From this weekend our sunny summer days will have a bit of Black Light thrown in, as the legendary dance group Groove Armada touchdown to begin their string of shows as part of the Big Day Out. ITM got the chance to chat with one half of the duo, Tom Findlay, as he was laying down the final preparations before their descent to Australia.

If you’re an aficionado of dance, you’ll likely know that the Armada have been around for more than a decade. They’re responsible for genre defining tunes like At The River – which, as Tom notes, was something done “in four hours” – and the timeless party anthem Superstylin’. Not surprisingly, Tom seems like one to regale war stories when he looks back on their career to date. “I find myself in a situation where I get nostalgic and look back, [and] I find myself suddenly realising we were writing At The River in 1997, it seems so old.” When asked what makes the band remain on the cutting edge, he’s quick to answer; “We are making music now that is still completely relevant.”

While there’s no doubting Groove Armada’s confidence in their newest material, the road to reach that point hasn’t been paved with gold, as Tom reveals that during production for Black Light the group as a whole “recommitted” after strongly considering the option of taking a break from it all. Tom reveals that the thought of taking a break “definitely crossed our minds,” confirming that the new album was “definitely hard work… [but it] feels great to have done it and we are really looking forward to touring the material.”

One element that weighed heavily on Tom and Andy’s mind while working on Black Light was their decision to tread a new path in the album’s sound. With over a decade of releases under your belt, you’re bound to have very intimate fans, and no one was more aware of the potential to alienate their longtime listeners than the band themselves. “There’s a possibility of that, but when you hear and delve into the album and hear it as a piece of work I don’t think it’s that different from stuff we’ve done in the past. It’s definitely a little less dancey, but everything on the record is rooted to the dance music we love. The influences are more directed towards, say, David Bowie, and [artists] like that.”

“We’ve grown up a little bit, and we’re trying our hand at some real proper song writing. It was something we wanted to try and develop. The whole band has been really important, as has the live component, and we wanted to take a record out [on the road] that we felt lent itself really well to live performance,” Tom explains, pausing to take a breath. “I think when you hear it as an album; it starts to really make sense. With the singles that are coming out at the moment stirring up a reaction, some love it, some hate it. The main thing is that people are reacting to the music, quite literally, and I think that’s key. When people get the record they’re going to live with it for a while, and there’s stuff on there that people are really going to learn to love.”

For those wondering what to expect from the Groove Armada live show, we’ve got some exciting news. It’s “totally different,” Tom reveals. “On those [past Australian] tours we’ve taken quite the circus; screens, massive lighting rigs. But for this we’ve cut back on most of that and we’ll have something that’s a bit more rootsy and raw, and the new song girl Becky is really amazing. It’s kind of a bit like watching the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It’s more stripped back and in your face, and the band is a lot smaller. There are only two musicians on stage besides me and Andy. But it’s the best live show we’ve ever done.”

If you’ve been following their album progress over the past year and a half, you’ll know that Andy and Tom had been writing another album concurrently, one primarily aimed at the house music market. However, the decision has been made to hold it back in light of Black Light’s new sound. Instead they’ll “just knock out EPs every few months” instead. “We’ve started bits and pieces right now, and it’s sounding mighty good.” The other big change for the duo is that they’re finally free of major label restrictions, and they firmly believe that smaller independent labels are the way forward. “You look at the current scene and you see these artists, like Deadmau5, and that’s the world they live in; just whacking tunes up on Beatport and knocking them out. It’s great; we can finally use our name to do what we’ve always wanted to do. I feel kind of free now.”

Don’t miss Groove Armada closing the Boiler Room on the Big Day Out tour in 2010. If you missed out on festival tickets don’t forget they’re playing sideshows with Simian Mobile Disco DJs in Sydney and Melbourne:

17th Jan – Big Day Out, Brisbane
22nd Jan – Big Day Out, Sydney
23rd Jan – Big Day Out, Sydney
25th Jan – Hordern Pavilion, Sydney
26th Jan – Big Day Out, Melbourne
27th Jan – The Palace, Melbourne
29th Jan – Big Day Out, Adelaide
31st Jan – Big Day Out, Perth

Groove Armada’s new album Black Light is released in Australia on Cooking Vinyl distributed by Shock on January 29th.