21 April 2012

Electronic Musician interview (2008)

Unknown to the world at large or even his bandmates in Ladytron, Daniel Hunt has a brand new theory about The Beatles. "They were the Internet of the 1960s", keyboardist/guitarist/producer Hunt says. "There's so much information available now that music is one of the few forms of communications that is actually pretty direct. You can have one important album that reaches an enormous amount of people, probably more than any news broadcast. Back then, The Beatles could release an album to a wider audience than any other form of media. There were no global news networks, so one of the most globally pervasive forms of media was The Beatles".

Vocalist/keyboardist Helen Marnie and keyboardist/programmer Reuben Wu seem surprised to hear this revelation — apparently they had no idea that such a concept has been forming in their collaborator's mind. Co-lead vocalist/keyboardist Mira Aroyo is not with them here in the multimirrored basement bar of a Manhattan hotel; instead, she's recovering from a broken leg suffered on a European ski slope. She'll have to learn about Hunt's Fab Four concept at a later date.

Forty years or so later, Ladytron has unassumingly asserted itself as another Liverpool foursome to be reckoned with. Their fourth album, 2008's Velocifero (Nettwerk), fires a fresh salvo into the broodingly energetic atmosphere of electronic music that they alone seem to occupy. The 13-song collection has all the signatures of Ladytron, which start first and foremost with Aroyo and Marnie's unmistakable vocal arrangements — tense, soaring, beautiful, cold and expressive. The simple danceable beats are tough without being overpowering, almost always wrapped around a grain of distortion. On the new disc, art and science combine in the multilayered analog synth lines, a pallet of mechanical organic sounds mixing increasingly with the precision of soft synths.


Code of the road

Life has been a positive blur for Ladytron throughout the current decade. Their 2001 debut, 604, and 2002 follow-up, Light & Magic (both on Emperor Norton), caught the attention of an audience struck by the group's analog-heavy style of storytelling, as well as their unique visual style. In 2005, the album known as Witching Hour (Rykodisc) combined indie-rock bite with the sawtooths of their Korg MS-20s, and propelled them on a road trip that technically never had to end, based on the Ladytron cult that grew around songs like "Destroy Everything You Touch", "International Dateline" and "High Rise".

"We toured for ages", Hunt says. "We started in mid-2005, and if you include when we went to China, it was more like three years. We could have carried on that way forever. We had to finally just say, 'No'".

"Once you get into the swing of playing live, you stop being in a musical state of mind about the record that you're playing onstage", Wu adds. "And it becomes an incubation period for the next record".

"It's not as if you're on the road writing", Hunt says.

"Some bands do", Marnie interjects. "But maybe what they write...".

"...songs about being on tour?" Hunt concludes for her. "I prefer to wait until you get home and get some energy to go and write somewhere else".

Ladytron took maximum advantage of any breaks in the hectic schedule, with each member putting together demos of their own songs while at home, typically using Steinberg Cubase SX running on laptops, along with Native Instruments soft synths and analog instruments recorded directly into the computer. As in the past, the band remains steadfast in their right to use the DAW that they believe is best for them. "People are always saying, 'Use Pro Tools, use Logic'", Hunt says. "Why? Is it better? We've had no problems; we know how to use it. We get results very quickly, and there's no use changing. Pro Tools is a necessity when there's a rig in the studio, but in that case you just get a good engineer".

As a result of their abundant-yet-homeless existence, it was inevitable that infinitely portable soft synths would play a larger songwriting role for Ladytron. For many electronic bands this would not be particularly noteworthy, but it is for a group that made its mark via its commitment to analog synth legends such as the ARP 2600, Solina String synthesizer, Harmonium (with Leslie amp) and Korg MS-10 and MS-20.

"I just think you have to be realistic about it", Hunt states. "If you're traveling a lot and using a laptop to make music, you need soft synths. Soft synths would be of little use to us live, but they're indispensable in the recording process. They sound increasingly good now, and we always combine that with live instruments. But it's not just for tradition's sake: There are things you get from an MS-20 that you couldn't get out of anything else".

"The act of playing an MS-20 in the studio is different from sequencing by putting boxes onto grids", Wu says. "It's not as perfect, but you can hear the groove".

"People are building analog-style instability into soft synths now, but it's a different kind", Hunt adds. "I like the way its converged there. Some people are hardcore about software and say hardware is dead, while other people are ultra-fascistic about the hardware and say that software can't replicate it. I think we're somewhere in between".


