Band born out of fate

Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Nielson still pinches himself sometimes in disbelief.

New Zealand-born Nielson was originally involved in a band with his brother called Mint Chicks, but after a bit of a messy break up he decided to focus on a career in illustrating.

"My brother was the lead singer of our previous band and he trashed all our stuff during our final show," Nielson said.

"It was the combination of a bunch of stuff just building up and it was after that I realised I didn’t want to be in a band anymore... so I moved back to Portland where I’d been living on and off for a few years."

Things were going well for Nielson in the United States.

But as quickly as he left the music business, he was drawn back in again in a series of fateful events.

"I started making an album for myself in the living room of the apartment I was living in," Nielson said.

Nielson then began to record the album one song per day in the basement of a friend’s house, with the help of friend and Portland producer Jake Portrait.

The first song was titled Ffunny Ffrends, little did Nielson know, his friend posted Ffunny Ffrends on to an online music blog site.

"Within days I was receiving record contract offers," he said.

"I didn’t really want to be in a band again but I thought the offers were too good."

Joining the duo was teenage drummer Julien Ehrich,and psychedelic punk outfit Unknown Mortal Orchestra was formed.

UMO has hit the ground running since then, with sell-out shows in the UK and Europe following the release of their self-titled debut album.

Last year was certainly one to remember for Nielson and his band, witha tour of his home land to finish off the year before heading west for Southbound early in the New Year.

UMO is a band not to miss as part of the action-packed 2012 Southbound line-up consisting of Arctic Monkeys,The Kooks, Crystal Castles and Josh Pyke.

Southbound 2012 will run this Saturday and Sunday at Sir Stewart Bovell Park, Busselton, with tickets available from Moshtix.com.au.