then afterwards – you almost feel like in a shrink’s position, it’s funny, really, talking about why I did what and what was this about, when I was just wanting to make a record that sounded like a record called Caramel.

IL: You walked away from a few labels by personal choice. Has it been challenging producing music on your own? 

CM: Challenging financially, it’s always been, but I’m used to it. It’s just tricky when you have large labels offering more money than you’ve ever seen before. I’d rather have a shop or something than be told how to make, or being forced to it by producers, what sort of music to make. It just doesn’t interest me enough. I like the freedom to make something the way I feel like making it rather than being told what to do.

IL: You said in interviews that you want to keep doing music as long as it’s fun. Would you quit cold turkey?

CM: If it comes to it. I’ll probably still be doing stuff, but I don’t know if I’ll do it in the same way. I like to keep moving and not repeat the same process. That’s the one thing that scares me a little bit about music is that you do this and then you promote it, a lot of it’s monotonous, and then you tour it. Do it all over again. I want to do things different each time. We’ll see, but I’m sure there’s a way of keeping it fresh.

IL: Have you thought about another album?

CM: I’ve got an album coming up this year that’s already finished with a friend of mine under the name Soft Hair. Coming to New York recently I got excited, feeling like doing something new, maybe making a record. It’s nice to be excited about new places. You get forced to places you wouldn’t normally go and then you end up having moments of getting inspired.