Into the fire

Armed with a treasure trove of skeletal demos, the foursome of Ladytron officially concluded Witching Hour touring on 29 September 2007. Their breather would last exactly 96 hours, as the group dove into the studio to sift through two albums' worth of material to begin creating Velocifero, a name that quite appropriately translates to mean "Bringer of Speed".

According to Hunt, the quick return to recording came from an even combination of outside pressure to release a new album and their own eagerness to create. "We toured longer than we expected, and we knew we had to get the record out and keep things moving", he says. "It would have been easy enough to have a break, but it's now four years ago since we recorded Witching Hour. We made this album, and when we get a chance, we're going to record another one pretty quickly — we've basically got another album in reserve with a different feel".

While Witching Hour was recorded in a Liverpool studio with producer Jim Abbiss, the seeds of Velocifero would be sown across the Channel in France. Before hard drives could get spinning for real, however, first came a brief misstep in a record company's in-house studio. The lighting was shot, the air conditioning was running hot, and despite the laid-back nature of Ladytron, the facility was graded unacceptable.

"I had to say, 'I'm sorry, I can't record here'", Marnie recalls. "It was just like a hole. We spent a day in there and said, 'Look, this is a bad idea'. Then we went to The Garage, and it was perfect. The lighting was good".


A spacious garage

In Paris, a little studio called The Garage served as the headquarters for tracking a large proportion of the vocals, as well as the creation of additional demo tracks. What followed from there would be a near nonstop amalgam of writing, recording and mixing, with the band continuing to generate new songs in bursts even as final mixes were being put to bed late in the game. The next stop for this amorphous process was the Parisian Studio de la Grande Armée.

"This place is very old-school", Hunt says. "It was built in 1978. It's modern now with a big SSL room, but the stuff that had been recorded there is pretty funny: Jagger's solo stuff from the '80s, Tina Turner, Murray Head, Duran Duran's Rio, Bryan Adams' Waking Up the Neighbors, OMD — loads of stuff. It was nice and expensive, spacious and comfortable with free Internet — it made us feel important!"

But seriously. "It was vibe-y", Hunt concedes. "This place has got a pedigree, and the plan was to mix there. But when we got there we realized we had loads more to do, and it became a tracking place as well as a mixing place. We planned just to mix what we had, but when we arrived, Helen had gone to Australia and had an operation [on her throat], so we said, 'Let's keep layering'".

Velocifero's opener, "Black Cat", is just one example of the multilayered approach that makes the album stand up to repeated listenings. Extra-crispy bass, perky-dark electric piano pop hooks and Aroyo singing quite seriously in her native Bulgarian set the tone for much of what follows on the disc. "'Black Cat' is a mixture of analog synths, soft synths, a real Korg MS-10 doubled up quite a few times and filtered through some of the custom modules that [mixer] Michael Patterson had", Wu explains. "It also has some xylophone, and the incessant thing is Rhodes".

The in-your-face beat, programmed in the Native Instruments Battery software drum sampler, propels the track relentlessly forward. Lightly infused with a nasty dose of distortion, a close listen to the Ladytron programmers' work reveals subtly effective tricks such as slightly truncated snare samples on the fills — a touch that adds to the rush without technically affecting the tempo.

"Battery is so tweakable", Wu notes. "You can load your own samples. But the main thing is that it's easy to use".

"But it feels like a drum machine as well", Hunt adds. "It's not literally represented like a drum machine, but in terms of what is represented onscreen, it's very logical. I like that you have easy access to the bit depth to nasty things up. The control over the samples is so clear".


Voices carry

Of course, not every sound that shows up on a Ladytron album requires electrical juice to run, like those hauntingly unforgettable vocals by Aroyo and Marnie, for instance. On "I'm Not Scared" there are ooos and ahs that flit to the left and the right around Marnie's arrow-sharp lead; on "Runaway", she pierces through a heavy landscape of growling synth stabs, echoes of her voice peeling away like feathers floating rhythmically out into the air; "Ghosts" confounds as she intones throughout the chorus, "There's a ghost in me who wants to say I'm sorry/Doesn't mean I'm sorry".

