“Two Nice Guys” just doesn’t have the same ring does it? Tom Beaufoy and Pat Pardy, aka Evil Nine, first knocked creative heads in 1998 upon realising mutual sonic fascinations. With an open mind and a simple attitude of giving anything a go, the two have become one of the most distinctive and in demand djing and producing acts at the moment. Their big break came courtesy of Marine Parade honcho Adam Freeland who recognized the talent in a demo tape they sent him; now their tracks and remixes dominate his DJ sets.

Amidst problems of Marine Parade going into temporary liquidation due to their distributor going bankrupt, Evil Nine have just released their debut album You Can Be Special Too. Exploring influences from techno to krautrock the album has carved a niche for the duo who refuse to be defined simply by the breakbeat moniker under which they mostly find themselves thrust. To celebrate the release of the album, as well as give Australia a taste of their live dex’n’fx madness, Evil Nine will be touring in September and October with Infusion who are also supporting a new album.

Pat and Tom from Evil Nine took a few moments to answer some questions from ITM regarding their upcoming tour and their album finally seeing the light of day.

Firstly congrats on the album. With all that’s happened with Marine Parade in the last couple months was there ever a stage where you felt it might not see the light of day?
Pat: Thanks fella, we’re very proud of it. Not really, we knew the album would come out one way or another. We had a lot of support and offers so there were many options open to us including putting it out ourselves. Adam had plans to get Marine Parade back in action from the jump and we were all keen to finish what we had started. Marine Parade is a family thing and we are all good friends, it would have been a shame to break it up.

Admittedly on my first listen I was a little confused. After half the tracks I kept expecting the next track of the Freeland mix I’d first heard it on in the past 18 months? Do you ever feel like you’ve been supporting him for the past couple of years :) ?
Tom: Yeah, he’s just biting our style! Seriously though, we support each other. We play his mixes and he plays our shit. Both him and us are on a specific tip and our tastes in music are very similar so it’s inevitable that we end up playing the same tracks.

I guess the first track I heard of yours would have been Cakehole but the moment I first really remember (upon later learning it was yours) was a couple of years ago when Adam played your mix of Ils’ Music midway thru his set. At that stage it was fairly unknown and afterwards there was all this talk about “that rock track” which had completely blown away an unsuspecting crowd. What was the inspiration for what would have to be a defining moment both in your career and in the whole “rock breaks” follow on?
Pat: We had spent two weeks trying to remix the Ils track and we weren’t getting anywhere, it sounded rubbish and we scrapped it. With only two days to spare we got the bass guitar out for a laugh and ended up deciding to do a rock cover of it rather than a remix, things just fell into place. Both of us used to be in guitar bands as bass players and it was good fun to play bass again, we have played on around 70 percent of our tracks and remixes since then. I think we got the “full on” rock out of our system with that remix though, people call our sound “rock breaks” or whatever but rock is just one of many influences on our sound. I doubt you will hear us be so overtly rocky again, it was just for a laugh and I think that shows on the track.

A track I’ve really loved this year has been Crooked, it’s got the sense of fun of party hip hop but is still rooted in a dirtier, snarlier bass and rhythm. It started off as an instrumental that appeared on James Lavelle’s first Global Underground CD, how did the vocal collaboration come to be and was it written by you or Aesop Rock?
Tom: When we were thinking of vocal collaborations for the album Adam encouraged us to think big and then try and make them happen. The first name on our lips was Aesop Rock. With his real unique flow we thought he would be perfect for Crooked. Even though it’s at a much faster tempo than he’s used to we thought the moodiness and stripped back vibe would suit him. And it did! He wrote those mad lyrics for the track and it’s this fusion of our beats and his rhymes that make it priddy special I think.

Between you, Ils (when the hell is his next album coming out?) and Adam there seems to be a feel in the Marine Parade camp based around the more organic sounding beats of late. Is this something that’s developed from spending creative time together or is it more a case of like minds being attracted to each other?
Pat: I think it was a case of like-mindedness although we do have a big influence on each other. All three parties listen to a lot of organic music and it ends up rubbing off on you. Initially Adam had a big influence on our sound but now the tables have turned, half the tracks in Adam’s DJ and sets are evil9 tracks or remixes.

You’re touring Australia with Infusion, who you seem to have become good friends with. Musically, how do you think you’ve rubbed off on each other? Should punters be warned that you are touring and partying together? Are there any plans for future collaborations?
Tom: Musically I think we are both trying to push things forward so in that sense we probably inspire each other to take it to the next level. We’re big fans of theirs so were pretty touched that they wanted to tour with us, and yeah, people should be warned cos we’re gonna properly rock the house! Hopefully I’ll still be standing by the end of it. As for collaborations, Frank’s been doing some bits with us and we are remixing their next tune which is gonna be a blinder mate!

