Chris Agnelli & Robbie Nelson have been active in the dance music scene since 1997 when they started to produce dance music together. Hailing from Ireland, the duo shot to international acclaim with releases like El Nino & Everyday, Every Moment, Everytime, and the pair have remixed and played alongside some of the biggest names in both dance music and pop music worldwide. From remixing U2, Madonna, Ferry Corsten, Scott Bond & Solar Stone, Lange, Louise and more, to playing some of the world’s biggest festivals, ITM caught up with the pair to see how they were doing before they embarked on another Oz tour.

ITM: You’re heading down under again, you guys have already said you’re looking forward to it on your site http://www.agnelliandnelson.com), how do you rate Australia as both a place to play and a place to visit?

It’s been a few years since we last played in Australia and it was fantastic then so we are definitely looking forward to returning. The people in Australia have always received our music really well so we don’t expect this time to be any different and all the shows we are playing are large capacity events which means we will be able to make our return to Australia in style. We aim to make this a regular tour for us because we have a huge fan base in Australia that haven’t got to see us perform for some time or quite possibly ever before and we want to build on this for the future. With regard to visiting Australia outside of performing one of the downsides to this industry is that unfortunately because we are so busy we don’t get much of an opportunity to travel anywhere as a tourist and the time we do have we like to spend with our families.

ITM: What’s been your absolute favourite place to play?

Every country is so different and gigs vary from large festivals to intimate club gigs but we always enjoy playing in USA, Malaysia and are looking forward to Australia, however there is nothing like playing to your home crowd in the UK after all without them we wouldn’t even be here now.

ITM: I read you’ve got a couple of new relapses coming up on Tsunami & Xtravaganza, tell us about those and when we can expect them?

We are currently working on the next Tsunami release which are hoping will be ready for the early part of next year. We are also working on the next Agnelli & Nelson track which following on from Holding onto Nothing has to be a smash, again we are hopeful of a release early next year. We can’t say anymore that I’m afraid.

ITM: You’ve got more than a few production aliases you go by, Afterburn, Cortez, Green Atlas, Quincey & Solace, Ultra… do you feel you’ve got an alias for all the variable styles of music you guys make or could there be more in future?

Yes we use different names so that people don’t get confused about what they are buying, if they are buying an Agnelli & Nelson release they know it will be an uplifting trance track with a huge vocal and this is what we are best known for. It doesn’t make sense for us to confuse people with the different styles we produce so we came up with other names in which to release this music under, it also gives us a lot more freedom to express our varied range of music. Who knows if there will be others.

ITM: Who has been your favourite artist to remix over the years, and are there any remixes coming up on the horizon?

U2 has to be the biggest and best remixes we have done so far, they are one of the most recognisable names in the music world. We have done a lot of remixes over the years for Louise, Chicane, Ferry Corsten, Armin van Buuren, Lange to name only a few and as much as we enjoy doing them its making our own music that is really where we are at. After releasing Holding onto Nothing earlier this year we went on to do a few remixes for Armin, Ferry and Matt Darey but we have put a hold on doing anymore so we can concentrate on our own material.

ITM: What’s a bigger thrill for you guys, playing in front of a massive up for it crowd, or finishing that special track off in the studio that you have a great feeling about? Or even playing THAT track to THAT crowd?

As a duo we both get our thrills from different aspects of what we do. Robbie is more of the DJ so he would prefer to play in front of a huge crowd where as Chris (me) is more of a producer so I prefer finishing that special track off but we both get off on playing our music to a crowd because the buzz is something you simply cannot describe or get from anything else.

ITM: Have you ever thought of expanding the DJ sets you do to incorporate live elements, or even playing 100% live?

We have performed live before and it is something we have been discussing with our management at Fresh about possibly for next year because we are getting a lot of requests to do it. The thing about performing live is that it has to be done right otherwise it looks cheap, tacky and could be seen as just a PA. If we perform live it will be exactly that and comparable to the live shows by the Chemical Brothers for example we don’t want to be just 2 guys on stage with a key board.

