PHOTOGRAPHY Michelle Helena Janssen
CREATIVE DIRECTION Tori West
STYLING Yasmin Williams
MUA Kanako
HAIR Francesc Cardona
SET DESIGN & FABRICATOR Ro Gearty
SET ASSISTANT & FABRICATOR Poppy Whitehorn
HEADER IMAGE CREDITS JANET WEARS SLEEVES: CHOPOVA LOWENA, CORSET: PAULA MIHOVILOVIĆ, DRESS: BIMBA Y LOLA, SHOES: STELLAXINGYI, RING: BIMBA Y LOLA, EARRINGS & NECKLACE: MATILDA LITTLE. SUGAR WEARS JACKET & TROUSERS: PAUL SMITH, TOP: DANSHAN, SHOES: SOLID HOMME, NECKLACE: MATILDA LITTLE.
“Thinking is probably the death of creativity,” proclaims Janet Planet, who appears on Zoom stripped-back compared to the high camp, high fashion looks that audiences have come to expect from the otherworldly pop star. “The death of good songs,” her co-vocalist, Sugar Bones, agrees. That is, except for the batshit crazy ideas that come from “getting cooked in the kitchen ’til 9am the next day,” as Janet puts it – and no, she’s not exaggerating. Flashback to 2017 – long before their high-energy, one-of-a-kind live performances won the band slots at Glastonbury and Boomtown – and it was during these rambunctious recording sessions that the four-piece, dance-pop band Confidence Man was born.
Janet and Sugar were living in Brisbane alongside many musician friends, finalising the band’s line-up by seeing who would stay up the latest and scream the loudest – drummer Reggie Goodchild and keys player Clarence McGuffie. Shortly thereafter, the group signed with UK label Heavenly Recordings.
Their on-stage pseudonyms were selected early on and marked the first building block in crafting a universe for their euphoric electro-pop. “It lets us tap into a place where we can really let our hair down and go a bit wild. We don’t want to walk around as ourselves and be nice people, we want to go out there and fuck it up. And we’re allowed to because we’re Janet and Sugar, and that’s our fucking job,” Sugar says.
In fact, Janet recalls the specific moment her pseudonym was christened. “I’ll never forget, I remember this one show, I was drinking champagne on stage and this person kept shouting, ‘OH JANET, I LOVE YOU!’ or something like that. Then, he’s like ‘SPIT IN MY FACE’, so I spat in his face,” the artist recounts. “Afterwards I talked to him, and he said that it was the best moment of his life. I couldn’t get my head around it. That’s when I realised, these are the things that you’re allowed to do when you’re Janet Planet.”
[Our stage names] lets us tap into a place where we can really let our hair down and go a bit wild. We don’t want to walk around as ourselves and be nice people, we want to go out there and fuck it up. And we’re allowed to because we’re Janet and Sugar, and that’s our fucking job.
Spitting, champagne spraying and synchronised dance moves are all to be expected at a Confidence Man show, which has been lauded as “the most fun you can have at a gig” by critics. Their debut album, Confident Music For Confident People, earned them early comparisons to LCD Soundsystem and Right Said Fred, with infectious beats and hedonistic lyrics carried by Janet’s shameless delivery and steeped with an astutely Australian care-free attitude.
Meanwhile, their stage presence remains unmatched, following in the footsteps of performance legends like Madonna and Lady Gaga, and proving their prowess extends beyond writing catchy hooks. “When we play to new crowds, for the first three or four songs we can see this genuine look of shock and horror and confusion,” she grins. “Then there’s this really satisfying point in the set where we can see them flip, and suddenly they’ve got their arms up, and by the end, they’re going crazy.”
2022’s follow-up, Tilt, showcased a development in their sound that was equal parts disco and totally deranged. The album developed their distinct sense of humour, while the instrumentation spanned new territories across Balearic beats, gospel-inspired backing vocals and retro synths. “When we wrote Tilt we were in [the] second lockdown and miserable, and Melbourne was one of the most locked-down cities in the world,” explains Janet. “I think that album provided escapism for other people, but it was also our way of escaping and revolting against being trapped. There was definitely some fake happiness in that second record that was necessary because we needed it to be happy.”
