“Right now, we are kicking it in Montreal preparing to launch a series of EPs. It has been a little while in between drinks for us actually – come to think of it, it has been about a year that we’ve been cultivating a new, more poppy sort of sound that we’re really happy with – the two of us are ready to unleash!”
But Andrew also takes a moment to explain how earlier in this century his yet-to-be partner in crime heard some music that he was producing under the moniker ‘Lucid’. Intrigued by the sound, Tao asked a mutual colleague to have Andrew along to a club night he was hosting in the Old Port called Velvet. “It all really clicked from there,” he says nostalgically.
Indeed, based in Canada, the duo are representing a scene that has produced its fair share of elite musicians – some of them bona-fide superstars. And while the scene isn’t as burgeoning as they yet might like, Andrew claims the city has a certain energy and spirit when it comes to electronica – and being a hop, skip and a jump to the USA, there is a fair bit going on around the place.
“Being based out of Montreal, I have to say, we are in a pretty good spot,” he explains. “The city is pretty lively and we get a lot of support from locals here. That’s why the city is great in that sense. It has always felt like a big city with a small-town vibe.”
Which isn’t too far detached from the small-town nature of the electronic dance music scene in Australia – for a country of 20 million something people, we take our music pretty seriously. And we’re rather predisposed to turning up to good festivals and events in our thousands – sometimes in our tens of thousands. So like the lads from Montreal, our musicians don’t necessarily have a natural market and therefore the pressure is on to perform – there are no guaranteed meal tickets and the scene won’t carry passengers. Getting your name out there is part and parcel of the work, and like their local compatriots, the FM Radio Gods are approaching it in their stride. And part of that, is a grueling travel schedule.
“We do get to do a fair bit of travel,” admits Andrew. “We’ve done a lot of gigs recently in the U.S. and more recently in Mexico, mainly in New York and Mexico City. For example, we found Mexico to be a great place to perform because of the sheer size of the festivals over there. It’s not uncommon to play for crowds of 15,000 or more people so the vibe, mood and overall spectacle are all pretty intense – it’s great!”
So who would have thought that when they debuted in 2006, that they’d achieve such critical mass – travelling the world and spending time in the studio doing what they love? Yet barely half a decade on, the pair are justly considered true heavyweights of the electronic music scene, with a sound that crosses across multiple genres from house, to progressive, to techno and beyond. Consciously, Andrew admits that wasn’t necessarily part of a firm plan either; rather, it was the way things panned out.
“We’ve never thought of ourselves as being genre-specific,” he describes. “We take our music seriously, but we also like to have a bit of fun when we play or when we produce. As a result, we do try and take touches from this genre and touches from that genre, but we tend to kind of just go in any direction.” So whether it’s house, minimal or even electro, the lads are intent on moving forward without any let up.
No less, working together for them is a balanced art. “We always work together under one roof in our studio. For us, it’s really important to get a certain vibe going together; that helps us maintain a common vision and arrive at the outcome we’re kind of looking for. Our studio is filled with some pretty cool bits of equipment too – real synthesisers like a Moog Voyager, Prophet 8, Nord Stage and a V-Synth. There’s nothing like a sound of fat analog keyboard to bring your tracks to life!”
Agreed. And there’s nothing like taking a pretty loose direction with your production and turning a track into a raging dance-floor beast that the punters just lap up. Certainly, their approach to collaborations hasn’t hurt them either, with the duo twiddling knobs with some of the best in the business – but that doesn’t mean you can’t dream too. Andrew suggests that they’d still like to get down with chaps like Royksopp, Stephan Bodzin or Trentemoller. “They are all artists we appreciate and immensely respect,” he claims.
Finally, the lads are justifiably pumped about what they will be throwing down come the anticipated return of the Rainbow Serpent Festival shortly. Believe it or not, this is in fact their first trip to Australia and they are suitably pumped to be representing Canada. “Our live setup will be comprised of a Monome 256, a Jazz Mutant Lemur and a laptop. The two of us will be playing together and it will all be live, so we’re going to try to feel the crowd moving and to keep the energy high! Most of the tracks we’ll be playing at Rainbow Serpent will be unreleased too, so we’re excited to hear everyone’s response! We are always about trying to keep our live show as ‘live’ as possible,” Andrew muses.
“There isn’t a lot of point doing it any other way. We’re really about interacting with the crowd as much as possible.”
They’ve said before that their gear and their setup is the heart and soul of their performance and that their ensemble makes them look like they’re from outer space. And for my money, there is nothing wrong with that. No doubt, the floor is anticipating it with bated breath too.
BY RK
