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Music

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Made A Fanzine And It Looks Really Cool

Babes in bubbly, caped capers, and the Dancing Misanthrope! Photographer Dan WIlton follows T.E.E.D. around Croatia.

If you could try to sum up Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs in one word, I'd use idiosyncratic. His debut album from last year, Trouble, is a charming collection of shimmering indie-pop melodies akin to the likes of Hot Chip and Junior Boys, but there's a subtle, almost glacial edge to TEED's sound that sets him apart. Not only that, he's made a name for himself through his flamboyant live shows; feathered headdresses, sparkling costumes, and a loyal trope of dancers that follow him wherever he plays, bringing the stage to life in a way that's a breath of fresh air in live electronic music performance.

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With a new album in the works, and a new live show to go with it, TEED decided that his last show in this particular incarnation had to have a blowout of a send-off. He packed up his costume and gear, bandied together his dancers and friends, and flew them all to this years Unknown festival in Croatia. Close friend and photographer Dan Wilton came along too, and documented a week of sweat, tears and laughter for a brand new fanzine.

To mark the occasion, we sat down with TEED and Dan to talk about the week-long party, photographs they chose, and they even gave us some exclusive outtakes that you won't see anywhere else.

THUMP: Why did you decide to make this fanzine, and what about it speaks to you both you [Orlando] as Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, and you [Dan] as a photographer?
TEED: I can't remember who the idea for the fanzine forward first. I think it was maybe Dan, because he had done a previous zine called The Box.  He said he wanted to do something with me as Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, and I was like "Well, we're going to Croatia for the last live show, let's make it happen then." It was at Unknown festival and the last live show of, however long of touring, and it had taken me about a year to stop this shit from moving on. It felt like making an event out of the show, festival and fanzine was a way to bring it to an end, y'know? A festival show, headlining one of the nights, then with DJ sets on a boat party, it seemed like a killer idea.  So I booked a villa for the whole crew and the dancers, and we just made a week of it.

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Dan: It was mainly about a free holiday to be honest.

TEED: Ha! It's only free if people buy it!

Dan: We know each other well and, importantly, he knows me as The One Who Takes Pictures, so there was nothing really staged about the whole week. It was all shot on the fly.

TEED: For me it was a goodbye trip, really. I'd been touring with those girls—the dancers and Louisa—for like four or five years and that week was kind of It. The next album will be different and the next show will be different, so I can't put them on a retainer whilst I write a new record. We'd always had pretty intense time on tour, so having five days dedicated to having a laugh as well as doing a great show was pretty fun. In terms of the overall project, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs started a long time ago. It all came from the first idea of doing a project that was fun, and free from cool. I didn't want to go through the underground approval system in any way. I wanted to feel that I had a bit of immunity from all that shit. It can be so stifling. I wanted to put together a really fun project that was slightly tongue in cheek, but serious about the music. I think people may have looked at everything—the name, the show, the project—from a distance and been like "What then hell….?" but that's fine. As far as I know most of the people who've come to the show have had a nice time.  It's my sincerity about the project that matters.

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Dan: I absolutely love this shot. I was hiding behind him on the stage, and then he turned round and it was just, a perfect moment really.

TEED: I had to be very careful in this costume because of the fringing on the cloak; it wasn't separate stranges, they were more like massive loops of thread so if something got caught, which happened all the time to be honest, I would basically get caught on the corner of my gear and be kinda fucked! I'd get snagged and end up trying to sing whilst yanking stuff all over the place. It was also a good game though: Can I Do The Show And Not Get Fucked By My Own Costume? When you've done this show so many times, it was actually one of the more fun things.

Dan: Didn't you have costume tech?

TEED: Yeah well, Angus kind of did that. There's a bunch of shit going on with the costume. I used to have quite carefully put-together outfits made by one person each time, and when it got to the end of the tour I was picking different bits from each one and shoving them back on. This was a collection of different outfits in this shot. You can't see, but there's an Alexander McQueen shirt under there somewhere and this Vera, nylon, shiny blue thing that everyone loves, and then the cape. I would sweat a lot. That's another fun thing performing. I quite like sweating. I didn't want to come off stage and be dry.

Dan: So the main thing about the gig was getting snagged on things, and getting sweaty.

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TEED: Drama is important! My own personal drama, as well as the drama of the show. I really like that photo, I was actually just trying to get off stage without snagging myself. It was a bit emotional. It was just after I'd said thank you to the girls, and the crowd were so great too. You'd have a nightmare if the live show that you did on a huge run was at a festival and it wasn't a great turnout, but it was a perfect ending for me.

Check out the rest of this article at THUMP UK!