With Adam a frequent visitor to these shores and Infusion being local lads, what have you been told to expect and what are you looking forward to most about Australia?
Pat: Good times mainly. Frank from infusion is promising a lot of late night drinking and partying, Freeland seems to think we will end up moving to Oz after our tour. Were just looking forward to meeting lots of wicked people really, most Ozzies we have met have been real nice and people from the UK seem to have a similar sense of humour.

Whilst enjoying your production work, admittedly until this year I didn’t expect much DJ wise from you, figuring just another lot of producers doing some DJing on the side. Earlier this year I got hold of a 45 minute segment of a live set of yours and was blown away. It had what so many seem to lack and that was the sense of energy, the really deep and heavy funk feel. Plus I loved how you worked in the Smashing Pumpkins 1979. Do you guys play regularly around the UK? The live dex’n’fx would have to be heavily dependent on the chemistry between the two of you on stage. How long has that taken to build and how would you compare yourselves to other such duo’s as the Stantons and Drumattics both in the way you work off each other and in your overall sound?
Tom: DJing and producing have always been on a par with us. Our DJ experiences give us the vibes which we take into the studio and we generally produce stuff that we want to rinse out live. We are playing a lot round the UK and have a residency at this amazing club night called “Urban Gorilla”. The audience there is really open-minded and they give us the space to play what we want, which is just great music. DJ wise we really want to work up some excitement with our sets, playing deeper stuff but also peppering our sets with hooky tracks, shit to make you dance y’know ! The Fx thing gives us a way to evil nine up some of the tracks which are lacking in that crrazzy edge! I wouldn’t say we were like Stantons or Drummatics as our arsenal of noises probably contain a few more feedback noises than them and I think the overall dynamics of our sound is quite different. We have our own unique way in which to kick it!

Because of this 45 minute set, which I have distributed to all my friends and got them mad keen for your sound, I want to hear more of this. Are there any plans for a mix album?
Pat: We would love to do a mix album but have nothing in the pipeline as yet. In the past we have talked about making it a double CD affair, one CD of dancefloor tracks and another of all the other music we are into. Hip-Hop, Punk, Krautrock, Folk, Electronica, Dancehall, Soul, Goth, Bluegrass…......... We aren’t just about the dancefloor, in fact I don’t really listen to much dance music at all.

Perhaps it’s not on your mind just yet with the album launch and follow up tours only just beginning, but where to next? What music is inspiring you on and off the dancefloor at the moment?
Tom: Well we’re just gonna get back on that horse and start on the next album! Also we want to be doing some mixes for peeps and maybe dabble in a bit of producing for films and bands…put some fingers in some pies! There’s so much good music about at the moment, not loads in breakbeat but elsewhere there is a lot to get excited about and also through the magic of the internet we are getting back into stuff we liked when we were young like the Cure, The Fall, Pixies, Nick Drake , Neil Young , Love ..wicked song based shit. In hip hop producers such as El-p , Madlib and RJD2 continue to inspire us, we love those wonky beats and in dance music I’m just going to give you a list… Bassbin Twins, Switch, Tiefschwarz, Joakim, Kiki, Will Saul, DJT, Peace Division, Ils and Forme (of course), PMT (false prophet), Super Discount, Unkle, Kahunas, Get Physical Records, Mathew Johnson, Tiga, LCD Sound System (who are incredible live) Meat Katie and much more…phew.

I’ve read quotes about “breakbeat purist” reactions to your music, is this something you’ve experienced first hand from punters and fellow artists? Do you really care?
Pat: People don’t tell us to our faces which I have a big problem with, generally we hear reports of online forum slag off’s. People hide behind a computer screen slagging you off and kiss your ass when you meet them at shows, haters!! The thing is that our sound is different to anyone else under the breakbeat moniker we have been labelled with, and we are bound to get up a few purists noses. We don’t take it personally, there is a lot of music in the world and we don’t expect everyone to like us, why should they. Generally we have been getting a shit load of support from most breaks heads and producers, a lot of our peers we expected to hate our album are loving it. In short, we really don’t give a fuck!!

Check out Evil Nine’s new album You Can Be Special Too, available now at all good music stores through Inertia.

Make sure you check out Evil Nine as they tour the nation over September/October with Infusion, both acts promoting new albums. You can catch this amazing double act at the following dates:

24 September Academy, Canberra
25 September Tasmanian University Union Bar, Hobart
01 October, Wollongong
02 October Arthouse, Sydney
03 October Godskitchen, Perth
08 October Empire Hotel, Brisbane
09 October Room 680, Melbourne