Funny thing pop culture. It’s a love of the obscure stuff that seems to resonate the most when you find out that someone else shares your passion for a particular TV show, band or song. Take, for example, the fact that UK production outfit Reno took their name from one of the characters from the American TV series Renegade. It’s a show that more than a few Australian uni students have flicked on late at night when they should be studying, and one which Andy Holt loves to love.” I think it was the leather jacket, and Lorenzo Lamas’ hair,” he laughs. “The guy seriously never had a hair out of place in a fight scene.”

Andy met Phil Burns while studying sound engineering in London. Phil was Andy’s tutor, but the age difference between the two is negligible. “There’s none at all really. He was pretty young tutor – not the corduroy jacket type of guy. I was doing my degree and he was recording in the sound studio there. We’d go out in Liverpool, get drunk and talk about music and that sort of stuff. We sort of got into what we’re doing that way.”

Their debut outing ‘Thinking About The Good Times’ has been enormously well received internationally. On first spin you’ll hear anything from Ry Cooder style slide guitar to late seventies synth-work, reminiscent of Jean Michael Jarre’s ‘Oxygene’. “We’re both into old vinyl and stuff, and we’ve ended up with this collection of ridiculous music in some cases. There are definitely a lot of old influences in there. I have really eclectic taste in music and my thing has always been that if it’s a good song, it’s a good song. It doesn’t matter where it’s come from.” Renegade even got a look in at one stage. “We actually did work on a track where we tried to use the monologue from the start of the show with a motorcycle revving at in the background, more as a bit of fun than anything. Somehow I don’t think that one’s going to be on the next Reno album,” he grins.

Reno’s sound is in part so intoxicating because it’s a genuinely innovative mix of the influences Andy mentions. As an album their work has been dubbed anything from “flawless” to “cunning”, but the reasons why they’ve been able to maintain this edge are not so easy to put your finger on. It’s certainly nice to listen to, but it’s not just background music. “It took us about five years to get our sound together. Phil and I have been buying old bits of electronica to get that analog sound, loads of junk everywhere, which we used to get away from the polished, clean productions that are happening at the moment. Hopefully that’s how it comes out.

After laying down a few tracks the two sent off a demo to UK imprint Jive/Zomba. In an almost unheard of response the pair were approached by not one, but three A&R reps from the label on the same day. They share label space with Groove Armada, and comparisons have predictably ensued. Andy seems genuinely unassuming, chuckling in response. “I think it’s quite flattering that people are calling us that [the next Groove Armada]. There was actually talk of us doing a tour with them – the one they’ve just done in Australia – but it didn’t quite come together. Mainly because of us because we haven’t really got our live show together because we’ve been so studio-bound.”

The ‘live show’ to which Andy refers is still very much a work in progress. “We’ve got a set up of seven people and we’re trying to go for a big vocal sound. We have key vocalists and lots of backing vocals. Ultimately if we had the budget we’d be bringing out a huge band with a big brass section but we’re a little restricted in what we can do. The thing for us is that neither of us are DJs. For a lot of producers it’s a good avenue, but I wouldn’t know where to begin to be honest. My idea of being a DJ is to put a record on the turntable and just do a nice little segue way between the tracks,” he laughs.

Reno’s debut album Thinking About the Good Times is out now through Jive/Zomba. To read ITM’s review, click HERE.