Canberra outfit, The Aston Shuffle describe themselves as “fried chicken”; how could you not agree? The trio, Mikah Freeman, Vance Musgrove and Ross McGrath are currently hot as, oozing with success, whilst dripping with dirty, tasty electro goodness. They have been consumed by the mouths of Canberra party punters, who just can’t seem to get enough. Mikah Freeman took out the top spot, followed by The Aston Shuffle in this year’s ITM 50 DJ Poll (ACT). I think it could be concluded that The Aston Shuffle are worthy of being fried chicken, perhaps finger licking good?!
Let me tell you why…
After interviewing these crazy kids, I was left asking myself “hmm…what does an anal sprinkler actually look like?” Yes, a lovely, vivid image could come to mind. Well, needless to say, I left the silly question for last. The question being: “If The Aston Shuffle were: a) food b) colour c) animal d) piece of clothing e) sex position, what would you be?” (That response being in relation to part ‘e’). If you ask a silly question you get a silly answer, right? I guess I am just wondering whether the three of them are actually involved in this sexual position at one time. If so, then THAT must be the reason why these boys topped the ACT DJ Poll. It’s because they’ve got talent – apparently, not just behind the decks!
All jokes aside, one thing that stood out from my nineteen question interview is that The Aston Shuffle are, besides patient, an awesome group of guys who have a down right dirty sense of humour (as you may have gathered from the response to the above question). This group of strapping young lads have marked their territory in the Canberra dance music scene this year and were pleased with the recent news of their ITM ranking. “We were unbelievably surprised when it happened, it’s really great to have that kind of support in our home town” they commented. Not only have these guys been busy impressing the Canberra locals, Mikah ranked number 53 and The Aston Shuffle 56 in the overall ITM Australian DJ Poll.
Collectively, the trio have brought together a wealth of experience in DJing and mixing. Over the last few years Vance and Ross have both been working hard in the studio fine tuning their sounds; whilst Mikah has strutted his stuff, building a reputation as one of the best DJs in the business. When asked why they got together they explained, “Canberra’s such a small place it was inevitable really. We had all hooked up doing other things at various points in time but we finally tried doing a three way (if you follow me) and it just clicked, so here we are”. Ah, so boys and girls, that’s how you get into the music business! (Perhaps I should have paid more attention in sex ed. class?)
Getting back to ‘music’, because that’s what I am supposed to be talking about; I asked the dynamic threesome what defines The Aston Shuffle in regards to style and sound. “Fun and a bit silly really…” they responded. Anyone who has seen them play or heard their work will most definitely agree with that. I mean, to watch them play is like a bucket of prawns in the hot sun – they go off! (In the best way possible, but perhaps with the bad smell, ha!). You may be wondering, as I was, how does it [the sound] all come together? The guys explained that they draw influence from what is out there, “we just borrow little ideas (possibly too many ideas) from all over the place and try to smash ‘em all together in a way that’s bouncy and fun without thinking about it too hard…” In other words, they play around, experiment and see what happens. (It’s starting to sound like sex again isn’t it?)
The Aston Shuffle have certainly have made a name for themselves this year. Their remix of Malente’s Killer Applikation is just one stand out track that has given them a rocket launching boost; appearing on compilations like Dirty South’s One Love and Ministry of Sound’s Clubber’s Guide 2007. When asked what is involved in remixing, the guys couldn’t have given a more truthful response: “Pizza, red wine, maybe some orange juice for Vance, lots of sexual tension, and a few dustups…” the boys joked. “Seriously though, we really don’t know, we’ve gone back and listened to our stuff so many times after the tracks are done and said to ourselves “How the fuck did we do that? Why doesn’t this thing sound that good?”” they explained.
Well in the world of the music business, there’s a plethora of choice out there. So I asked The Aston Shuffle what was the ‘selection criteria’ for choosing the tracks they remix. It was interesting to find out that initially you need to take what you can get, “we chose remixes because they were the ones we were being offered…an opportunity is an opportunity and you should grab it with both hands” they explained. What could be said about their remixing work, is that they obviously know what they are doing, as their record label, Hussle have “swung some amazing remixes in [their] direction, which [they] would have had no hope of having a go at otherwise”.
