No single event in the Australian dance music industry over the past decade stands out quite as clearly in my mind as the tim two baffled and excited, relatively unknown (to the tuned-in commercial audience anyway) 20-somethings beat all the going odds and nervously fumbled their way down to the stage, suited up in vintage ensembles to accept their first Aria award. They beat out the likes of Madison Avenue (who had just had their year in the sun) with 4 chart-topping singles. But if we thought that was all we’d hear from the duo, you were soon proved wrong, as this was just the start from the eclectic electronic twosome.
Now 5 years on, Pnau have two classically timeless releases under their belt, have honed their live and production skills with a jaw dropping list of artists and producers across the globe, whilst continuing to work their producer magic on releases by the likes of David Bridie, The Sleepy Jackson and most recently up-and-coming Sydney outfit Van She and keeping up with respective side-projects. As Home’s 7th birthday approaches this weekend, who better to lend a celebratory hand than Sydney’s premier electronic duo? And boy, do they have a treat in stall for us?! Semone Maksimovic managed to catch up with the duo’s Peter Mayes on a quiet Friday morning to talk about his return to the live fold in 2005, the band’s new single and of course to get the lowdown on what to expect from their headlining set this weekend.
The first exciting development we noticed from the Pnau camp this year came as we caught their live shows, noticing that the live act was stripped down yet again and to our amazement, it included the friendly and familiar face of Peter Mayes (who’s become the studio residing half of the duo over the last 5 years). “Yeah, after a few years offstage, keeping the fires going in the studio and working on other projects, we thought it was time to go back to a more original live feel. It’s been a really good year actually, we haven’t released any records (apart from ‘Again’ which is being released in the UK next week), but we’ve had some great gigs that have been getting a really amazing response. We also managed to finish another Pnau record this year, so it’s been a year of getting stuff done!” Mayes chuffs happily.
Speaking with the duo a few years back, following the Australian release of their sophomore album ‘Again,’ I’d been told that they already had album number 3 complete and ready for a hopeful release the following year. So the obvious question with this ever-changing electronic act is, did any of it end up sticking? Or was it all shelved and started upon again from scratch? “We did keep a little bit, but generally once we get into it, we scrap all of the old stuff and make better stuff. So it’s something we’re still excited about” offers Mayes.
The first taste to be unleashed on us, is ‘Donnie Darko’ which has become a clear crowd favourite over the last year. The punky electronic assault features the sublime vocals of Renee Scroggins from New York experimental funk ensemble ESG. “Originally it was a rock & roll track, more of a noisy track, but when we started mixing it and it gradually became faster and more electronic, then we decided to get a female vocalist to sing on it. We got Renee, which was actually a big thing for us, cause we were fans and that was the first collaboration she’d ever done. We sent her a copy of the track and told her that it was inspired by the movie, so she went out and saw the movie and loved it, so she got back to us and said she’d love to do it. So it was great, we never ended up meeting with her to do it in the studio or anything, she just did it in New York and via the beauty of technology, we collaborated.”
The single’s release is set to coincide with Pnau’s 2005 Homebake appearance, available via I-Tunes only, and is set to send fans and media alike dribbling over themselves in epic proportions. If you haven’t caught the new-look, new-sound of the Pnau live machine, this weekend will be your first taste of the band on-fire, they’ve been practicing and writing and designing the set for the last few weeks and have some exciting surprises in stall for Home’s birthday go-ers.
“The show we’re doing at the moment is very much new stuff, that people aren’t likely to have heard unless they’ve caught one of our live shows this year. It’s generally a full-on hour or an hour and a half of us trying to fit in 40-45 songs in an hour, so it’s intense. We find it’s working really well, I mean as much as djs and dance music like to elongate it a lot and draw things out, we’re finding that for us it’s working really well. For us, it’s all our own music, so it’s easier than what it would be like doing it with heaps of other people’s music, cause we know what key and what tempo and all that stuff. We just keep getting a really good response and people are telling us that they don’t get bored and that it’s so much more fun and exciting than the DJ experience” explains Peter before unleashing some exclusive news on their live plans for Home’s birthday on Saturday “We’re just in the middle of setting up some dancers, they’re not really going to be dancing in the traditional sense. Instead we’re going to have them doing really simple moves, just to change and liven up the visual element while we’re onstage. Cause we’ve kind of refined the whole live band thing, which had lots of energy and a bit of a visual stimulation for the crowd, we need something other than just Nick and myself on our laptops and our drummer, something that’ll surprise the crowd again” finishes Mayes.
Home nightclub celebrates its 7th birthday this Saturday, so make sure to get along and catch another brightly burning chapter in the Pnau live saga, as they rip it up and pull out all the stops to help celebrate. You can also catch them playing Homebake again this year, after taking last year off the roster – they’ve got an extra treat for us this year, as they release a new single ‘Donnie Darko’ exclusively through I-Tunes to coincide with the Homebake show, so remember to keep an eye out for that, it’s a rip-snorting’ dancefloor scorcher that’ll make you summer complete -guaranteed!
Tickets for Home’s 7th birthday this weekend are onsale now from ITM and selling quick, so don’t miss out on buying yours! For more info on the party or to buy tickets click HERE.