ITM: How much time per year do you dedicate to music? Do you find it hard to get that balance sometimes between work & rest?

Working in this industry is a life changing thing, it isn’t a job it’s a way of life, it’s a passion that burns inside you that needs to come out. Fortunately for us we have an outlet to express our music this unfortunately doesn’t leave much time for anything else, however we have the best management team around us in Fresh DJ Management who take a lot of pressure off us to allow us rest time.

ITM: What are favourite CDs to listen to outside of dance music?

We both listen to pretty much anything going, you name it rock, soul, indie, classical – there’s just so much good music out there it’s so hard to pick out CD’s as a favourites, particularly as different music affects you differently according to your mood and situation. I think we both agree that Depeche Mode are one of the most versatile and forward thinking bands of the 20th century so pretty much anything by them would always come in among our favourites.

ITM: Do you take influence from music such as that and try infuse elements into your own music? Obviously classical music has been a big influence on dance music producers, do you see any other styles which could blend well with dance music?

Definitely, music in any given genre is and has always been influenced by music from others. House tracks often feature massive disco influences and is currently going through a phase where the producers are taking a very much electro influenced approach to their productions. Rock is also starting to feature a lot more in a lot of dance music right from House and Breaks right through to the hard stuff. More indie based bands such Coldplay and Radiohead have always won favour with a lot trance DJs when they have been sampled, so maybe we will start seeing some power chords coming through the odd trance track over the next few months…who knows? Stranger things have happened!

ITM: What would you say has been the high point of your careers so far?

There’s been so many! A few years back we played to 28,000 people in Melbourne which is a memory that will stay with us forever. This year has definitely one of our best to date as we’ve had some amazing gigs all over the world. In August we had played had a weekend where we played in for Knowwhere in London, on the Friday, which is always a great gig before playing to 20,000 odd people at the Escape festival in Wales on the Saturday. As soon as we came off stage at Escape we had to get straight in car to get the airport in time to catch a private jet to the Fast Forward festival in Holland later that night and despite the rain when we arrived in Rotterdam thousands of people were out in this awful weather having it like it was there last day on earth – incredible!

ITM: What producers are doing it for you at the moment?

Trance music is definitely back on the up and the production that’s coming through is better than it’s been in a long time. Smith and Pledger, Nu Nrg, Murray & De Rush & Solar Stone are all bringing out top quality stuff at the moment but I think the person who’s responsible for taking up the most space in our record box of late is a young Irish lad John O Callaghan. This guy is one of the most exciting and innovative producers we’ve come across and we really can’t big him up enough as his work his incredible and he’s still only 22! Fresh have also just taking him on to manage his DJ’ing so it looks like he’s got a great future ahead of him – watch out for this one!

ITM: You guys came in just outside the top100 in this year’s DJMag poll, how does something like that help you both on a personal satisfaction level, and on a professional level? Does it increase the remix/gig offers?

Yeah definitely, it was a great achievement for us to get in at 124 in this years poll, particularly seeing as this was the first year that we were eligible for it. We already had a massive backlog of remix requests long before the top 100 was announced so it would be impossible to say how that’s been affected as the requests are coming in as thick and fast as always. It’s also probably a bit too early to call on how it will affect our DJ’ing as we were already fully booked for 2005 when it was released. We already play all over the world and have a busy schedule in the UK so we just need to pat ourselves on the back for a good year and get our heads down and do what we do best, by doing this hopefully we will break the 100 next year and the DJ’ing and production will continue to go from strength to strength.

ITM: Lastly, do you have anything special planned for the Oz fans while down here?

Hahaha, we’re not going to give away our secret weapons! All we’ll say is you’ll have to come and check out one of the shows to find out!

Agnelli & Nelson are currently touring the country, check them out at one of their remaining dates:

Thu Dec 9 – Heaven, Adelaide
Fri Dec 10 – Slinky, Perth (BUY TICKETS)
Sat Dec 11 – Adventjah, Melbourne
Sat Dec 18 – Gas, Sydney