Layo Paskin, one half of Layo and Bushwacka! is at home in London when I speak with him, fielding a series of phone calls from eager Aussie dance music journos. In high spirits and with no sign of lagging enthusiasm when faced with more questions regarding the duo’s activities, he’s excited about their imminent new release “No rest for the wicked!” he says, “Once we’re finished chatting, I’m heading straight back into the studio to finish off a few things on the new album so we can bring it to Australia for the Good Vibrations Tour in February. You’ll get a sneak preview of it over there, although obviously we’ll showcase more of the dance-based tracks. There’s a lot of alternative stuff on there, with vocals and live musicians and all sorts of interesting things. However, it’s still very much Layo & Bushwacka style. We recorded a lot of it in New York with funk & jazz muso’s, which was a real buzz! I must say we’re pretty proud of it and we’re really looking forward to showing it off.”

Now being one of the headline acts at the Australian Good Vibrations tour means loads of massive outdoor locations, although both Layo & Bushwacka! have made comment in the past that they prefer the more intimate club environment to play at. What are the pro’s and con’s about playing outdoors to large crowds? ” Day-time events are great, particularly in Australia where the weather is usually pretty fantastic. It can be a bit of a dampener in the UK when the weather is miserable, but I think crowds over there are used to it! The only criticism I have of outdoor festivals, if I have any, is that the sound quality can be a little sub-standard – but that doesn’t seem to worry most people if they’re enjoying the sunshine! The closed environment of a club is more intimate and club owners go to a fair bit of effort in order to create a consistent backdrop for the music from week to week.”

With such huge musical line-ups at these events, is there much of an opportunity to catch up with other artists and see what they’re up to? “A little bit – particularly with tours like Good Vibrations, you’re travelling with the same group of performers and it creates a real camaraderie. During the last one, we played with Jamiroquai and Miguel Migs and it was a superb festival – we all got along well, becoming good mates and just having fun! This year, I’m really looking forward to seeing the Scissor Sisters live performance.” 

“Love Song” is probably the track Layo & Bushwacka! are best known for and it’s definitely become an anthem around the world – in both clubs and lounge-rooms alike. Their Argentinean audience actually sit down during its performance to demonstrate their affection and awe for the tune. I ask Layo to describe for me what it’s like for the music you’ve created to have such an effect on people. “Obviously it’s amazing, the reaction you get and that song just became massive beyond belief in South America – they were even singing it in the football terraces! It really is the biggest buzz when you get anyone saying they love what you do, be it another DJ who comes up to you to tell you they love your new tune, to the reaction you get from clubbers on the dance floor.”

Layo & Bushwacka! seem to have a bit of a love-affair with Brazil, with their first live DJ set being played there and South America a regular feature on their touring calendar. I tease Layo about whether it’s actually an affection for the country or just one particular woman that led to the attachment to the country…. “Yes!” he laughs, “I have had a Brazilian girlfriend! But really, I’ve been a football fan all my life and that has drawn me to South America from a very young age. You know, there are places that you long to visit from childhood and the area has always held a magic attraction for me. Everyone has their favourite places in the world and it’s just the vibe there that I love. We have so many friends there as well now. We’re doing a tour of South America before we head to Australia – so I’m getting my fix of sunshine and making everyone I know in London very jealous!”

The End, the nightclub in London’s West End that Layo owns with Mr C, former front man of The Shamen and industry luminary, is credited with being the launch pad for the careers of some massive names, such as Fatboy Slim and Roni Size. I comment that there seems to be a particular mission of showcasing the “next big thing” at the club. Layo claims that there wasn’t ever a conscious intention to “talent-spot” as such, however they always wanted to be at the cutting edge. “We tried to focus on what was cool, a little bit underground and attracted our attention. We really did fly by the seat of our pants for a long time – I still think that some days! We were quite innocent in the way we started up, it just seemed a natural progression from what we were doing at the time. We raised a lot of capital from banks and my dad contributed his design and architectural expertise, which was of great help.

