Despite only forming in 2005, Canberra collective the Aston Shuffle has wasted no time in making itself known. The minds behind the madness – ACT identities Mikah Freeman, Vance Musgrove and Ross McGrath – are fast becoming the go-to guys for speaker-busting remixes. Claude von Stroke, Green Velvet, Malente and LoStep are just some of the artists who’ve been given the Aston re-shuffle.

And while they’re well in touch with the more underground side of the dance music spectrum, according to the boys their new smash hit in the making For Everybody, “We were just trying to go for a big, happy summer kind of song…. We wanted to make something happier in the lead-up to the Australian summer.” With the debut single currently doing the rounds and a liver-testing tour schedule, it looks like the trio is set for a bright 2008. ITM’s Jack Tregoning talks to Vance about life as a next-big-thing…

So are you guys still based down in Canberra?

Very much so. We’re currently working out of Mikah’s bedroom.

Is that a permanent thing?

We’d like to move on up to the east side if we could possibly do it, but I think at the moment it’s definitely working for us. The three of us in a small, sweaty room tends to bring a certain vibe to things.

But you obviously still play a lot up in Sydney…

Because Sydney is so close, it’s right there anyway. I don’t think we feel much pressure to move up there ‘cause it’s so close to where we are already.

Did you guys get a chance to play any gigs in Europe over the summer?

No, we didn’t. In our winter we were toiling away doing various things. I was finishing off uni actually, and Mikah and Ross were working full time. So it was pretty much 9 to 5 in the day, doing sensible things, then working all night on music. Now that summer’s here I’m all done and the other boys have loosened up on work commitments, so we’ll be working on music a lot more now hopefully.

The three of you have worked separately in various guises, but Aston Shuffle only came into being in 2005. What motivated you guys to get together as a production unit?

Being in such a small community in Canberra, we were aware of each other and moving in the same circles. Then one day we just decided to all get together. Mikah worked in a record store in Canberra, so when you’d run into him at the store and you see your friends out, you begin to realise you’re all into the same things. It was a natural progression.

Mikah obviously brought a lot of experience as a DJ to the studio. Did that influence the production process?

I think so, definitely. I had only ever made music by myself, which is an entirely different experience to working with other people in the room. The guys are into different records to me, so when we’re together we bring a lot of different influences. We’ve always joked that if people were to sit and watch how we work in a room, they’d probably freak out at all the crazy things we get up to. I think that infects the music as well.

It’s interesting that your remixes seem to appeal to a whole range of DJs. I heard your remix of Malente’s Killer Applikation played by selectors as varied as Elite Force, Tommie Sunshine and even Hybrid. Do you set out to make ‘adaptable’ tunes?

I don’t think we set out to pitch tracks at a particular audience or a particular style of DJ. The way we work is to project what we’re most into at that moment. We like to cherry pick ideas from all over the place and see what works and what doesn’t. That record in particular was played by so many different people. Yeah, it did our heads in a little bit!

You’ve got a new single coming out, For Everyone. Is that a title a reflection of the song itself?

I think we were just trying to go for a big, happy summer kind of song. The Malente remix was quite relentless in places and heads-down. With For Everyone we wanted to make something happier in the lead-up to the Australian summer.

With your own tracks starting to make headway globally, is remixing still an attractive option for the Aston Shuffle?

Remixing is a completely different frame of mind. As DJs we constantly hear other people’s music, and it’s a natural thing to pick out your favourite part and think, “How good would this be if they’d just extended that bit?”

It must be cool to hear, say, Claude von Stroke playing your version of his tune _The Whistler_…

Absolutely. In that particular remix we tried not to devastate the original track. One of the keys to remixing is not being disrespectful to the original, so that it complements it rather than writing a brand new track.

Australian producers are being widely recognised now, particularly within the electro-house sound – it’s pretty remarkable that Dirty South has been nominated for a Grammy. Do you think there’s a unifying feel to Australian productions?

I think so. It feels now that Australian dance music is being taken seriously – on a massive scale, rather than just individual labels or individual artists. It’s very exciting to be a part of that. Hopefully we’re pushing things forward, not just emulating everyone else.

Is there any particular sound you’d like to see better represented in 2008?

Um, that’s a good question. The French sound is really big here, but there’s a really crazy, stuttered element to that style that sometimes doesn’t go down well here. I’m a big fan of Mr Oizo, but a lot of his crazy and erratic stuff can get lost on people. So I’d like to see crowds get into the slightly less-conservative things those French guys are making.

Are you attracted to the idea of a full live band set-up for the Aston Shuffle?

We’re attracted to it in the sense that we’d like to see if we could pull it off. But I’m not entirely sure if that’s going to happen any time soon! It is something we’d all really love to do, ‘cause we’ve all got instrumental backgrounds.

What are you looking forward to most in 2008 – other than being finished uni?

We feel we need to write records more quickly and not labour on them as much as we have. So, just getting our production stuff down is definitely a priority.

You’re also playing a few festivals over summer. Will that require a different approach to your club sets?

Yeah, the festival thing is very exciting, and just a little daunting. When it’s outdoors in the sun, you can pull of a vibe you mightn’t be able to in a dark club. And we love big, funny, happy summery music!

Get your Shuffle on at the following dates:

Saturday 18 January – Battle Of The Locals, Pang, Canberra
Friday 25 January – Big Day Out, Sydney Showgrounds
Sunday 27 January – Famous presents Axwell, Home
Friday 1 February – Pang 1st Birthday feat. Will Bailey, Canberra
Friday 8 February – Friction feat. James Zabiela, Canberra
Saturday 16 February – Good Vibrations Festival, Centennial Park, Sydney
Friday 22 February – Vegas Mode, Perth

And check out this clip of them dropping For Everyone at last year’s Ministry of Sound Annual event in Perth…