Gotye interview: 'This was always a side project for me'

Gotye has a single, it's called 'Somebody That I Used To Know, you may have heard it. To say that the hit single is ubiquitous would be an understatement, just ask anyone in any of the 20 countries where it has topped the charts or any of the near 200 million YouTube viewers. We decided to give Gotye (real name Wally De Backer) a call to find out even more about the life and times of a global smash hit.

Can you fill us in on precisely what you have been up to before releasing the single?
I was living at home for a long time, just working in my own space in a barn that I made music in and looking for my own sound in different spaces. I’ve been doing this for fifteen years pretty much between Gotye and my other band, The Basics.

Does it ever irritate you when people assume 'Somebody...' is some kind of overnight success?
No, actually, it really doesn't. I'm just happy to be doing well after so long.

Have you analysed the success of Somebody’ to try and understand just why it has taken off in such a big way?
I think YouTube had a lot to do with it. Had I released this single even six years ago then it wouldn’t have been online and so easy for people to show their friends and share in that way. The time I spent making music as Gotye helped me build up a grass roots foundation that helped me once things started getting more successful as well. I was my own publicist for many years and have worked with the same soundman from the very start so I was ready for the next step up in my career.

When you wrote the song did you have a feeling that it would be a big hit?
No, I’ve never really written a song and thought ‘That’s going to be massive’. in fact, it was always The Basics that we thought would go on to more commercial things. Gotye was always a sideline thing for me.

Do you think that your success after toiling away on the underground for so long is a reward for your persistence?
It depends on how you measure success I suppose. I mean, in terms of money it means a lot more freedom and that’s something I value but at the same time I’m far from money orientated - that was never my motivation for getting into music.