Over 15 years and a succession of albums, Freestylers have continued to fly the big beat flag around the world. The nucleus has always been Matt Cantor and Aston Harvey, two like-minded DJs and producers living out the title of their first LP We Rock Hard.

With a raft of dancefloor weapons and a certified pop chart hit in Push Up to its name, the duo is now up to album number five. Ahead of the Freestylers’ return to these parts in April, inthemix got on the phone to Aston to hear about the new decks-and-FX show and why breakbeat went awry.

So what stage is the fifth album at?
This is the first time we’ve finished an album and not been signed to a record label. Our manager is trying to find a home for it, so we hope to bring it out mid-summer. We’ve been away for three weeks touring in Canada, and then it’s on to New Zealand and Australia. People know us as an album artist so I quite enjoy the challenge of making a full-length. I think this album is a combination of our first and Raw As Fuck. This one is raw and song-based, with old-school electro influences. We even did a track with Tenor Fly who was one our first albums. There are current, up-to-date sounds, but the feel is different from Pressure Point and Adventures In Freestyle.

What kind of “current, up-to-date sounds” have been on your radar?
The newest thing that has come up is dubstep. I don’t know how big it is in Australia, but it’s massive over here. But we haven’t gone off and done a dubstep album. There are a few tracks with a dubstep tempo, but it doesn’t sound like dubstep. I’ll let those guys do that, we do what we do.

Is it harder now to find breakbeat that excites you than, say, five years ago?
The breaks scene has changed dramatically since we last put out an album. Basically a lot of people relied on bootlegs of big records rather than original music, and it’s a bit of a shame really. Back then, it seemed a lot of people were doing more original music. When breaks first came about, there were lots of producers doing good music and that’s why it became popular so quickly. I think it’s a bad sign when a scene is relying on bootlegs or edits of big, popular records. It took a bit of a back-step, really. Hopefully our new album is here to save the day! [laughs]

There are some guys doing really good breaks music. There are these guys called Pyramid, one of them is Inch from Ctrl Z, but I think given the scene has shrunk they’re not getting enough exposure, whereas four or five years ago they would have. Hopefully things will change.

Do you feel part of why breaks slowed down was some of its main proponents turned to four-four?
Well, when we first started off, there was also Fatboy Slim and Wiseguys doing a similar thing. But they both went off to housey stuff, obviously Wiseguys is now Fake Blood and he’s really successful with that. But the Freestylers are still doing the same thing! But that’s the great thing about being a producer – you can change and mould and move on. I like all different types of music, but there needs to be more people making original stuff. It’s okay to use samples, but when you’re only doing samples or bootlegs it doesn’t really help. It’s always a healthy sign when there are younger people making music, but there doesn’t seem to be that in breaks. All the kids are making dubstep nowadays, you know what I mean?

Some of your mixes – the FabricLive one for example – are heads-down and full-throttle, whereas when you tour there must be the need to play quite broadly. How do you strike a balance there?
I always try to play what I want to; to educate the crowd rather than pure bangers one after another. You may as well become a pop DJ playing Top 40. Every track might not get the best reaction, but if at the end of the set everyone is saying, “one more, one more” you’ve done your job.

You’ve been regular visitors to Australia over the years. Do you feel the crowds here have always got what you do?
We’ve been very fortunate; we’ve been coming back and forth to Australia over the past ten years. We were there in the beginning – from the breaks scene being tiny to all of a sudden massive. All the breaks DJ were going to Australia – it was like breakbeat heaven! Girls, the music, the weather: we couldn’t wait to get over there.

But it has sort of taken a dip. I know that. We all have to push the sound though. I know Krafty Kuts came over recently and had an amazing time and he’s still playing breaks. People need to know we’re still here and the music is actually really good, you know?

Can you fill us in on your current decks-and-FX DJ set-up?
Myself and Matt have developed a new approach. It used to be I’d do an hour, then he’d do an hour. But now we’re both up there together, hard at it. We don’t use computers, only CDs. Matt will be dropping in tunes and I’m adding a capellas, scratching and effects. You need to push your DJ sets and I think it’s really working for us. Because we’re not using Serato on a laptop, it looks like we’re actually doing something [laughs].

The feedback has been really great and people have been quite impressed, saying it’s nice to see we’re not using a computer. Some of the hardcore ones have to say, “Why aren’t you playing vinyl?” It’s too much of a back-ache, records go missing, plus there are bag weights at airports and all that. I prefer playing CDs anyway.

Freestylers tour dates:

Fri Apr 23 – Academy, Canberra
Sat Apr 24 – Garden Party @ Chinese Laundry, Sydney
Sun Apr 25 – Bar Soma, Brisbane
Sun Apr 25 – Ruby Tramp, Gold Coast
Wed Apr 28 – Halo, Hobart
Fri Apr 30 – Brown Alley, Melbourne
Sat May 1 – Villa, Perth