Sugar adds: “It was sort of our manufactured happy place that we invented, but we were still locked in the house. Working on new music, I hope [listeners] can hear the freedom.”
At first glance, some might interpret their bratty stage personas and commitment to the bit as taking their music too seriously, but for Confidence Man, their authenticity shines brighter than their sequined jumpsuits, ensuring their music-making process feels as joyous and connected as their live shows. “The brief of the band was always to write music that sounded good if you’d just taken ecstasy, and I think for a while we might have forgotten about that a bit,” Sugar continues. “We’ve made so much music over the years together, and it took us a while to realise we could do the drunk party writing and that could be real work.”
Nowadays, the routine is clear: once a week, the band will link up for lunch at East London’s Café Cecilia before heading to the studio, consume the necessary motivators, and stay awake writing and recording until the sun comes up. Meanwhile, recording sessions with New Radicals’ Gregg Alexander taught them to always have a mic at hand, ready to capture inspiration in whatever form it takes. “If you want to lie down on the floor and do a 30-second scream into the mic – which I did a lot of – then you know, you let everyone do whatever they want at the time,” Sugar smirks.
Behind these never-ending nights, months of meticulous planning have already been undertaken by the group’s matriarch. “Or a benevolent dictator?” Sugar says with a laugh. “I think every band needs that central driving – and organising – force that pulls it all together and pushes people.”
Referencing her role in the band’s balance, Janet replies: “The other boys were in bands together before this, and they’re so incredibly talented, but so disorganised, so I came in there to whip them into formation and put them in ridiculous outfits.”
The other boys were in bands together before this, and they’re so incredibly talented, but so disorganised, so I came in there to whip them into formation and put them in ridiculous outfits.
In fact, since the group’s inception, Janet has designed every performance outfit they’ve ever worn. Inspired at an early age by disco – “it was full of women wearing sparkly dresses and doing the best synchronised dancing” – she enlisted the help of her mother to make her stage costumes. “When I was little, my mom used to make all my clothes,” she explains. “I was always giving her notes on how I wanted things to look and fit, I’ve always been a bit of a psycho like that. But then she was a nurse, so she got fired as my seamstress when she couldn’t make me 15 costumes in a week. I think she was very relieved to be fired.”
She now collaborates with Melbourne-based designer Ivan Holmes to bring her creations to life, although she confesses that she’ll still consult her mom regularly over the phone. “It’s definitely my most stressful process because I feel very alone in it,” she says. “I feel very responsible. I don’t want to dress the boys and for them to look stupid, and while everything has to look good on stage, it also has to survive the intense touring. It has to be removable, fast, because we have three costume changes. It has to have movement.” Despite the challenges, she assures: “There are so many things you have to consider, but the more things that are removable, and you can rip off and swing around your head, the better.”
To date, their sartorial highlights include belted second-skin bondage dresses, lace bodystockings adorned with ostrich feathers and a laser-shooting cone bra fit with an on-stage light show. However, Janet reveals her favourite outfits are the white ensembles worn for the promotion of 2022’s smash-hit ‘Holiday’, including leopard-print booty shorts and matching kaftan. “I have them in storage, I’ve kept every single thing I’ve ever made,” she admits. “I say, if we get famous in like ten years or whatever, we’ll do an exhibition,” says Sugar.
Their style, along with an outstanding set at Glastonbury last year, has caught the attention of a new generation of fans. Last summer, I witnessed Janet and Sugar shake their stuff at London’s Mighty Hoopla at the beginning of a summer-long festival tour. Their tent was overflowing before they even set foot on stage, with many audience members’ outfits mimicking the same Club Kid creativity as Janet’s designs. “Festivals like Mighty Hoopla and Homo Block, playing for crowds where there’s a big queer community involved are always the best because the girls and gays know where it’s at,” she shares.
Not all audiences have been quite so quick to embrace the duo’s unique sense of style, but Sugar says that for the band, this is another marker of success: “I love annoying the old fogies and the Karens.”
