Favored Nations Interview

House heads will know James Curd for his ever-changing Greenskeepers project. Now he’s conceived a new supergroup, Favored Nations, with Surahn “Sid” Sidhu, formerly The Swiss’ bassist, and Morgan Phalen, who previously fronted and played guitar in the New York hard rock band Diamond Nights (he also sang on Justice’s Audio, Video, Disco). And the Chicago DJ/producer is orchestrating Favored Nations in his adopted home of Adelaide.

Curd has been living here for nearly three years.

“My girlfriend is from Adelaide and her family lives here,” he says. “I think it’s a great lifestyle in Adelaide – and I liked it more and more each time I visited… Good weather, health care [and] education, great studios and low crime all add up to a beautiful placeto focus on music and family.”

Curd maintains a low profile in the city.

“I DJ a bit in Adelaide at Mr Kim’s but, for the most part, I play interstate and overseas. Adelaide is my home base for my family and studio. I also do some music work in film in Los Angeles, so I end up travelling a lot for that, DJing and now Favored Nations.”

Curd met Phalen at the bar during a show by Justice affiliates Jamaica in LA.

“A mutual friend introduced us that night. We had a good time talking about music, going to see bands, and what the crowd expects to see and hear at a show – as opposed to what we would like to see and hear… It was a fun night and the start of a three month work trip for me, so we became friends over that time and started writing music together.”

Back in Adelaide, Curd brought in Sidhu.

“I’ve known Sid for a long time. He is one of the most talented musicians I’ve been in the studio with – and he is a great guy. Since I arrived in Adelaide, we always wanted to work together, but we didn’t know what direction we wanted to take. Once I came back from LA, we had a studio session and I asked him to join up with Morgan and I.”

Working together in the studio (and sometimes remotely over the Internet) the trio have come up with the three-song Blame Game EP – which Curd describes as “a small introduction to the band.” (Check out the video below for the title-track, shot in Sweden, where Phalen’s girlfriend lives.)



“We spent a lot of time and energy developing our sound, but we also want to explore different tempos, styles and textures while keeping our own signature. We want listeners not to know what to expect exactly, but to expect it to be our sound at the same time.”

Favored Nations has been categorised broadly as indie-dance, nu-disco and synthpop – despite Phalen “sneaking in” distorted guitars.

“The word I always come back to is ‘nostalgic’. It has a ’70s feel, but more because of the sounds and Morgan’s voice, rather than the style,” Curd says. Joey Waronker from Thom Yorke’s Atoms For Peace plays drums and provides additional production. Curiously, Curd doesn’t envisage Favored Nations issuing an album any time soon.

“We already have enough music to release an album, but we like the idea of small EPs. We think it’s more fun for us and everyone involved to have more releases over a period of time, instead of one full album all at once. When we have enough EPs released, we will package them nicely in addition to some new songs for a proper album release.”

Greenskeepers, best known for their novel electro-pop hit Lotion, put out a third album, Live Like You Wanna Live, in 2010 that was little promoted. Curd affirms that they’re still extant, yet his cohort Nick Maurer has apparently moved on.

“I have a folder on my desktop that I’m slowly building up labelled ‘GK’. When I have enough material, I’ll focus on it and see where it takes me… A future album will be more like [2004’s] Pleetch and have a lot of guest singers and musicians. I’m completely focused on Favored Nations right now, though.”