Last summer, Janet Planet and Sugar Bones soared naked over London. The Confidence Man singers were strapped into a helicopter as it zoomed above the city’s skyline. Far below, the Shard skyscraper glittered darkly, an ominous needlepoint rising from the gloom. Up in the air, the duo disrobed, letting it all hang out as the cameras rolled. Any passing seagulls would have squawked in shock.
“It’s one of those situations we always find ourselves in – we’re in a helicopter going, ‘What are you doing?’” says Bones (real name Aidan Moore), dialling in over Zoom from Atlanta, Georgia, where the euphoric Australian electro pop band are in the middle of a sell-out tour. “And then we realise it’s because, a month ago, it was an idea one of us had. It often is a dangerous situation, but always because of our own design.”
Confidence Man don’t need helicopters to achieve lift-off. Even with feet planted on the ground, their live shows are a thing of high-flying, unfiltered joy. Playing Glastonbury last June, Bones whipped off his shirt and, without breaking a sweat (or sitting down), balanced Planet (real name Grace Stephenson) on his knee. At the end, looking 10 feet tall and dressed in striking black and grey, the pair pretended to fall into a dead faint as the music slalomed onwards. It’s Willy Wonka pop: a carnival of musical excess that delivers a sugar rush so heady it feels as if it should be illegal.
“When the band started becoming a thing and we were doing more shows, we saw we could touch lots of people at the same time,” says Bones. “We decided we wanted to do a performance that would take people out of that day-to-day [grind]. To create something that was surreal and immersive and gives you permission to jump off into that carefreeness.”
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That commitment to bringing the party vibes has carried Confidence Man to the brink of stardom. The NME has heralded their “no-f**ks-given fizzing dance-pop”; Noel Gallagher is a fan; and the set for their next tour is being planned in collaboration with Rob Sinclair, designer on Madonna’s Celebration show. (Planet has been known to perform wearing “laser boobs” inspired by the singer’s famous conical bra.)
This year’s helicopter striptease was for the video for their big summer single, I Can’t Lose You, a taster for their forthcoming third album, 3am (La La La). It wasn’t the first time they have taken to the air to bring their music to the masses. In 2022, the duo got in a balloon and went up, up, up for the promo to Holiday, a fizzy blend of 1980s power ballad and happy-house banger.
Filming the clips was a thrill. But for every high there’s a low. All that dashing about takes a toll, says Bones. “It’s always fun shooting and filming these more crazy clips. There is a strange thing that happens for a week afterwards: you feel a bit tired and slow,” he says. “You’re kind of [using up all your] adrenaline when you’re doing these shots. But you’re not thinking about it, because you’re trying to perform. And then, a few days later, you feel a bit depressed, lacking adrenaline or something.”
There’s no shortage of adrenaline on 3am (La La La), which is named after the boozy late-night sessions during which it was recorded. A surge of excitement courses through the neon-lit Control, a retro bopper that sounds like Lady Gaga collaborating with ZZ Top. The same exuberance is a feature of the thrilling Real Move Touch, where quicksilver synths bring a deliciously noirish quality. Here and elsewhere, Confidence Man could pass for the house band from the Tech Noir nightclub in the first Terminator film.
But if a cyberpunk fantasy with the best tunes, Confidence Man are also a mystery hiding in plain sight. As the face of the enterprise, it’s never entirely clear where Stephenson and Moore end and the fictional Janet Planet and Sugar Bones begin. They have at various times claimed to be a romantic couple, siblings and life-long friends. In an age when pop stars strive to appear authentic – to make you believe you might become be their best pal if you only could bond with them over coffee – Confidence Man are arch pranksters who see interactions with the media as another opportunity to be outrageous.
“Everyone expects to be given true information all the time. Life’s not like that,” says Sugar Bones. “Sometimes you might be given false information, sometimes true information. At the end of the day, all people need to know is that we have their best interests at heart and we’re going to look after them.”
We were throwing anything at the wall and freely making dance music. That freedom and that ignorance of the established culture of music is a blessing
— Sugar Bones
Whatever about fact or fiction, the band – which also includes the producers Clarence McGuffie and Reggie Goodchild – have created a splash from the very start. The acclaim lavished on their first two albums has encouraged them to cross half the world to bring their music to a larger audience. Having emerged from the Brisbane indie scene, they took the leap several years ago and moved to London; 3am (La La La) is the first album they have recorded since relocating to the UK, and you can hear the difference: it is steeped in the glamour and grime of their new digs in Dalston, a hipster enclave in the east of the city. (Imagine Stoneybatter, in Dublin, if it took itself even more seriously.)
“In Australia, where we’ve spent all our youth, it’s a very predictable life. There are cities that are on the larger end, but it’s very easy and spread out,” says Bones. “You have space and you don’t rub up against people. In London you’re thrust into the centre of this heaving, living thing. That is definitely driving us – and making us push it more. It’s been awesome living there.”
They’re nonetheless proud to come from Brisbane – a city with a rich music heritage. It’s the home of The Go-Betweens, perhaps the greatest indie band of all time, in addition to the heavy rockers Powderfinger and the pop-rock duo Savage Garden. And because Brisbane is slightly off the beaten track, Confidence Man feel that they had the freedom to develop into their own thing. There were no A&R men to impress or bookers or managers to woo. They didn’t have to think about how they would come across. They could be whatever they wanted.
“You were encouraged to make whatever type of music you wanted. We had no idea of the rules or the norms – unspoken stylistic rules of types of music,” he says. “We were basically throwing anything at the wall and freely making dance music. That freedom and that ignorance of the established culture of music is a blessing. You’re not trapped at all. Your mind is open to follow a song wherever it wants to go. You’re not trapped by thinking people in the scene won’t like you for doing a certain kind of thing.”
We had no idea of the rules or the norms – unspoken stylistic rules of types of music
— Sugar Bones
Their influences come from all over. On 3am (La La La) they borrow from Prodigy, Daft Punk, Madonna and David Bowie. Another touchstone is The KLF, the 1990s disco situationists whose music celebrated four-to-the-floor escapism while skewering the absurdities of the mainstream music industry. (They pulled off the ultimate wind-up in 1994 by setting light to £1 million in royalties.)
“They were the pinnacle and peak of absurd, subversive, strange-activities kind of band. The weirdness and the things they did always still had a point – and it was often a very smart, nuanced point,” says Bones. “They were also a bit chaotic. That mix of songs, chaos and getting a bit arty-farty, that combination is so appealing to us.”
Confidence Man are playing a gig the evening of the day we talk – with many more to follow before the band get back to their adopted home in London. It’s hard work – but never a slog. How could it be when they are packing laser bras and bringing Godzilla-sized good vibrations?
“We’re not professionally trained, polished dancers. When you see us jump around up there, we’re having a go,” says Sugar Bones. “And by us doing that, walking on a cliff edge and looking like we’re about to lose control at any moment, that means everyone else can get into that mindset and lose themselves too. That’s why it works: you’re not looking at this machine that is untouchable. You’re watching another person who is just having a go.”
3am (La La La) is released by Polydor on Friday, October 18th
