It’s been an extremely long time between drinks for breaks duo Deekline & Wizard, with their Breaks, Beats & Blondes album released way back in 2004. They’ve been far from lazy in that time though, having worked in the studio with the likes of Xpress 2, Chemical Brothers, M.I.A, Lady Sovereign, as well as delivering acclaimed remixes for the likes of Armand Van Helden, Freestylers and The Prodigy.

2009 sees Deekline & Wizard return to their own production work however, with their brand new album Back Up, Coming Through out now through Krafty Kuts and Skool of Thought’s revered Against the Grain inprint. They drop by inthemix to have a chat about what we can expect from their kick ass sound.

Hey guys. Thanks a heap for chatting to inthemix, how is everything going?

Great, Everything is rolling along nicely. The new album is just about to hit the shelves. We’ve just finished a video for the single and the press coverage is coming in hard and fast!

2009 is going to be an absolutely massive year for you guys with the release of your second album Back Up, Coming Through. How excited are you?

We’re really looking forward to what the year has ahead, we’ve got some great gig’s coming up soon plus some tours planned in some fantastic countries.

It’s been an awful long time since the release of Breaks, Beats & Blondes in 2004. What exactly have you guys done in the 5 years between albums?

We’ve actually been doing an awful lot! We’ve been working with some great artists producing some brilliant music, for the likes of Armand Van Helden, DJ Fresh, The Freestylers, M.I.A, Hadouken and The Stanton Warriors.

In regards to Back Up, Coming Through, how did you guys approach it all? Did you set out with a clear picture of what you wanted to achieve?

Yeah, we wanted to work with a broad range of people that were going to bring something new and fresh to our sound. We’ve always collaborated with people, but this album was probably the biggest yet in terms of diversity. The sound has developed and matured (with age!).

Compared to some of your remixes, the tracks sound quite different. Was there a live element? If so, how do you guys go working with live instruments and gear?

Yeah for sure, using live musician’s and vocalist’s was a key thing for us with regard to this album. We generally start off with a basic track in the computer and then start replacing parts with live instrumentation. There were also a lot of jam sessions where we would pick out certain loops/ideas that the musicians put down and work them into the track much like if you are working with sampled material.

You’ve worked in the studio with a lot of other high profile artists, including the likes of The Chemical Brothers and X-Press 2, how has your work on their material influenced the way you guys approach your own productions?

It’s shown the lengths a lot of people go to in order get the sound they’re after, and also the level of production these people achieve involves a lot of thought, effort and creativity; which is why they are at the top of their game. I guess it’s definitely influenced our sound in these respects

How has it influenced the way that your productions sound?

It’s certainly made us step up our game with regard to every aspect in terms of sound design, synthesis, musical arrangements and musicality; and hopefully along the line broadened our appeal as artists

How does it feel to receive nominations from various awards, such as Breakspoll?

Bloody fantastic !

Do your live sets incorporate any of the live elements of the album?

Not so much, the album is more of a studio creation and to get all the musicians together and perform this is a very hard thing to orchestrate. In terms of our live show we have been able to recreate the creative/live element by adding Ableton to the Serato setup. In this way we’ve been making more of a mashup/party set which gives us the ability to come up with random and exciting set’s each time we perform

Any plans on touring Australia?

Yes!

Deekline & Wizard’s Back Up, Coming Through is out now through Against the Grain, catch the duo on their upcoming Australian tour.

Frid 5th June – Brown Alley, Melbourne.
Sat 6th June – Chinese Laundry, Sydney
Sun 7th June – Liquid, Byron Bay
Fri 12th June – Halo, Hobart
Sat 13th June – Villa, Perth