GQ_Australia-December_2017

Client

Liaison

WORDS NOELLE FAULKNER

PHOTOGRAPHY CHARLES DENNINGTON

STYLING OLIVIA HARDING

THEY’RE THE COOLEST, QUIRKIEST AND MOST STYLISH

AUSSIE PERFORMERS RIGHT NOW. WE SIT DOWN WITH

THE MELBOURNE PAIR TO DISCOVER THAT IT’S CLIENT

LIAISON’S WORLD – WE’RE JUST LIVING IN IT.

Once you start peeling back the many layers of Melbourne duo Client

Liaison’s kitschy, pop art universe, one very clear question seems to

hang in the air – where do Harvey Miller (the glasses) and Monte

Morgan (the hair) draw the line in the sand? Well, the answer is fairly

simple: they don’t.

Since releasing debut album Diplomatic Immunity late last year –

“a cathartic moment”, they’ll tell you – the pair’s carved a place in the

cultural canon of Australian music. It’s all thanks to their outrageous

stage shows, multi-dimensional visual output and highly nuanced

mythology. The fact Client Liaison also makes really good pop music

is the icing on the finger bun.

While most local bands can claim to have put in plenty of hard work

over the years, how many have a side-business running limo tours around

Melbourne, simply because they can? Yet more proof that few Aussie

acts are quite as interesting – or as thoroughly committed to just being

themselves – as Client Liaison is, right now.

“We love a thrill, not a cheap thrill, but moments,” says Miller,

with seriousness. “We try to punch above all the time, get a moment

in here, another moment in there... We get very obsessive.”

For the uninitiated, a Client Liaison show is an all-consuming

experience. The duo’s uplifting pop is all but impossible to stand still

to and their stage-presence is magnetic – think Freddie Mercury

meets Prince meets Simon Le Bon with New Romantic overtones.

Plus, their bicentennial-era style is on point, and then there are

dancers, pyrotechnics, guest performers (like that viral ‘Sorrento

Moon/Teardrops’ cameo from Tina Arena earlier this year) and props,

which can include anything from swans carved out of ice to giant cans

of Foster’s. Recently, they’ve recently been taking to the stage

accompanied by a pair of oversized water coolers – because, why not?

(Left) Harvey wears

top, $555, shorts,

$885, sneakers,

$890, and socks,

$205, all by Gucci.

(Right) Monte wears

top, $555, jeans,

$690, sneakers,

$890, and socks,

$205, all by Gucci.

BAND OF THE YEAR

MEN OF THE YEAR 2017 GQ.COM.AU 159