Cookin' On 3 Burners' Reinvention Of The Hammond Organ Trio

Google Cookin' On 3 Burners and a particular phrase, "Hammond Organ Trio" pops all over the shop. You'd be forgiven for picturing the band as three middle-aged dudes rocking out on identical wooden organs.

"The 'Hammond Organ Trio' is actually [a] classic combination of instruments, which is the Hammond organ, guitar and drums," explains Jake Mason, fresh off the plane from Melbourne. "[The music] kinda hails from the jazz era of the '50s and '60s. It's a classic kinda sound which we've developed into funk and soul — we've taken that mould and reinvented it how we wanted to."

"We had no idea it would catch on quite like it did, so it was a pretty big surprise to see it racing up the charts."

The band didn't go so far as to reinvent the Hammond organ trio sound so much as someone reinvented Cookin' On Three Burners. The Melbourne blokes were contacted by French producer Kungs: "It's actually K-oong, by the way, I think you pronounce it. I'm not super up with my French pronunciation," who took on This Girl as a remix. "He did a little mock up of his idea using just our track, and sent it to us saying 'Hey, what do you guys think, would you be cool with me doing a full blown remix?' We talked and sent him the stems and that's how the remix came about."

From humble beginnings, the song hit #1 on the French charts and lasted for two weeks. "We definitely had some involvement [in the creation of the remix]. It wasn't like we just woke up and the internet kind of surprised us," he laughs, "Although I do have to say that while we were doing this we had no idea it would catch on quite like it did, so it was a pretty big surprise to see it racing up the charts. It's nice to be in both worlds without being in any world."

The video clip accompanying the tune has accumulated 4,745,971 views at the time of writing. There's lots of adolescent teenage love, sex, and the glaringly white moonscapes of Aegean volcanic islands. "How can we top a video that's in, is it Milos in Greece? With these beautiful beaches, I don't think we can top that," he says of the prospect of a clip to go with the original tune. "It's almost like a different song. I like both of them, it's like 'Who's your favourite child? You can't say that," he jokes.

The band also collaborated with Tex Perkins [The Cruel Sea] on The Writings On The Wall, and he's joining them for their upcoming tour. "Tex has always been on that wishlist. Growing up listening to [him], I was pretty starry-eyed with the request. There was a small [fan boy moment] that I had to keep under wraps."

In terms of plans to turn the group into an electro act: "If we can still keep doing what we do, and have a link and reach out to the younger generation so to speak — that makes me sound so old, doesn't it? — but then that's great! We're definitely not going to turn ourselves into a dance act, but through these collaborations that's our mission to reach more people."