GCN__February_2018

In the space of less than a year,
dance-pop duo Soi Tukker have gone
from unknowns to Grammy-nominated
blockbuster hit makers, but before
that they’d already built a devoted
queer following. It’s a case of mutual
admiration, they tell Cian Carroll.
On the back of just one EP, Soft Animals, 2017 was a meteoric
year for dance-pop duo, Sofi Tukker, with a Grammy
nomination and the use of their song, ‘Best Friend’ by Apple
to advertise the iPhone X turning it into a blockbuster smash.
But before they were adopted by the mainstream, the pair –
Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern – were a hit with
queer kids across America and Europe.
“We really make it clear that we value being yourself, and
expressing yourself however you want and celebrating that,”
Tucker says. “That’s where we’re most happy and that’s what
we want to create for the people who are with us. That’s
something the queer community stands for and we admire
that. Hopefully there’s some mutual admiration there.”
Sophie and Tucker are talking to me on the phone from a
dressing room at the Jimmy Fallon Show, on which they’ll be
appearing later to perform ‘Best Friend’. It’s a platform most
performers can only dream of, and the pair are just getting to
grips with it.
“I think we’ve taken last year in our stride, because for us
we’re just on the road every day, doing shows, writing songs,
doing what we love, so what’s happened doesn’t hit us really,”
says Tucker. “Today’s one is pretty wild, though. It feels a little
crazy.”
That said, Sophie didn’t quite take being in the presence
of a pregnant Beyoncé at the Grammys this time last year in
her stride either. “We were so wide-eyed,” she says. “It was like,
‘what are we dong here? This is awesome!”
The pair met three years ago when they were both studying
at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
“I was playing an acoustic bossa nova set in an art gallery
and Tucker was booked in as the DJ for later at the same
event,” Sophie explains. “He came early and saw me play, and
he basically ended up remixing one of my songs on the spot.
The next day we met up and started making music, and we
pretty much haven’t stopped since.”
The moment was part of a reinvention for Tucker, who had
come to the University on a basketball scholarship.
“I spent my whole life training to be a basketball player,” he
says. “That’s what I loved and what I thought I was going to
be doing, but then I got sick and had to leave school for a
year. I was in bed for six or seven months and I wanted to be
productive, although I didn’t have the energy to do much. So, I
got music software and watched a bunch of YouTube tutorials
trying to train myself how to use it. Then when I went back to
school I played basketball for a little longer until my doctor
said ‘no more’. I had one year left, so I said to myself I really
want to make music my career after I leave. I started DJing at
parties all over campus and all over Providence, and I really
got into it.”
Having forged a connection, Tucker persuaded Sophie
to move to New York and embark on a career in the music
industry with him. She wasn’t so keen to begin with.
“I had a fear that making music was a sort of selfish or selfindulgent
thing to do,” she explains. “I feel like I got a really good
education and there’s a responsibility with that education to
give back and to make sure that my life’s work is a contribution.
I wasn’t sure whether or not making music would do that. Now
I couldn’t be happier about how it feels in terms of it being a
contribution. It’s something I’m offering to the world that I’m
really proud of.”
The summer after graduation was spent honing their
sound, something that could have been disastrous, given how
different their taste in music is.
“I like music that Tucker finds boring,” says Sofi. “He’s very
high energy. The stuff that we don’t agree on is frenetic.”
“It took us that summer to figure out a lot of things,” says
Tucker. “Like about how to work together, how to be upfront
and honest with each other.”
“We went down a lot of dead ends,” adds Sophie. “We’d keep
working and working trying to make something right, when it
wasn’t actually clicking. I think we’ve learned to navigate that. If
something feels really good, we’ll keep going. If it doesn’t feel
that excellent, we’ll let it go.”
The feel-good factor extends to their shows, which Sophie
describes as “our favourite thing to do.”
“With people coming to our shows at first, we didn’t know
what to expect. But the people that come ended up being
the kind of people who make that vibe instantly in the room,
and it’s like this energy cycle, where we’re giving them energy
and they’re giving us energy, and it becomes this amazing
experience. They’re people who all want to be joyful and
expressive and loose and loving.”
“That community, we’ve found out, is one of the most
important things about who we are as a band,” adds Tucker.
“We love being surrounded by people who bring each other up,
and support each other, and create things together.”
Ironically, neither Sophie or Tucker were aware of
the original 1920s singer and comedian, Sophie Tucker
(immortalised by Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl), when they
came up with the amalgamation Sofi Tukker as the name for
their band.
“We kind of found out after,” says Sophie. “We’re so happy to
pay homage to her. She’s bad-ass.”
I’ve a feeling Sophie Tucker would have firmly approved of
Sofi Tukker too.
Sofi Tukker play Dublin’s The Button Factory on January 27,
ticketmaster.ie
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