Last time Groove Armada played in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, the manager of the airport offered to delay Andy Cato’s plane so he could have a sleep in. During their most recent visit, however, things did not go so smoothly.

Moments before going on stage at this year’s Park Life Festival (not to be confused with our forthcoming festival of the same name), a monsoon-rain-inducing thunderstorm bore down on the site. Lightning bolts forced punters to flee for cover. An unnerving situation at the best of times, made even more terrifying by the fact that Groove Armada were about to debut a new live show.

But, as all storms do, it passed, and Groove Armada went on stage as planned. “The first big new moment of the first tune arrives. This is it. It kicks in, the rain falls, every hand goes up in the air, it sounds massive, we’ve done it,” reflects Cato in a blog post on the Groove Armada website.

It was a pretty amazing feat for the group, who only four days earlier had embarked upon a mission to completely dismantle their existing live show and piece it back together again.

Despite previously describing their new “stripped back” live show as “the best live show we’ve ever done” ahead of January’s Big Day Out, the veterans recently found themselves overshadowed by the likes of Sasha and The Chemical Brothers at Japan’s Big Beach Festival in June. “It was all like havin’ it, you know?” explains Cato over the phone.

So naturally, rather then waste the rest of their time on the summer festival circuit feeling underwhelmed, the pair hauled their whole band and some ‘big speakers’ to Andy’s ‘Château Cato’ in the south of France and in just three days completely rewrote their live show.

“Traditionally, we always re-write material for the big stages, all the old songs we just approach them for those big moments you need for those occasions,” Cato says, “but with the Black Light stuff, because it’s quite a bandy record, we ended up more or less playing the tunes as they are on the CD. By doing that, we were just missing a real trick in terms of our experience of these big gigs.”

The ‘Japan Plan’, as it’s been coined, was a gruelling process, involving nights that finished at 4:30am, followed by 7:30am starts. I ask Andy if sleep deprivation is something you get used to over time. “It’s just the nature of the game really. It’s a night time occupation, but with a lot of day time commitments; it’s just the way it goes.”

According to Andy, it’s this attitude that’s kept Groove Armada at the top of their game for so long. “We’re quite obsessive. Once we do decide to do something, particularly once you start it and realise it’s going to be great, then nothing will get in the way. We’ll move heaven and earth to make it happen.”

Anyone doubting their ability to rewrite ten years of material in three days need look no further than the footage of Groove Armada at this year’s Glastonbury Festival.

“The vibe was electric,” exclaims Cato about the evening. “There was such a sort of power about the new versions, that whether you know it or not, it’s just going to go off. So the combination of that and the Australian audience is something we’re getting really excited about.”

I ask Cato how their upcoming spot on the Parklife tour next month will differ to that of Big Day Out earlier this year.

“You’re obviously going to know the tunes,” explains Cato, “but all the structures are totally different and there are just these huge moments in the songs. That has stemmed all these new performances things for [vocalist] St Saviour, who has got handheld laser mirrors and these insane costumes. There’s a lot of drama going on there, and from that has stemmed a real re-think of the whole lighting approach. You put the whole thing together and when these moments arrive in and out of these drops, it’s just unstoppable; it’s really exciting.”

Equally as exciting perhaps, is their plan to record the new versions and release them on CD just in time for their looming Australian visit. “We really want to work with the label so that around that Parklife tour we can put out a CD of these new versions to go with it.”

While on the topic of CDs, I ask Cato when we can expect the much-anticipated series of Groove Armada house EPs. “This whole re-invention of the live set really knocked that for six for a while,” he admits. “Now that we’ve got that sorted out, we’ve got to get these recordings of the new versions done, and we’ll get on with the house EPs.”

If there was ever a question of Groove Armada slowing down, then it’s well and truly been forgotten. Cato goes on to detail plans for a new DJ show surrounding the house EPs, “which is going to involve 909s and 303s and various synths and stuff.”

“There are too many ideas and not enough time at the minute,” he adds, “which is a nice position to be in.” A nice position indeed…

Groove Armada play Parklife this September/October. Stay tuned to the Parklife festival page on inthemix for all the news and interviews in the coming weeks.

Gold Coast – Saturday 25 September
Perth – Sunday 26 September
Melbourne – Saturday 2 October
Sydney – Sunday 3 October
Adelaide – Monday 4 October