Trends come and go, and sometimes it’s just better to make your own path and follow what you love. The Sound Advice DJs from Sydney are a duo who ascribe to this theory, proactively getting their eclectic sound out there without compromising their love for a wide and varied style of music. Always up for a good time, the duo consist of Moxx and Steve Higgins and have been able to combine their love for a good party with getting the party started. Read on to find out more…
Was the creation of Sound Advice a reaction to the Sydney dance scene becoming too uptight for your liking?
Partially it was, but the main reason we put the parties on was that we had a large group of friends that were looking for a good sized party with eclectic tunes. Also, being friends with the Toasted Crew and drawing inspiration from them was definitely one the reasons we put the party on.
Having only been on the scene for a relatively short period of time you may have a less jaded vision of the latest trends. What do you see as the major movements coming out of Sydney?
As DJs, promoters and punters we’ve seen trends come and go. We thought techno and tech house would be the big mover and shaker this year but electro house just keeps getting bigger and bigger. This is unfortunate because it seems to be taking over the house scene. Acid appears to be making its way up and up and there are plenty of breaks tracks that are very much on that acid fringe. And ‘minimal’... this seems to be the catch cry word used to describe everything these days.
An eclectic mix can be a bold move. Do you stick to your guns when playing a set or do you cater strictly to the theme of the night?
Yeah, we try our best to keep it eclectic but if the crowd is digging one particular style we may push a few more of those tracks in our sets. The bottom line is that we don’t want to be pigeon holed into one style, as both Luke and I have broad musical tastes.
Moxx, your influences are wide and varied. Have you managed to mix You Am I with Carl Cox yet?
Hahaha. Mate, to hear the dolcit tones of Tim Rogers over the top of a Carl Cox belter… would there be anything better? I think not.
Steve, with a lot of audiences determined that old is not better, how do you handle dropping some of the old beats into a new style set?
I think it comes down to clever programming, there is always a right time to drop an old track in. It just depends on whether you get it right or not. I think it is important to differentiate yourself from other DJs.
The perennial question. Are you guys vinyl purists or are CDs just easier?
We only use vinyl. I wish it had something to do with being vinyl purists but at the moment we’re just too poor and lazy to buy then learn how to use a CDJ. Plus, there’s nothing better than going into your favourite record store and grabbing 50 records at a time and just listening to them. Then taking to the counter the 3 or 4 that really made the hairs on the back of your head stand on end and thinking to yourself, ‘Fuck yeah… Can’t wait to get these home and listen to them again!’ That feeling is the best.
The next step for a lot of DJs is to start producing their own work. Do you feel that you’re both happy to stay strictly DJs or can you see yourselves developing from there?
At the moment we are delving into the production side of things. It’s pretty exciting stuff seeing how it all works but with both of us being technically challenged we still have a lot to learn. But, it’s fun and we’ll see what happens.
A lot of people who decide to run their own event crash and burn after a while. What are some of the ingredients that has made Sound Advice such a hit?
Get your mates involved, make it affordable, make is accessible and enticing for punters and just enjoy it. Don’t take it too serious or it will end up in disaster.
Apart from Sydney, what would be your dream place to DJ (and it can’t be Ibiza!)?
Neither of us have really had a fascination with Ibiza. I think the large festivals in Europe would be great, like Homelands and Global Gathering. To be honest, playing a set at ‘I Love Techno’ would hands down be the greatest thing ever. After seeing the line up from last year and listening to snippets of some of the sets, holy shit that would be a wicked party! Also clubs like Fabric and The End in London would be cool. On the home front, Big Day Out in the Boiler Room would be right up there, because that way our mates could experience it with us.
Live instrumentation is again playing a large part in giving a more organic feel to dance sets. Do you guys use musos at all when wrecking the dance floor?
We haven’t really thought about it to be honest. With live instruments, it can be a bit hit and miss. Sometimes it can sound great, and other times ruin it. However, watching Andy Page do his thing… he has it down to a fine art. He is the master with a bass guitar.
Watching Tiesto on stage gives one the feel that Australia has yet to truly discover it’s DJs as rock stars. Do you think that we’ll ever hold our DJs in the esteem that our European counterparts do?
No, we don’t think Aussie ever will. Over in Europe, it’s a totally different culture. In saying that though, at Field Day this year Kid Kenobi played to a massive crowd on the breaks stage and once he finished we watched a mass exodus of hundreds of people, even though the next act to follow was Soul of Man. I suppose this shows his massive popularity in Australia compared to some the heavy weights in the international breaks scene that tour the world.
Finally, do you think that what actually makes dance music so special to many people is that it’s superstars remain for the most part underground?
Yeah, both of us have Phil Smart as one of our favourite DJs of all time. Definitely not a superstar but holy crap, such a solid DJ.
The Sound Advice DJs are residents at Break Inn at Chinese Laundry. You can catch them there every Friday night in the Cave. They’ll also be holding their next Sound Advice event at the Burdekin on July 1st. Stay tuned to ITM Whatson for more info.
