The Freestylers were one of the first dance acts that I really loved. In the mid 90s I always knew electronic music had great potential, however my experienced with the likes of Paul Oakenfold’s ‘Global Underground’ releases (back when he had a lot of street cred!) had fallen well short of my expectations. But, then along came the Freestylers, with my first (and to this day fav release) being their ‘Rough Technique’ compilation. Hearing the broken beats of ‘Fuck With My Money’ roll into ‘Half Term Break’ by Cut and Paste, then a real flowing, pumping DJ experience on the second disk… I, and many others, were hooked. So I went hunting. Not for wabbits, but for more bombastic big beat via The Freestylers’ critically acclaimed debut artist album, titled ‘We Rock Hard’. It was a great time for the genre known as ‘big beat elite’, with The Freestylers’ (now defunct) label Frescanova a leader in the scene. Seriously, how cool was ‘Drop the Bomb’ mixed into ‘Don’t Stop’! Whilst the genre has now become less commercial and underground, The Freestylers have demonstrated a freakish ability to morph their sound, achieving both commercial success with ‘Push Up’, and a tough and underground sound elsewhere. 2006 sees the boys release their latest artist album, ‘Adventures in Freestyle’, which showcases a serious quality in songwriting and musicianship. I had the pleasure of talking to Astin about the LP, break dancing and their forthcoming Aussie tour.
Your new album, ‘Adventures in Freestyle’, tell us about it?
Basically it’s our fourth studio album. It’s pretty diverse, basically a journey into our musical tastes really. Rock, hip hop, funk, drum & bass… the lot! That’s why we call it ‘Adventures’.
I read you made a conscious effort to write plenty of commercial-friendly tunes?
I don’t remember saying that! [We] come from a dance music back ground, not like a boy band whose sole purpose is to be as commercial as possible. Basically, what we wanted to achieve was a lot more like ‘Push Up’, a very successful single that kind of set a tone. But the album still sounds pretty raw, maybe just a more cross-over sound. Maybe that’s what we were trying to say?
‘Pocket Full of Sadness’, it’s a great track! How’d it come about?
It’s quite mad! Basically we had the backing track and then we tried so many approached. Like 6 or 7 different rappers and singers, but it wasn’t quite right. We found it was taking away the emphasis on the chorus, losing the whole vibe. Believe it or not, the album version is sung by the same guy that does ‘Security’ [another album track]. He took the backing track and wracked his brains, we told him we wanted some funky sort of track. And he basically pitched it down then pitched it up. It’s got that real gritty 70s smoky woman feel to it. When we heard it we thought ‘WOW…’ That’s the genius side of him. That’s the good thing about working with different people, everyone has a different slant.
Australia’s Pendulum, why are they such a great fit with you guys?
I think they’re great without us! Basically, it’s because we all want to work well. We did some stuff for their album, and they helped us in turn when we did ‘Painkiller’. One for yours, one for ours swap. Matt and I just think they’re the hottest thing in dance music at the moment.
How did you select the guest vocalists and did they help with the songwriting process?
Sirreal was the main feature artist, and he’s been MCing on our DJ sets for the past 4 years at least, but not [on the] last album. He’s also been fronting the band, at the Big Day Out, etc. We gave him a lot of the backing tracks and he was coming up with the goods. He got us involved with Mad Manner on the track ‘Electrified’. [The vocalists are] Sirreal, Mad Manner and Iak on ‘Electrified’, and Ragman, who sings on a lot of the tracks. Ragman was recommended by our manager’s assistant. Friends of friends, we haven’t gone out to work with anyone really famous. We gave the backing tracks to a lot of different people, but the guys [mentioned] came up with the goods that we like.
‘Rough Technique Vol 1’, this was my first true compilation CD and a gem. Where does it stand in your careers?
That was right at the beginning, early Freskanova in 98 or 99. Basically we did a mix album for Ministry of Sound, which we feel is better because it was a choice of our own tracks. Whereas all tracks from ‘Rough Technique’ are limited to artists that were on Freskanova. That sound represents the really early days of The Freestylers!
A lot of the material came from the, now defunct, Freskanova label. Tell me about those days?
The golden era of big beat. Well it was all exciting at the time. The Freestylers first took off worldwide. We’d never been to Australia, well loads of countries, and it was all new and exciting and the label was really behind us. And the first time we felt we were hot! Then it kinda went a bit colder… someone turned the air-con on! It’s like anything, it’s most exciting when it’s fresh. Now, being four albums down the track, we’re a bit more cynical and wise!
What can us Aussies expect on your forthcoming tour? What’s the make-up of your band?
It’s an expensive thing to travel with. Basically, we’ll be playing a lot of the tracks from the new album and previous stuff as well. It’ll be a 6 piece band – drums, bass and guitar, and I do keyboard and scratching stuff. Sirreal will be MCing and Valerie M singing. I think it’s a really good blend of electronic and live. It’s like drums, but with a really tight with my beat. It gives it another dimension rather that just rolling up with my laptop and some sequencers and calling that live. We don’t have a fancy light show, just the energy of the music and the crowd. We would like fancy lights, but I tell you that’s so expensive! We’re also quite impartial to coming the Australia in the summer.
Do you play to a pre-defined set, or is there some flexibility depending on each crowd?
No, basically we have a set which is about 70 minutes. It has to be sorted beforehand otherwise the drums start playing a piece from another track… like ‘In Love With You’... then something else altogether kicks in!
Is ‘Push Up’ the highlight of your careers? If not, then what are you most proud of?
In the sense that it was the most successful single, yes. Actually, probably a combination of that and the Big Day Out performance. We also had some terrific times when ‘We Rock Hard’ was released, and we were doing the big festivals like Glastonbury with the likes of Lenny Kravitz. That was probably the highlight, followed by Push Up and the Big Day Out show. I think that [going big, then underground] is really good in a way. When you get a little taste of what you can be, that’s really nice. It kinda pushes you onto achieve that next goal. In a way, if you had it that big all the time, you might get a bit complacent. I think it’s quite nice, one bit of success, then a bit underground, then back up again. It keeps you going.
Can any of you actually break dance, or is that the job of the punters?
I can still do a backspin, still a bit of footwork. I could do windmills when I was 14 but not anymore. Maybe I could if I was really pissed! Don’t expect it when we tour though.
Are there any plans to put out another compilation CD?
FabricLive19 has recently come out, but maybe next year would be nice. We’ll just see what come along.
The Freestylers tour with their full live band over the Christmas and New Year, be sure to check them out in all their live glory at one of the following dates:
Tue 26th Dec – Perth, Breakfest
Thu 28th Dec – Busselton. Breakfest Down South
Sun 31st Dec – Phillip Island, Pyramid Rock Festival
Mon 1st Jan – Sydney, Field Day
Sat 6th Jan – Gold Coast, Summafieldayze
‘Adventures In Freestyle’ is out now through Against The Grain/Shock. If you’d like to get a taste of the new album be sure to download the latest inthemix podcast session as the Freestylers are the feature artist! www.inthemix.com.au/broadband/podcast/
