Expecting lead singer Samantha Urbani on the other line it was a surprise but soon a delight to hear the chipper voice of keyboardist Matthew Molnar of the band Friends. ‘’I guess you were expecting Samantha,” his voice came through cheekily, “so sorry if you had a whole lot of questions about being a girl and making music – though I guess I could try and answer those questions.”

No drama, but first off, is the band aware of just how hard it is to Google them? A certain sitcom obviously dominates the amount of search results. Molnar explains, “Yeah, when we came up with the name we didn’t really think about it so much, but once we started playing shows we realized that was the case.”

“It makes it a little hard,” he continues, “like finding us on Facebook is hard. If you think of it this way though, if we’re living in modern times, the whole phenomenon of finding things on the internet is still really recent. I feel like people still have the means to find out, or investigate bands without it.’’

It certainly helps to create a little mystique, ensuring at least that fans have taken the time to find out about them. Molnar agrees, “Yeah, you have to put that extra effort in you know?”

Although not native to Brooklyn, Friends met there a few years back after working together at a restaurant and music store. Brooklyn seems to be some type of breeding space for anything remotely popular in music these days, with the number of bands spawned there. Largely thanks to MGMT no doubt, so is the band ever compared to their hugely popular predecessor?

Molnar is indecisive, “Not really, I mean they’re pretty electro, do they even play instruments? I guess we have a female singer so it’s different; we have a lot of different influences. Funk and RnB and all that, kind of more rhythmic.”

In referring to how Friends self-produced their own debut, Manifest!, Molnar replies “I mean we’re a poppy band too but obviously there’s going to be some discrepancies with how polished we sound compared to them obviously.”

So is Brooklyn the magical hub of musical creativity it appears to be from all the way down here in Melbourne? Molnar is enthusiastic, “I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty crazy, like a really thriving scene. It’s really helped us a lot being there, with such an awesome and supportive scene to be a part of. We were nurtured from the get-go.”

The band members moved to Brooklyn separately, two hailing from Connecticut – which some may recognize as the home of The Baby Sitters Club, this is a good sign. Molnar however disagrees, ‘Eeww, The Baby Sitters Club? I think my girlfriend was obsessed with them in the third grade, they’re for ten-year-old girls right?”

Umm, no. Maybe girls in their mid-to-late twenties too, Molnar plays it cool, “Oh great, the original target audience, ha! I guess I can’t judge, I read the Hardy Boys.”

Speaking of youth, Friends quickly found success after they formed in September 2010. The band playing their first gig almost almost immediately after their first rehearsal. A few weeks after that, their first single – the shy but sensual ‘Friend Crush’ – was recorded.

It all seems a bit fast and surely overwhelming, with the band currently big news in both the UK and the U.S. Molnar disagrees (though his personality by this time has proven to be sweet and unassuming): “You know, not so much, we just always stayed active. A month after we formed we did get asked to tour with our friend’s band (Darwin Deez, past employees of the same restaurant where Friends met).”

The first three months were probably the most overwhelming because most other bands are still jamming but we had played like twenty shows and recorded our first single and were starting a tour – actually it was pretty fun,” recalls the keyboardist.

The supportive Brooklyn music scene fantasy is proven. As the story goes Darwin Deez were in town, Friends emailed them some tracks and they were invited on tour. Goodbye casual employment and government assistance, Hello adventure. Some band members lost their jobs after the tour and struggled for a time, but keeping the ‘who, us?’ kind of attitude that Molnar exudes obviously helped them to not be too scared off by their early successes.

Which is good, as they are coming down to Australia to play Splendour In The Grass, one of our nation’s biggest festivals. Molnar maintains the band is quietly excited, but when hearing of the lineup, the keysman wasn’t even aware Jack White or The Shins were coming down to play too.

“You know we have so many festivals here, we’ve already just done a handful (including Primavera in Barcelona), it’s so hard to keep up with who’s playing what. Some festivals have our friends playing so I kind of just keep that stuff in mind.”

It’s a good attitude to have, and their influences are just as unpretentious. Songs like ‘I’m His Girl’ have a strong 70s funk vibe (think Ronny Jordon’s “The Jackal”) and make use of their sexy frontwoman Samantha Urbani, who is also the main songwriter.

As Molnar explains. “A lot of songs start because Samantha has come up with how to sing it, but you know, we’re all into funky music, soul music, disco, that kind of thing.”

This definitely includes RnB, as the band also does a great cover of 90s hit ‘My Boo’ by Ghost Town DJ’s. A fact that will probably come as a blow to most fans. Molnar is sympathetic, “I know, it’s such a great song. Once we started we weren’t really able to stop, and people start to expect you to perform it and you become known for it just by default. But now that our album just came out we’ll probably start playing it less. But it’s kind of hard if people want to hear it.”

Hopefully it gets a play at one of their sideshows when they are down under.  Molnar confirmed most Australian capital cities will see a sideshow outside of their Splendor performance. “We’re in you in like August right? Oh…wait, July is Australia, oh wow, I never thought I’d be going to Australia, will we have to catch a plane between every show?”

Looks like Molnar will have to brush up on those online searching skills before he visits.

Manifest! is out now and Friends play Splendour in the Grass in July, and have announced a set of ‘Mini-Splendour’ shows with Howler and Zulu Winter. Full details and dates here.

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