Back when breaks were positively booming in Australia earlier in the decade, Koma and Bones were one of the heaviest hitting duos you’d ever find in the nu-school scene. But even if things have changed beyond recognition since then, perhaps the most important development is that rigid genre distinctions don’t apply anymore. And this can certainly be seen in the sets of some of breakbeat’s biggest names; including of course, Koma and Bones. While the pair still clearly love breakbeat, there’s room in the equation for techno, electro and much more. So it’s time to turn the lights up on the ‘tech funk’ label, a musical genre that in exactly the same way, revels in a distinct lack of limitations.

And in 2008, Koma and Bones will be branching out musically more than ever before. “There are a few other acts that I really respect at the moment that I think are going down similar routes. It think we had it difficult last year where people were really not sure, not as willing to go with us and wondering where we are going, but I think that this year it will become more apparent… The time of being pigeon holed is over for us, we just want to be musicians really and do what we like, not be arrested by the breakbeat police.” Ahead of them arriving in the country this weekend, ITM finds out more…

You’re talking 11 or 12 years ago, and as you might know I am exceptionally thin, so ‘Bones’ is sort of a name for me, and Andy used to be well known for falling asleep and slipping quite easily into ‘Koma’ mode, so that was it. It’s as simple as that, it’s not very rock n’ roll or anything, one is skinny and one suffers from narcolepsy. It’s quite an easy explanation.

It’s a pretty good explanation I think…

It’s a good as it gets!

You started out mainly with breaks and these days you have moved into the techier side of things. What where your main influences back in the day when you first started, and what were you influences that made you come to the style that you are at now?

I suppose like everything stems from when acid house kicked of back in 1989, we both being a bit older, like I am 36 and we are all similar age and we all sort of grew up and there was nothing about. And then acid house happened and I started going to raves and parties in warehouses and it was a mish mash of styles, you know. We were always taking it from everything.

So how would you best describe your style these days?

It’s a good question that! I have had problems forever describing our style to anyone, I think that it is sort of a blend of all styles. We still look towards the breakbeat but it’s with a blend of techno, with electro. There’s a definite leaning towards things from Belgium and France. So it’s difficult to pin down to one genre. We just want to play good music and entertain people in clubs. And that’s what we are about. That’s what we are at. So yeah… I’ve probably not answered your question at all.

You have an established label in Burrito recordings, now it’s been cranking out the tunes since 2005. How has this been going for you and can you give us a little bit of info of what we can expect to see from the label in 2008?

Burrito last year was probably the most enjoyable year, we got established and then I think we started to find some artists we really like… It’s just a real joy to run and it’s great that we can be whatever we want, any style. We might do one that not going to sell that great, but we’ll support it because we like it. I have a few tracks that I would like to give a road test. Our album should be dropping some time this year and I’ll be road testing some tracks from that too.

It’s been a while since you have been over on Australian shores. Are you geed up for the tour and do you have a favourite Australian location?

The last time we were here was a year and a half ago, but I was out with the family last year for a three week holiday, so it is one of my favourite locations. We went down to Great Ocean Road and spent a few days just driving up and down there. I find Canberra confusing, I just kept going round in circles – but that’s the story of my life I think! It will be nice to see the sun.

You have a pretty impressive mix of artist remixes by anyone’s book, who have you got lines up for the remix duties in 2008?

We have just done Crystal Method again, I think while I am over there there’s a release on Lot 49, the original is by Dylan Rhymes & Blend, and I’ll be playing that out. He is one of my favourite artists at the moment. We have some guys from LA who are some sort of crazy rock band who want us to do something that I think that could be quite interesting – they are a bit like My Chemical Romance and things like that. They are putting together a remix album, I think when I get time that is going to be the first job in hand. We enjoy doing remixes… It’s always nice to do as you don’t have to do so much work getting the parts together! And someone wants to give you money for doing it which is even better!

Just on Blend there, he is an artist I discovered myself recently…

Yeah he is sort of like where we are at and like a few other people, taking in a broad spectrum of sounds. You know you are not going to like everything similar to ourselves but there is always something interesting.

You were responsible for bringing us artists like Metric and 10 Rapid, any other up and comers we should look out for?

I got a few on the old MySpace and one of them called Torso X, they seem to have a more Justice influence but I think they could be the ones to watch.

What would you say was a highlight of 2007?

I would say Glade Festival, just because it was such an adventure. Five of us went down and made a weekend of it and we had “the great floods…” it’s usually a three and a half hour journey by car and it took us 15 hours to get there. When we got there it looked like something out of World War One. Just to play in that sort of atmosphere and make it through the weekend in such a dire situation… It really stands out.

Have you got any plans to do a live performance at all?

Haha good question… It is something that we have looked into over the last 10 years, but the thing is that we have a very strong view that is we are very into our bands as well as dance music and the thing is, it really gets my back up when I see dance acts in a band. I more admire people like Kraftwerk and Chemical Brothers and people who stand by what they do. If you just play with computers and effects and keyboards, why not just have the balls to do that and not stand up in a band into something you are not. It’s catch 22 for us, because we would go out and do that sort of thing, but then people want this band attitude out of you, not just two people standing around doing nothing… Well you know what I mean, ‘apparently’ doing nothing. I just got a thing that I think electronic music can stick to being electronic music rather than trying to catch up to bands and things. I think you will always struggle. There are good bands out there to do it and it can be good to see but I prefer one thing or the other. If you have strong electronic music you don’t need a band.

So what if you were taking your own loops and tracks and accapellas and playing them through a program like Ableton and then putting your own live spin on it?

If we were going to do it, we would do it with Ableton live and keyboards, using effects and synths… With some visuals… That’s what we are about. Like *Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers, Justice*… just people using the machines that they work on every day to perform live.

Your Y4K compilation was excellent, any plans for any more compilations?

I think apart from the really big labels and big names comps are increasingly difficult to sell. I don’t think people are actively searching for people to do them… Apart from active labels who want the real top-line DJs. The last mix we put on our MySpace last year got something like 20-odd thousand downloads. So I think we are quite happy doing that, we can’t afford to give everything away for free but when we get back from Australia we will put another mix up there. I think it will become increasingly difficult to sell comps when there are so many people out there giving it away for free. Justice just did one for Fabric and they turned it down, so Justice just gave it away for free. You’ve just got to move with it I think. I’m glad you enjoyed the Y4K because I think it stands up pretty well that comp.

Can you tell us what’s in store for 2008?

Hopefully just branching out… there are a few other acts that I really respect at the moment that I think are going down similar routes. It think we had it difficult last year where people were really not sure, not as willing to go with us and wondering where we are going but I think that this year it will become more apparent. I don’t want people coming to gigs and buying our record just because we are Koma and Bones I want them to be challenged by it and wonder what it is going to be this time. The time of being pigeon holed is over for us, we just want to be musicians really and do what we like, no be arrested by the breakbeat police. Singles lined up and album too, I’m really looking forward to the year.

Catch Koma and Bones doing the tech funk thing at the following dates…

Feb 8 – The Cross, Sydney
Feb 10 – Syrup, Hobart
Feb 15 – Ambar, Perth
Feb 16 – Odyssey, Bunbury
Feb 17 – La Di Da, Melbourne
Feb 22 – Breaks+Enter, Brisbane