Despite their reputation for studio wizardry, the members of Ladytron go blank when asked about the science of capturing vocals — no dissertations on microphones, mic preamps or the proper compressor ratio settings here. Instead, they're content to let the engineer set things up for the art to follow. "We've got two vocalists in Mira and me, and we play off the differences between us", Marnie says. "That way we have another level — my vocal doesn't need to be on the track. When I'm recording at home, I'll use a Shure mic, but when we go out to the studio, it's a variety of microphones".

"Champagne helps for recording a good vocal track", she says, "but you can have a glass too much, and it does go over the edge! [Laughs.] It's important that we're in the right place: The Garage was a good place to record because I felt quite relaxed. It's got the right atmosphere".

"The vocals are what make it sound like Ladytron, honestly", Hunt observes. "Just listen to the difference between ‘Versus'' [the album closer which sees Hunt joining Aroyo and Marnie on vocals] and 'I'm Not Scared', musically. The thing that makes it Ladytron is the voice".

Ladytron also has been known to interact with a real live drum set. The Witching Hour tour saw them traveling with drummer Keith York (as well as bassist Andrea Goldsworthy), and the Velocifero sessions were supplemented by Seba, skinsman for the band Panico. "He came in and laid down a load of tracks", Hunt says. "We sat him there for three hours and said, ‘Go for it'. He's a fan of the band, and we got him to do stuff like Stewart Copeland; that was the catch phrase. He improvised at the end of 'They Gave You a Heart, They Gave You a Name', and the hats on 'Tomorrow', which is very subtle".


No shirt, no shoes, no producer

Although their friends Vicarious Bliss (Ed Banger Records) and Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails) are credited with assisting in the production of the album, the members of Ladytron themselves are the official producers on Velocifero.

"We might have needed a producer on the last album, but we don't need one anymore", Wu says. "Jim Abbiss taught us a hell of a lot on the last album, but the important thing is to work with a really good engineer and mixer. The kind of band we are is we're producers. We're producers from the beginning, although we collaborated a lot with Alessandro Cortini and Vicarious Bliss, and they got production credits".

"This is obvious these days, but everyone produces themselves anyway", Wu continues. "That's what we've done all along, but we've hit a level where you think, 'We'll have to bring a producer in'. But unless they really understand the band, what are they going to bring to it? They're not going to understand it better than you do".

Ladytron acknowledges that they learned at least two important things from Abbiss' efforts on Witching Hour. 1) How to drink vodka gimlets, and 2) the fine art of layering. "Whenever you think you've got enough, you need more!" Hunt says. "You have a lot of frequencies, but make sure they're not doing the same thing. An experienced producer told us that he really liked our first album because it sounded minimalist to them; it's only got four sounds on it, but that's because we didn't have any other sounds".

"I think it's a perception of putting on more layers and giving the impression that there aren't any more layers", Wu explains. "It's a thick sound and a lot of space. The way that 'Runaway' was built up was the product of experience: there's layers of EBow and drones using delays, building vocal textures with delays, recording synth sounds twice and panning them left and right, generally fattening things up like that. Even though we're putting on a lot more layers now, we don't want it to be too much".

"It depends what the layers are; it has to be good stuff", Hunt reasons. "With drones, for example, you play a flat line with a mono synth and a lot of modulation on it, then double it with an EBow, then double it with another keyboard, it's going to sound better if those are the ingredients. It's when people apply it without any taste that you have a problem. So it's really not about how many layers; it's about the right layers".


In pairs

Seven years into a career that hasn't gone the way anybody could have predicted — least of all Ladytron — the band has reached a happy stage where they find they're not just layering tracks, they're layering albums.

"I felt Witching Hour was like a coming-of-age album", Wu muses. "At that point it was the best album that we'd done so far, and basically lots of different factors came together, and we've now created this work that we're really happy with. I see that as a foundation, a whole new set of opportunities to broaden our range again".

"I think it might be that this record was easier to make", Hunt concludes. "It felt like we knew what we were doing a lot. It gets easier each time, but Velocifero also feels like our second album, in a way. The first two albums make a pair, and these two do".