We find nowadays that the new talent comes to us, we don’t have to seek it out. I do like to go out and keep my ear to the ground though – we hear of people doing small nights around the place, who may’ve outgrown their current venue or who want to make the move into the West End of London. Perhaps we’ll hear an album of a new artist that we like and quite often I go out and check out other clubs to see what’s happening around the place. It’s very exciting to be part of a club that’s doing interesting and different stuff all the time. If we were doing the same thing week in, week out, I would’ve become bored very quickly and certainly wouldn’t have lasted ten years!”

Ah yes, the 10th anniversary of The End this year is sure to be a hectic time for the boys. Plans for the biggest (and possibly longest!) party of the year include an art exhibition, an on-line “history” booklet available for anyone to download, parties at their favourite clubs around the world and a video tour diary (including footage from the upcoming Australian tour), which will be made into a short film. Speaking of film, Layo has expressed quite an interest in their music scores, citing a fascination with the soundscape they create. I ask him what movies he would have liked to have written the score for. “None that have been released yet! Great films already have great scores, that’s part of their attraction, wouldn’t you agree? Classic images that are presented alongside the vibe that the accompanying sounds create are just awesome and I don’t think I could’ve done them better. I would really like to do some work with films sometime, but it’s not on the horizon at the moment. Some of our work has been used on CSI TV program in America – you’ll probably see some of that in Australia soon I hope.”

With The End almost being a “brand” name globally, are there any plans to take the concept further or to expand it into new markets? “I certainly would never open another The End venue, or franchise it or anything like that. One, the whole point is that it’s a special and unique place and two, there’s too much bloody stress involved! We don’t really have a business plan for where we want to go, and as for new markets – I’d rather go somewhere that we have good times at and is new and interesting than where record sales dictate we should be. I mean, we’re never going to sell a lot of records in South America, but we just love spending time there. I believe that even if you have a goal to make a lot of money, you should be doing what you love and what you’re passionate about – I mean, this is your life! It’s all very nice to make heaps of money, but you can’t take it with you and you should look back on your life and have loads of fabulous memories.”

What are those memorable highlights, looking back on the life of Layo Paskin? “Definitely opening The End, our first album “Low Life”, dancing at the Rio Carnivale, performing at Glastonbury, playing in England for the first time, “Love Story” making it into the UK top 10 – I mean, a top 10 record! That’s just amazing for me personally and something I never, ever thought would happen. I do sit back every now and then in wonder at my life – it’s just mind-blowing the things I’ve been able to do and see. I’m very lucky!”

I throw a statement at Layo for his comment – Are DJ’s the new rock stars?? “Oh God, no! DJ’s aren’t charismatic enough! I don’t know, I don’t think even rock stars today are as charismatic as they were, say 30 or 40 years ago. The world isn’t what it was, it’s the same with movie stars too – they just don’t seem to have the charisma and charm that they used to. I think it’s because there are so many people involved in the “creation” of a celebrity personality these days, it all seems rather artificial. Not that I don’t have respect for modern pop stars, I just have such nostalgia for the original legends!”

Another point I’m keen to get Layo’s opinion on is the mainstream media’s over-emphasis on the association of party drugs with dance music. Having a close association with Mr C and first-hand knowledge of the outrage that followed the Shamen’s “Ebeneezer Good” track supposedly promoting drugs, I ask him if he’d like to make any comment on this. “Sure! Drugs are an unavoidable part of the world and have a correlation with the evolution and cycle of generational change. Just as people associated reefer and heroin with the jazz culture and were outraged at the time, people are currently outraged by the association of “party drugs” with dance music.  Interestingly though, jazz is now part of the establishment and very acceptable to everyone. I’m sure in the next few years there will be new drugs and music that will outrage those people into dance culture right now!”  Hmmm, interesting times ahead then Layo? “Indeed!” he says.

Layo & Bushwacka! play the Good Vibrations Festival this February:

Sat 12 Feb – Brisbane, Victoria Park (BUY TICKETS)
Sun 13 Feb – Melbourne, Sidney Myer Music Bowl (BUY TICKETS)
Sat 19 Feb – Sydney, Centennial Park (BUY TICKETS)
Sun 20 Feb – Perth, Belvoir Amphitheatre & Parklands (BUY TICKETS)