Some Australians come to London and work in a bar. Some Australians go to bars. Some Australians form a mathrock noise band with their Barcelona based friend and play the UK's most interesting new festivals and release genre-smashing 7" singles. Ben Green took the third option. And lucky he did. With mate Aaron Cupples, Civil Civic cross borders and frequencies to make disco driven music that's indebted to Sonic Youth, Death From Above 1979, Butthole Surfers and Aphex Twin.

Their forceful "double b-side" single Run Overdrive / Fuck Youth, had even the brainiest noise fans scratching their heads so Dazed spoke to Ben Green to find out how they're making clever music a lot more fun. They won't be playing a Walkabout any time soon...

Dazed Digital: Australians like to travel. Go on, explain how travelling led to Civil Civic 'happening'...
Civil Civic: Travel is a side issue, and Australian adventurism is so much a part of our blood composition that it can't be separated enough to test. We live in Europe because we want to, and the fact that we don't live in the same part of Europe is pure chance. But since getting to know each others idiosyncrasies, it has also become a necessity.

DD: Why did you settle on London and Barcelona? Was it the smog? the sunshine or something about the music scenes?
Civil Civic: I moved from Berlin to Barcelona with a production crew I was working with. The last winter we spent in Berlin was particularly brutal, so I guess you could say it was the sunshine. It certainly wasn't the Barca music scene, which is pretty shockingly bad, considering the size of the city and it's reputation as a "funky" (gag, retch) town.

DD: What else do you do whilst you're in your respective cities?
Civil Civic: Aaron does a fair bit of mixing and production work, but as for me, at the moment I'm on the Spanish dole. (he laughs) I spend a great deal of time at the beach.

DD: You chronicle your adventures on your blog. Do you think it is important for bands to communicate with fans or do you do it for fun?
Civil Civic: There are a number of blogs I have followed for the last few years that I find entertaining, because of their humor and candor. I find them inspiring as examples of unrewarded creative endeavor, even while I'm wondering how anyone could be fucked spending their spare time doing it. That's the spur. That and the work of Hunter S Thompson. Blogging is the new Gonzo.

DD: Can you tell us some of your best stories?
Civil Civic: Most of the stories that are worth telling happened on our recent tour, so they're in the blog. The ones we haven't blogged are too horrific and degrading to put into words.

DD: So who inspired you to make instrumental music? Who knows, maybe you love classical?
Civil Civic: Well instrumental music is just music without vocals. Obviously. And it seems that these days vocals are reserved for bands that have nothing to say. So maybe you could call that an influence. Let the music speak for itself. We like bands like Sonic Youth, even though they are not always instrumental, we also dig a lot of classical, especialy early 20th century stuff like Bartok.

DD: Do you improvise a lot when you're recording?
Civil Civic: We improvise more now that we've gotten out and played shows. Up until the tour we were just concerned with reproducing the recordings faithfully. We stray from the script a lot more now.

DD: Are there ever improvised moments on stage, or do you like to be very precise?
Civil Civic: Well, we probably make more mistakes now because we are becoming less faithful to the song structures. We want people have both a clear presentation of the tracks as they know them, and at the same time something surprising. Not an easy brief, but we're getting there.

DD: You don't have any vocals so far... would either of  you consider singing?
Civil Civic: Not many people know this, but I am one of the most charismatic and technically accomplished vocalists of my generation. Like a cross between Beyonce and Ian Gillan. But no, no vocals for now.

DD: Or hey, a drummer?
Civil Civic: Fuck that. Drummers are expensive and problematic and drink too much. Have you ever spent 3 weeks in a van with a drummer? You only need to punch information into a drum machine once.

DD: Ok then. In your opinion, what are the three best bands ever to use a drum machine?
Civil Civic: Boogie Down productions, Jeff Mills and Thug. The Thug album is probably the most disturbing thing that's ever been recorded in Australia.

DD: You referred to your last single as a "double b-side".What would you say is your biggest 'hit' so far?
Civil Civic: Our biggest hit? I'll just refer to the stats on last.fm and our myspace. 'Less Unless' wins. And we shan't argue with Lady Internet lest she cast our desperate souls to a even deeper pit of obscurity.

DD: We've heard you're pretty smart so tell us something clever...
Civil Civic: Clever people never tell.

DD: Oh ok. Tell us something fun....
Civil Civic: Civil Civic.

Civil Civic tours this week. Thurs 29th July  - YOYO Club @ Nottinghill Arts Club. Fri 30th July - The Fly Issue Launch Party @ Barfly. Sat 31st July -  The Flowerpot.