Velocifero: built for speed

Computer, DAW, recording hardware
Apple MacBook Pro 2.16 GHz running Logic Pro 8 (in Alessandro Cortini's studio)
Digidesign Control|24 console (courtesy of Vicarious Bliss)
Digidesign Pro Tools software
Steinberg Cubase SX software

Synths, soft synths, instruments
Analogue Systems French Connection synth
ARP 2600 modular synth, Solina String Synthesizer
Buchla 200e synth
EBow electronic guitar bow
Farfisa organ
Fender Rhodes
JoMoX SunSyn synth
Korg MS-10, MS-20, Delta synths
Moog Minimoog, Voyager synths
Native Instruments Battery software drum sampler, Guitar Rig software, Komplete software bundle
Ovation Breadwinner guitar (with EBow)
Roland MKS-80, SH-09, SH-2 and Juno-6 synths
Phantom 6-string guitar, bass guitar
Sequential Circuits Pro-One synth
Sequential Circuits Prophet VS (courtesy of Daft Punk)
Live drum kit

Mics, mic preamps, EQs, compressors, effects/plug-ins
API 2500 stereo compressor
Crane Song HEDD signal processor (for synth parts)
Electro-Harmonix Bass Micro Synthesizer effects unit
Neumann TLM 103 mic
Roland RE-201 Space Echo tape echo
Shadow Hills GAMA preamp, The Equinox preamp/summing mixer
Shure SM7 mic (for background vocals)
SoundToys EchoBoy plug-in
Tonelux MP1a preamp, EQ4P EQ and TXC compressor
URS Classic Console Strip Pro plug-in
Various effects pedal combinations

Monitors
Genelec 1031s (courtesy of Vicarious Bliss)
Genelec 8030s

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18 April 2012

Korg interview

Interview with Daniel Hunt of Ladytron

Most musicians would never admittedly claim their own musical imperfections, but Daniel Hunt of Ladytron feels comfortable with playing what he hears and not what he knows. "I'm no virtuoso on any instrument. I play each instrument my own way. I have zero knowledge of theory, and I have my own names for chords. My music teachers would be turning in their graves", says the multi-instrumentalist and driving force of the band. However, take a listen to any of Ladytron's three full-length albums, or watch as they perform to packed houses worldwide, and a sense of disbelief may cross your mind concerning Daniel's previous statement. Their unique blend of synth-driven, minor-sounding pop evokes the spirit of northern soul and '80s new wave with a modern sensibility catchy enough to acquire fans from any and all age ranges and cultures.

The basis of Ladytron's danceable soundscape revolves around the group's four Korg MS2000B synthesizers. Every member of the group, Reuben, Mira, Helen and Daniel, have their own MS2000B with a name of their choosing written on the back. "We named them to make sound checks easier, not as any kind of statement. Though the interpretations of the names so far have been hilarious", Hunt confesses. Daniel named his "Ulysses", Mira's is "Babylon", Reuben's is "Gloria", and Helen's is called "Cleopatra!"

Ladytron have a passionate preference for vintage analog synths and Daniel says, "It helps that the MS2000B is part of the lineage from the MS10 and MS20 we love so much". A consequence of that love is the abuse brought on from constant travel and use. "Taking the old gear on a world tour eventually costs a fortune in repairs and needless nightmares. It can't take the stresses of every flight and knock". Happily, Daniel is confident in the quality of the newer MS line. Hunt praises, "We got the MS2000Bs because we needed a reliable keyboard to use live that could do all we needed to do. The MS2000Bs haven't let us down".

Along with Ladytron's MS10s, MS20s, and MS2000Bs are many other Korg products in their arsenal, including a Korg Delta, an Electribe•R, and a MonoPoly. And they don't plan on stopping there, as Daniel confirms, "We're about to get a Legacy to play with and to use as a backup".

While Daniel confesses that he had the majority of the first record written before the band's conception, it is now the case that everybody in Ladytron writes. Each member comes from a different mindset, and even different parts of the world. They all met up in Liverpool, England where their personalities and talents meshed together to create one unifying sound and identity. Ladytron are very conscious that they are a single entity and have their collective hand in almost all aspects of the group's image. From their artwork, which early on was done completely by the band, to their style of dress, which has changed from album to album to include military uniforms and futuristic, gothic get-ups. Ladytron works like a well-oiled machine, making constant progress and keeping ahead of the times.

Unlike many of their "electro" contemporaries, who borrow from the great songwriters of the past, Ladytron creates all of their tracks through the use of their instruments. They produce a sonic array of sounds ranging from hard bass-driven beats, to beautiful melodies, to extremely haunting, spacey tones. This, combined with the sensual female vocal stylings of Mira and Helen, creates a rare atmosphere within each of their songs.

