I’m not really sure what putting the word midnight in front of the aforementioned word does to its meaning but I do know that Melbourne dance crossover institution Midnight Juggernauts are throwing a party this New Years Eve that will elicit overwhelming devotion from all in attendance.
“I mean we’ve done parties before but never anything to this scale – we’re taking over upstairs and the downstairs of Prince Of Wales. I guess the one other party we have done of a similar scale was the Siberia Records party we did for Melbourne Music Week in 2012 in a car park at Melbourne University,” explains Midnight Juggernaut founding member Andy Szekeres. The remainder of the Melbourne based three piece, that first started playing shows in Melbourne back in 2004, are Vincent Vendetta and Daniel Stricker. As well as playing in Midnight Juggernauts the three members also run dance/experimental label Siberia Records whose roster also includes Kirin J Callinan, FORCES, Jonti, and Erik Omen.
The large scale party that Andy is referring to is Siberia Records Presents: A New Year’s Eve Party at Prince of Wales that sees the label taking over the entire venue. “We have never done a party of this scale that have also featured Midnight Juggernauts. The reality for us is that we are organising a party as well as playing as well so it’s a double preparation. We talked about whether we had the time and effort to do our own party but as soon as we decided to do it the party came together really easily,” enthuses Szekeres.
The line-up is a veritable who’s who of Melbourne party acts with Northeast Party House, Naysayer & Gilsun DJs, Roland Tings, Nile Delta, John Safran is DJ Dollywood, DJ Swim between the Shags, Double Threat and Siberia DJs.
“We have lots of our friends playing so part of the reason for doing the party is to get everyone in the same place which is rare when most of your friends are touring DJs and bands.”
Anyone out there who has organised their own birthday party will know it can actually be a major pain in the ass to put on a party and be the star attraction – particularly when you are a high profile act like Midnight Juggernauts that would have guaranteed work at other New Year’s Eve events.
Szekeres now grapples with the bird in the hand principle in relation to his band’s situation. “We’ve put on a lot of shows in Melbourne and especially coming off this record we did our last tour of Australia in July and we kind of planned to do our headline show around summer so when this came along we had the confidence that it had been long enough since we’d played and that all our friends in Melbourne really support us.”
The album Szekeres is referring to is Uncanny Valley that is the band’s third studio album – Dystopia [2008], Crystal Axis [2010] – and sees the band take on a more gregarious yet internal aesthetic. From the indelible irony of The Ballad Of The War Machine to the earth shattering depth of Memoriam the album represents a band who are completely comfortable with their output and no longer trying to score points on the board with anyone but themselves.
To close out the interview Szekeres explores his relationship with Uncanny Valley six months after its release. “You live it so hard for the period of recording and then the promo around it that you are kind of just happy for it to disappear. With all the music we’ve produced, the writing and recording has been such an intense process that it can really be quite a painful process so you don’t spend too much time reflecting on it.” However, this bizarre post-traumatic amnesia that Szekeres suffers from has not caused him to lose perspective entirely. “It’s one record of all the ones we’ve done where all three of us were really kind of in sync so likewise on stage the songs from the album come together really well.”
BY DAN WATT
