2manydjs explain their summer festival 'live' shows

The 2manydjs summer loving has begun! Soulwax supremos Stephen and David Dewaele are set to return to Australia in their floor-smashing 2manydjs guise, jetting all across the country to play New Years festivals like Summadayze, Field Day, not to mention the recently announced Killer NYE in Melbourne. Whilst fans have been in a clamour for the duo’s arrival on local turf, many have also been wondering what exactly a 2manydjs ‘live’ show, as it’s been billed, will entail if it’s not a fully blown Soulwax show. ITM’s asked exactly that question to Stephen Dewaele when we got him on the blower ahead of the tour, and it sounds damn exciting.

“We wanted to make it more than just a DJ set, because they’re really big shows we couldn’t do something small. So we tried to do something different but at the same time keep the strong visual side to things, you know?”

As such, the Dewaele brothers rifled through their, what we can only assume is infinite, record collection, pinched the sleeve art and then reworked those images with animations and other twists, bringing them to life on stage.

“Think of the cover for Dizzee Rascal’s Bonkers, which is already a great piece of art, we animate it and bring Dizzee to life almost! But even if it’s a sleeve that’s quite plain, we still try and do something interesting with it, to make it exciting for the people.”

Indeed, the Belgian pair keep their shows dynamic but doing everything life, Stephen says, foregoing any Ableton trickery. “I really like Ableton, but we just don’t know how to use it properly! So we’ve just built up our own way of doing things over the years, finding out how we can make everything happen with our hands. People don’t believe us but at these live shows we’re doing everything up there on stage, we’re mixing the records, but also triggering and programming the animations as we go,” he says. “That’s why there’s some mistakes in there! But it’s been working so far, people seem to really like it and at least they won’t have to wonder what song we’re playing as it’ll be right there on screen!”

Check out some fan footage from a recent 2manydjs live where the boys pay tribute to Michael Jackson for a little taste of what to expect on their slew of festival dates over the summer.

2manydjs tour dates:

Thursday December 31st – Killer, Melbourne (live)
Friday January 1st – Field Day, Sydney (live)
Friday January 1st – Summadayze, Melbourne (DJ set)
Sunday January 3rd – Summadayze, Perth (live)
Saturday January 9th – Summafieldayze, Gold Coast (live)
Sunday January 10th – Midsummer Circus, Adelaide (live)