Well it is clear that the Canberra folk like the taste of dripping wet fried chicken, or The Aston Shuffle; but who else should we be tuning our ears and eyes to? The group discussed their thoughts on local talents and named Scottie Fischer as one dark horse to look out for. ”[Scott] is temporarily in Europe (we won’t say which country to protect the innocent)... Great DJ with an amazing taste in music, he has a habit of flooring us with amazing new stuff none of us had ever heard before… It also helps that both he and his girlfriend are extremely good looking and well groomed (big ups to Gemma!), but he’ll be back soon to cap our asses for that comment…” joked the group. Other local DJs they rated included, “Milkbar Nick (also good looking), Hubert (not so much), Bruisa and Mig L...and these new cats Terrorvision”.
So now you may be wondering what is it (besides anal sprinklers) that inspires these guys to do what they do. After admitting that some inspirations are a little too embarrassing to mention – I didn’t go there; they had named first and foremost, uber-cool rock band the Eagles Of Death Metal as a huge inspiration: “Jesse Devil Hughs is the MAYON…we wanna be the Eagles of Death Metal of dance music” they proclaimed. Other influences include fried chicken (see, I wasn’t making that part up), Ross and Vance like J Dilla, whilst Mikah prefers Dre, they think PNAU is so good it makes them “wanna give up”; as well as others like Trailer Park Boys and Ali from Entourage who is “Mikah’s hero”. According to the group, this is what you should be rocking out to right now: T-Rek, Rob K, Hook n Sling, Poxy Music, Bass Kleph, Bumblebeez, PNAU, Gomma Recordings, Klaus, Stupid Fresh, Mr Oizo, “hot fiyyahhh”, Iterpol“the new album is sick” and Kanye West; followed by the comment, “yes Ross, not 50 Cent”, are just a handful of names they threw down.
The Aston Shuffle have been lucky enough to venture over the border, away from their hometown, playing at big name venues and nights like Family in Brisbane; Laundry, Famous, Kink and Moulin Rouge in Sydney and have gone as far as Perth and New Zealand as part of their travels. Although they have loved all of it, the boys have a soft spot for their home crowd; “overall the Canberra crowds are amazing”; naming places like Transit Bar, Lot 33 and Academy as highlights of the local clubbing scene.
Now, we already have learnt that these guys are crazy and full of madness; so inevitably it led me to the question of HOW did they come up with their name, The Aston Shuffle? (Preparing myself for something dirty) I found out that “Aston” is actually a mash up of two Canberra suburbs (“A” from Ainslie and “ston” from Weston) where the boys were living at the time. They then let me in on a little secret, “Shuffle” was added to their name as it “just sounded cool to be honest, it gives it that “hey it sounds like a dance move” kind of edge” they revealed. Dance move? I hear you ask all excitedly. Well, it is apparently in the process of becoming a hit sensation. “We’re still developing the move itself… think the safety dance meets the nutbush, it’ll be a youtube phenomenon fo sho” the boys bragged. I’m envisaging the three of them wearing lycra pants, sweat bands and maybe even some of that three way action described earlier on in the piece!
Besides working on dance moves, I wanted to know what else is coming up for The Aston Shuffle the rest of the year. News has it that the trio will be premiering their first film clip on red tube http://www.redtube.com (hooray!) In addition to the release of their new single, a remix of Sheena’s Electrosexual, described as “music to thizz to”, do they need to say anymore? So make sure you look out for that one coming soon.
The guys are looking forward to summer where they’ll have the chance to take a break from full time work and university study and concentrate on the finer things in life like spending time with loved ones and catching up on sleep. Things look as though they’re going to be bigger and brighter: “Summer’s going to be sick, we’ve got some big festivally things happening, but we will definitely be getting some new music written, possibly over margaritas”.
So that’s it boys and girls, you heard it right here. The Aston Shuffle have got plenty more to give. Oh, just in case you were itching to know the rest of the answers to first question: If The Aston Shuffle were a) food: “Fried chicken”; b) colour: “green… dolla dolla bill y’all”; c) animal: “Mikah: Tiger”, “Ross: Frog”, “Vance: Deer”,
“All together: Snail”; d) piece of clothing: “Panties… no brainer… specifically, the crotch bit”, and the last, you already know! I’m not going there again!
The Aston Shuffle will be performing in Sydney and Perth for the Ministry of Sound Annual parties. Keep an eye on the ‘what’s on’ in your city to catch the boys play elsewhere around the country too.
