What makes for a good weekend? The allure of a beautiful Sunshine Coast beach, gorgeous mild autumn weather, catching up with your best friends and the promise of a Labor Day public holiday to help you recover, that’s what! What makes for a sensational weekend? All of the above – plus a hot night of dancing to TV Rock! If you’ve been living under a rock for the past three years and don’t know who TV Rock are, then you need a good shaking. TV Rock are not one but two outstanding Melbourne lads who exploded onto dancefloors in 2006. Comprised of Ivan Gough and Grant Smillie, TV Rock took their love of main room dance music to an unsuspecting Australian public in the form of their wickedly sexy single Flaunt It. ARIA Awards for Best Dance Release and Highest Selling Single followed, and their second release – a remix of Dukes of Windsor track The Others stayed at the top of the Australian dance charts for 12 weeks. You might think the TV Rock boys would take a step back and let the success roll in. But, this is far from the case. TV Rock have been in overdrive, making new tracks and creating a brand new record label, Neon, with Zoe Badwi amongst their first artists signed. The tastiest TV Rock treat of all was the recent announcement of a national tour alongside Zoe Bawdi and fellow Melbourner Chardy, all in aid of launching the first compilation for their label, Neon Essential. The tour kicked off right here, on the Sunshine Coast.

Arriving at the coast’s hottest venue, Bar 240V, my ears were beckoned upstairs by the sound of a thumping beat. Local DJs Incahoots and Jealous were warming up the crowd with well known anthems, and several frozen daiquiris later I noticed that Grant and Ivan were in the DJ booth. The dancefloor, though small in comparison to Brisbane’s mega-clubs, made me feel like Grant and Ivan were playing an intimate session just for me and my friends! The DJ booth was separated from the dancefloor by less than a metre and it was sensational getting up close and personal with one of Australia’s premier dance acts. Many of the tracks laid out in the first thirty minutes were current club favourites, including Ian Carey’s Get Shaky and *Kid Cudi’s Day & Night. When the first eight bars of The Prodigy’s Voodoo People mashed with Dirty South’s Let It Go dropped, from nowhere people surged to the dance floor like moths to a naked flame. Some serious dancing began! Track after track of personal favourites subtly infiltrated, making it ever so hard to leave the floor. After giving in to my body and slipping off for just a minute, I was taunted by the sound of Seany B’s gorgeous deep voice as Flaunt It began. An unusual and completely unexpected blending of Marilyn Manson’s Beautiful People mixed with the TV Rock hit had the crowd cheering and the dancefloor seemed to bow as even more people came onboard. Zoe Badwi, touted by many critics as Australia’s best kept clubbing secret, came out on stage and belted out her sure-fire future club anthem Release Me. It captivated the whole club, leaving me to believe that the mild Autumn night was a balmy summer’s evening in Ibiza.

As glorious as the beach was in the wee hours of the morning when I sought out some fresh air for a breather, I was eager to return upstairs to see what sort of musical treats TV Rock still had in store. A delicious remix of Bloc Party’s Banquet was surging from the main speakers as we ascended, and I literally bumped into Grant Smillie himself. Evidently pleased with his first two performances in Melbourne and Brisbane, he was also happy to pass on his thoughts about the upcoming album. ”The seventeen remixes compiled for the first disk of Neon Essential have gone over well with both crowds, and the gig in Brisbane had sold out in advance,” Grant commented with a grin. “And it is a busy week ahead as we are in Darwin tomorrow night and then over to Sweden, but back in Geelong by next Saturday the 9th May.” Does TV Rock love the Sunshine Coast’s relaxed beach lifestyle? “Although we’ve played at the Rolling Rock nightclub in Noosa,” Grant says, smile intact, “Mooloolaba is definitely a great place to spend my birthday – which happens to be tonight!” The night went way too fast after my chat with Grant, but I can tell you it was definitely a great party. TV Rock are sure to satisfy the appetite of dance music lovers around Australia in their ongoing tour. With twenty gigs scheduled nationwide, you’d be mad to miss a bit of the TV Rock action!