Ladytron's latest album, Witching Hour, is their first on a major label. Two previous releases were put out by smaller independents, along with countless EPs and remixes. Daniel made the ultimate goal of the band clear, when he proclaimed it was, "To have an effect, to leave our mark, and to influence others", which in the minds of many they already have.

Source

UberDrivel interview (2007)

I notice a lot of shoegazing influences on Witching Hour. How did this come about? Any thoughts on the apparent shoegaze revival that seems to be going on? (The Jesus and Mary Chain playing at Coachella, Robin Guthrie producing and recording, Kevin Shields saying there will be another MBV record, etc).

We've always been fans of MBV, Chapterhouse, Cocteau Twins, Lush, Ride and Ultra Vivid Scene amongst others. It all still sounds so fresh. As well as that we were listening to bands like the Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Comsat Angels and a load of stuff on the Constellation label. I think there is always a revival of past music every decade or so. It's good because it's like recycling and making it more accessible for fans who would not normally get the chance to hear the original bands.

Ladytron has a large amount of material that's been remixed, as well as contributing a large number of remixes. What impact has this had on when it comes to original material? Any particularly moments of inspiration?

I think remixing others is definitely more of a creative trigger than having music remixed by others. It gives freedom to experiment with a song which has already been written by someone else, and you are pretty much free to do anything you want to it. It's a great way to come up with interesting riffs and patterns that might be incorporated into your own compositions later on. In recent months we've remixed Placebo, Indochine, Blondie, Gang of Four and Bloc Party and I definitely want to do more studio-based work, perhaps soundtracking.

How has touring, particularly with a live drummer and bassist, affected the band? Can you attribute live sound to the denser sound of Light & Magic and especially Witching Hour? How does DJing compare to full-band sets, and has it had any influence on your own music?

Yes, the live sound that we had developed over the years with a live drummer and bassist had developed the way we think about our own music. We finished the touring in 2002 and pretty much had a load of songs ready to be worked on in the studio for Witching Hour. We wanted an album which reflected the way we had grown as live performers, not to produce yet another electro record. I think we succeeded - and whilst we still regard ourselves as electronic, I don't think we see the record as being 'electro'.

What direction do you think the band is heading, as far as new material? When can we expect a new album?

We're working on a 4th album right now whenever we get time off between gigs and I'd say we have well over 20 songs already. Direction-wise I wouldn't like to say until we are in the thick of it all but we definitely want to work with Jim Abbiss again, the producer worked on Witching Hour. Hopefully we should finish it by the Autumn 2007.

Ladytron is a pretty diverse group. How have your different backgrounds affected the creative process? Specifically, I've read that Daniel did most of the songwriting on 604, but it's become a more collective project on the later albums; how did this trend occur?

It's really the individual diversities rather than cultural diversities which has shaped the band. We all pretty much like a lot of similar things but there are areas where we bring something new into the group. I came into the band as a DJ and got more involved that way, so I tend to work a lot on programming and remixing. Regarding songwriting, Witching Hour was the most collaborative effort to date and I think the next album will be even more so. The reason why it was less collaborative then was because all but Daniel had full time jobs and there was only so much time we could commit to the record.

How did this tour with Nine Inch Nails come together? Has Trent Reznor had any influence on style, production, or any other aspect of the band?

Trent made a request for us to support NIN on the UK and European dates. It's a great honour because I listened to them a lot when I was 15 or 16. Pretty Hate Machine, Broken and the Downward Spiral are great albums and they have probably influenced me somewhere along the way. I think we listened to the same kinds of music such as Throbbing Gristle, DAF, Joy Division, Psychic TV, Queen.

There seems to be a somewhat cold aura surrounding the band (whether through the press, visually, or perhaps just our preconceptions about synths and drum machines). What are your thoughts about this? It seems that this was a real stylistic decision, at least initially, but has it changed? For example, was the shift from the 604-era “uniforms” to a more casual dress an effort to dispel these notions?

I agree some of the photos we've had done do give that impression but in all honestly, what bands do you see laughing and smiling? When we play onstage the reason why we can't move around much is because we're all playing synthesizers but we did ditch the uniforms because we felt that they were quite restrictive, both physically and conceptually. It wasn't in an effort to dispel notions, we just wanted to feel more comfortable on stage yet still look like a cohesive group.

Any general thoughts on the state of the music industry or, for that matter, the state of the world? Witching Hour is definitely a dark album, but (without revealing too much) was it in response to outside events or more personal content? I just saw that Mira was interviewed by Peta 2; is more political activism in the future?

