Street: How did you get your start making music? Harley Streten: Basically, [I] went shopping with my dad and I found some sort of music making program in a cereal box--—it was some kind of a competition or something. So I got that and mucked around with that. I was about twelve at the time and ever since then, I’ve been doing music as a hobby and it’s become an actual job probably in the last year or so.
Street: Now you’re on tour in the U.S.—are you enjoying the American audiences so far? HS: It’s been really nice so far. I’ve played four shows so far, and I was in South By Southwest [SXSW]. I’ve had a pretty good response and I’m going to do another one tonight at one o’clock. It’s been really good so far and I’m even more excited to see how it goes down on tour.
Street: We hear that your record outsold both One Direction and The Rolling Stones on the Australian charts. How are you finding your skyrocketing success? HS: It’s good, but I try not to think too much about it. I try and really focus on the music.
Street: Is there a direction you would like to see yourself going in creatively? HS: I can never really predict that kind of a thing. People ask me that a lot, but I can’t really give an answer. I just write and whatever happens, happens. I draw influence from some outside music artists, but I try and not let the success change anything and my creative approach to it. Now that I have an audience, I could get sidetracked by trying to please my audience... or I could do what I did from the beginning which was basically to write music for myself.
Street: Do you have a dream collaboration? HS: I’d like to work with Oliver from the xx. I think that would be really nice. Also, Yukimi from Little Dragon.
Street: Do you find it difficult to balance touring, writing music and enjoying yourself, as any 21–year–old should? HS: I’ve found it a bit intense. I’ve been touring a lot. [Once I] get back from the US, I’ll start touring around Australia. But after that I’m going to be chilling out for a while and doing my own thing and basically finding time to write music. I’ve got some time off, so that’ll be really nice.
Street: You’ve done a lot of work remixing other artists. Do you find yourself going back and tinkering with your own music, too? HS: No, I leave it. When you work on something like that you listen to it a lot of times. By the time it's finished, you’ve listened to it thousands and thousands of times individually, each little bit. When I’m through with something I like to leave it and start something fresh.
Street: What do you want your audience to gain from going to your shows? HS: I love the fact that I didn’t write this music for clubs or anything. I guess I had in mind... an iPod or at home, but at shows people seem to really get into it and dance to things that aren’t necessarily even beats that aren’t even big dance tracks—but people really get amped up with it. I’d like for people to have more of an open mind when it comes to going out and seeing music.
