Slumberjack are killing it with their newly formed style of super trap through their latest single serving dubbed ‘Enigma’ as well knocking over a huge national tour as part of the Stereosonic festival.

In the lead up to their show this week at Bondi Beach’s Beach Road Hotel for SoSueMe alongside Mickey Kojak and yours truly, we caught up with the Perth two-piece to discuss face swaps, the death of ‘EDM’, festivals vs clubs, day clubbing and whats in store for 2016.

SR: You’ve done your fair share of travelling around Australia of late. Which city parties the hardest?

S: Oooh not sure if we need to be diplomatic here…. Nah every city is dope in it’s own way but the preferred music styles definitely differ across the states. We find Brisbane and Perth tend to be more into the beats/trap stuff we play. It’s Australia though, EVERYONE parties hard. Too hard sometimes. Haha.

SR: Has anyone ever done a face swap between you guys? 

S: We’ve definitely done one on ourselves. And we’ve also done a face merge – very unattractive. You guys want a copy for your office?

 

SR: There is talk of ‘EDM’ finally dying, even Beatport jumped in. Do you think its done? If so whats next?

S: We think “EDM” as a genre itself (i.e. super pop mainstream house stuff) may be on the way out but “electronic dance music” will never die. More importantly people are getting more open about accepting new styles which is very very healthy for the scene.

At the end of the day a computer is just a tool and it doesn’t necessarily reflect the type of music that’s being made on it. More and more we’re seeing artists combining sounds from the real world with sounds from the computer world to create really interesting blends that become quite difficult to classify. Is a band suddenly electronic if they use a synth keyboard? Is a producer suddenly a rock artist if they record in real drum and guitar sounds on their tracks.

The point is its tough to classify “electronic” as a genre which makes it almost impossible to say it’s going to die.

SR: Once you’ve hit the mainstream world of dance i.e. festivals only. Do you think its possible to head back to the club? Would it be as special? 

S: Absolutely! We’ve seen heaps of main stage acts play really intimate clubs sets and we’ve experienced it first hand as well. There’s nothing quite like the vibe of a small packed room and the slight fear that the booth will collapse from the rocking at any moment. By no means are we only playing festivals these days but after a run of bigger shows, it does feel really great and definitely still special to head back to the club.

SR: Do you think a shift to day clubbing could ever work? As in start during daylight and finish around midnight?

S: This is literally the greatest idea I’ve heard. There’s no part of our body clock which only permits us to party after a certain hour, I’m all for starting earlier and finishing in time for an epic night of sleep. Plus, it would be a real nice way to circumnavigate those damn lockout laws.

Read: This is what Day Clubbing would look like.

SR: Where are Slumberjack headed in 2016 New sounds? Live show? 

S: We’re always aiming to stay fluid with our sound so some of the new stuff we’ve been working on might come as a surprise. We’re heading over to the USA for the start of the year but have some solid touring plans for when we come back home – we can’t wait to get on the road and party with everyone.

In terms of shows, we are still toying with different ideas on how to keep our show fresh and exciting, but being the perfectionists we are, it’s gonna take a while.

They’ll be playing this Wednesday at SOSUEME in Bondi with Mickey Kojak and Stoney Roads DJs and next years Mountain Sounds festival alongside Jack Beats and other Australian legends Set Mo, Odd Mob, Motez, Nina Las Vegas and more.