I think we're one of those bands who are lucky to have music which has international appeal. This has allowed us to get really interesting gigs all over the world (Russia, China, Brazil, Columbia, Bangkok, Australia) relatively easy. And because of internet communities such as MySpace, it has become possible to play entire tours in regions where we have no support from labels - the interest from the internet has been enough of a medium to fill entire venues with kids who know all the words to our songs, it's a really fantastic situation to be in...

Source

07 April 2012

Ladytron - Astoria, London, 2008

Content: Black Cat / Ghosts / Runaway / High Rise / Seventeen / Season of Illusions / Soft Power
Note: This is the show when the Astoria's mixing desk and monitor failed. The band rescheduled the show.

13 March 2012

Wah2 interview (with Daniel & Mira)



An old interview from Ladytron's early years.

04 March 2012

inthemix interview (2009)

So imagine this: You're in a band, one of the UK's most critically acclaimed and infallibly hip electronica bands to be fair. You're just going about your business, touring your latest record, when, out of the blue, you get a phone call from your agent telling you your all-time musical hero has hand-picked you to appear in a musical festival he's curating. On top of this, said appearance is to take place in one of the world's iconic buildings, the Sydney Opera House.

That was the situation facing Ladytron, who took their name from a Roxy Music song which appeared during Eno's brief tenure in that group. The group's keyboard player Daniel Hunt was understandably thrilled by the news, which means they are part of the inaugural Luminous festival which takes place in Sydney this May and June. "A couple of [Eno's] solo albums are probably in most of our top fives. From my point of view Another Green World is one of my favourite albums of all time, so it means a lot to us on a lot of levels".

Currently on tour with dance punks The Faint, Hunt is calling from Asheville, North Carolina – which, he notes with enthusiasm, is the location of the original factory that produces the famous Moog synthesisers. You'd imagine this is something that would appeal more to Ladytron, with their sleek, icy electronic aesthetic, more than their more rock-inclined tour-mates. Still, it's been a successful pairing. Hunt says The Faint is actually the most similar band they've been on the road with. The group has generally made left-field choices for their touring partners, such as CSS, who, Hunt explains were a revelation to audiences unfamiliar with their then-unreleased breakthrough album.

An even more unlikely Ladytron associate is Christina Aguilera, who the band have been collaborating with on her upcoming album. While the initial approach from Aguilera's people came as "a shock", it soon became clear the hugely successful pop star was not merely trying to cash in on Ladytron's indie cool, but was genuinely interested in their back catalogue.

"She was really specific about what elements of our work she wanted to try and harness", Hunt says. "It wasn't just the singles or anything. It was specific album tracks and specific sonic layers and things like that". Four or five songs have already been completed. Hunt describes them as a hybrid between her previous work and Ladytron's, and the latter have enjoyed the process so much that further such collaborations may well be on the cards.

In addition to these new ventures, the four members of Ladytron regularly return to their roots by playing DJ sets. It's something they all did before forming the group and, incidentally, how Hunt met bandmate Rueben Wu. While the former prefers playing "dive-y little parties where you can play whatever you want", Wu and co-vocalist Mira Aroyo are more often found at major dance parties.

Either way, it's a good diversion for the group when they're on tour. They are keen to avoid what they see as the pitfalls of writing while on the move, preferring to regroup after they return home with something apart from life on the road to write about.

Getting the four members together may seem harder now that Hunt has moved to Milan, but he says the logistics of the move have yet to be an issue. "I can get to London more cheaply and more quickly by plane from Milan than I can by train from Liverpool, which I used to do before, so it's really not a problem".

It's also been a positive lifestyle change, allowing Hunt to escape what he saw as an increasingly aggressive mentality in England. "It's got a lot of things going for it and a lot of good people, but it wasn't for me", he muses of his homeland. "It's difficult to have a comfortable lifestyle there, in the city, because there's trouble around the corner all the time... Even in places around the world that people live in and consider to be rough, it's just not the same as the absolutely random violence in Britain".

While considered expensive and somewhat unlovable by many Italians, Hunt couldn't happier with his adopted homeland and its more laidback attitude. "When people go out [in Milan] they want to enjoy themselves, rather than requiring some kind of physical interaction… Anyway, that's my rant over [laughs]. I don't think the average Australian needs any encouragement to have a downer on Britain, so I won't encourage it!"

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