SUGAR WEARS JACKET & TROUSERS: PAUL SMITH | TOP: DANSHAN, SHOES: SOLID HOMME, NECKLACE: MATILDA LITTLE
JANET WEARS DRESS: PAULA MIHOVILOVIĆ, SHORTS & SOCKS: CHOPOVA LOWENA, SHOES: KENZO, RINGS: SWAROVSKI & MAISON LUMIERE, EARRINGS: MAISON LUMIERE, BRACELET: SWAROVSKI
Last year, the group relocated to the UK, pulled in by the magnetism that has historically tempted musicians. The move’s effect on their music was immediate, crate digging through 90s rave, grime and garage archives from the best musicians the city has to offer, and can be heard on new singles ‘Now U Do’ and ‘Forever 2 (Crush Remix)’. “We can’t stop embracing our Londonness,” Sugar gushes. “I think every Aussie wants to escape eventually, and we’d been thinking about it for a while. It’s been amazing being here, all the great people we’ve been working with and getting drunk with.”
“Especially more chicks,” Janet pipes in. “There’s a much more varied dance scene here and there’s so many girls doing really cool stuff.”
Despite the fact that London’s rave scene has taken a colossal hit in recent years (specifically, just under a quarter of the city’s nightclubs were forced to shut their doors during the pandemic, and 60% of LGBTQ+ venues have been lost in the past decade), the band has spent their time in London performing at new underground venues popping up across the capital – proving the resilience and dedication of small, queer-led communities amid the Tories’ conservative rule.
Confidence Man, however, are not interested in talking about politics. Instead, they are political – their very beings, dressed in camp costumes and screaming obscenities to anyone who will listen, feel like the best of British punk spirit in dancefloor-mode. “I feel like talking about politics is such an easy way to make yourself miserable. I suppose I always just wanted us to be something that wasn’t real and not of this universe where that’s not even an issue,” explains Janet. “I don’t want to bring it back down to the ground, I want it to stay up in the air.”
“For me, when we do a gig, I think it’s a moment to make a whole bunch of people feel amazing in like three minutes. You can give people a therapy session in three minutes, and you can do it to 20,000 people at once. I think it’s all good vibrations and fucking energy and all that hippie stuff,” Sugar explains.
Janet rolls her eyes. “I’m anti-hippie.”
Now, no matter whether it’s their intention or not – from their live performances to their tongue-in-cheek lyrics and theatrical designs – their music provides a rebellious escape from the very human troubles of their devoted fans, new audiences, and each other too.
“When I think back to our early days, I remember us listening back to the songs we’d written the night before and being like ‘I love you so much, oh my god, can you guys believe we’re doing this?’ Just so earnest, all holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes,” says Janet, emphasising just how deeply this fun-loving bunch cares for one another.
“The amount of love is pretty special in this group because I feel like it doesn’t happen that often, especially after seven or eight years of doing this and having been friends for nearly two decades,” affirms Sugar. “We’ve been through a lot of stressful situations and horrible moments where it’s been really hard work, but it’s always been fun with these people. We’re really lucky to have found each other because I think a lot of the time the fun can fade.”
In true Confidence Man fashion, however, their unique creativity, fueled by their love for the work and for each other, is what remains at the forefront – singling them out as a revolutionary act among dance music’s next generation of talent. “Creating music together really is the funnest thing,” Janet enthuses. “I can’t imagine anything else I’d rather do. It’s almost toxic. If I had the choice between going to some sick event like the Grammys or getting cooked and writing in the studio, I’d always choose the studio.”
“There’s definitely something a bit wrong with us,” Sugar concedes. “We’ll do a two-month tour where we see each other every day and then have like a week off and we’re missing each other by the end of the week. Like, what’s wrong with us?”
Towards the end of our time together, I ask if this close kinship is essential for their creative collaboration to flourish. “I think it is for us because of the kind of music we’re making,” says Janet, “But other bands, if they’re angsty, I mean just look at bloody Oasis, I feel like they were in a permanent state of conflict. Some people probably need the conflict to get shit done.”
“I’m so glad we don’t,” says Sugar, showcasing the band’s appreciation for the weird and wonderful universe that they’ve created.
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