By Christopher Thompson

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Everything Adam Kaye and George Townsend flex turns to Gold. As the bright and energetic producers of Bondax, they deliver tropically glittering tunes and aren’t scared to throw in the occasional banger.

Producing an array of melancholic sounds that’s well beyond their years, but that’s not to say the lads aren’t experienced, dabbling with beats from the ages of 11. And let’s be real here age isn’t even a factor in the electronic community anymore as it’s brimming with sophisticated sub-twenty artists.

Their production is unique and doesn’t piss on anybody’s turf; In fact, Bondax flies by the beat of their bass; artfully sidestepping the flooded dancefloor sounds warping the airwaves in favour of warm pop R&B ambience. Masters of weave, they drop well-tuned vocal cuts and slick drum work, catering to any late night with their trop-disco sounds of summer. Revel in the reverie.

Despite only being on the scene for a couple of years, The guys have already collaborated with the likes of Snakehips, Darius, FKJ, Moon Boots, and AlunaGeorge. And who could forget their epic throwback to Blackstreet’s ‘No Diggity’ that’s still giving eargasms with Dre’s mellow accent.

We caught the Lancaster boys in the midst of their Bondax & Friends tour, to delve into the origins of their Bondax project, heartbreak felt from stolen music and their love for the Australian music scene.  

Stoney Roads: Yeah, so, for all that aren’t in the know, how did Bondax all begin?

George: All right. Yeah, we just met at school. We’ve been doing this since we were really young. Had sort of … made a couple of experimental, electronic bits bits together and then just kept on doing it, man. We’ve been very lucky that it just sort … the jigs all fell into place almost instantly in terms of like getting sort of a level of backs on our early works. Then, we’ve kept on going from there. Hopefully we can keep elevating it from here forth.

SR: You guys have been friends for years now. When you started playing and producing together, were you aiming for this kind of intimate sort of dance pop sound?

George: No. Not at all. We’re still not really. That’s not really what we’re trying to do. We have a lot of work that isn’t released that doesn’t really reflect what the public image of our music is. I mean, it just so happens that we’ve fallen into this sort of scene, I guess, this sort of situation. I think we can hopefully prove to people that we’ve got more strings to our bow than people know. I mean, the thing is, we’ve probably made about fifty tunes over the last three or four years. How many tunes do people know? Probably like five. We’ve only released about that many singles, so I think… The thing is… It’s understandable it is the way it is. There is a bit more going on behind the scenes that I think people maybe don’t realize that we can’t actually release some of our, maybe, in our opinion, interesting tracks. It’s just the way of the music industry.

SR: Let’s go back to 2013 Gold. What was your inspiration for such a track and what was the meaning behind that video?

George: The inspiration was just basically we wanted… We actually initially really wanted to make a beat that sounded like money in a really ironic way. Which, in hindsight, sounds like the most hipster thing you’ve ever heard. Honestly at the time, it seemed like a good idea. (laughs) Yeah, then we sort of … Yeah, I suppose the lyrical content then sort of juxtaposed the initial idea and the video then was kind of more of a metaphor, I guess. Yeah, that’s the belief.

SR: (laughs) Just making it rain money.

George:  Why not? (laughs) That’s exactly what we do, baby. Just fucking make it rain.

SR: For your track Temptation, it would seem to be a much more mature sound coming out. When it comes to producing, do you have a finished product in mind or do you just run with the punches and see where it ends?

George: Well, I think.., you always have a bit of an idea what you want to try and create and where you’re taking inspiration from. At the same time, we’re not trying to do any one particular thing like I was saying. It’s a bit of both, really. Creating any art is half your drive and vision and half the mistakes you make along the way, that’s what makes it what it is.

SR: You guys would seem to focus more on mood and ambience as opposed to club-style bangers. Does this have a parallel with what you guys are dealing with in your day-to-day world?

George: I would say yes, but we’re in clubs playing bangers every day. (laughs)

Maybe it reflects more our personalities than our lives. We’re not … We don’t love the bangers to the same extent we maybe love some deeper, more beautiful music. I think our way of sort of putting that into the music we make is to sort of have a bit of both. We like electronic music and we want to … This is an electronic project but, at the same time, we’re not solely … We don’t want to stick in one lane. Let’s put it that way.

I mean, if you want that, then you just get a remix by someone that makes bangers. Hahaha

SR: I’ve never heard the word ‘bangers’ so loosely thrown around in an interview, ever!

George: Hahaha Not to put them down. You’ve got to have the skill to be able to make the bangers. It’s just not what we’re trying to do. Just put down Bondax has decided to start making bangers for the rest of their careers. Hahaha

SR: You’ve got your Bondax & Friends tour coming your way shortly. With so many up and coming artists, how do you guys pick your support slots?

George: It’s a case of whoever we can get, whoever’s available, and if they suit the billing really. We’re pretty pleased to have TCTS with us this time around. Actually, I forget to mention that we want to have someone that’s our friend there because it is Bondax and Friends and they are going to be touring around the whole place, with us, so if we hate them then it’s going to be hard work to be able to fly around the country. 

Hahaha but, Sam is a good friend, a great DJ, and really good producer. He makes sense to be on the tour.

SR: Are you guys looking into a full Bondax LP or are you more interested in continuing the single and remix format that’s worked so far?

George: I know that we’ve been working on an album for three years basically on and off. We’ve just been … There’s been a lot of obstacles in the way. A lot of label disputes and also just trying to find out what we want our own to be and stuff. Got a studio, like, we only just got an external studio in November last year. We’ve just been making it in our flats cause we’ve been touring so much. That was a big step forward towards it. Basically, yeah, we’re working towards an album that we’ve been doing for ages.

SR: I read that you guys had your laptops stolen at one point. That would’ve fucked your shit up pretty solid.

George: That was a very big hurdle. We had to remake some tracks and shit, which was very painful. Some of which just never sounded the same and will never probably be released, but you just have to move on.

SR: What’s one important lesson you’ve both discovered from being out in the real world that you would have never learned from school?

George: That’s a really good question. Probably the one that stands out the most is that Stereotypes are most often than not true. Hahaha No, I think… It’s quite hard to put this into a sentence that sort of anyone can read or listen to, but… I think that being able to meet so many different people from different cultures has really changed our attitude on music massively. In the way we live our lives and how we sort of act a bit. Cause a lot of DJs have sort of taken it for granted that they get to travel the world and I think we’ve been humbled by the experience.

SR: As far as the Australian music scene, who are you guys into at the moment?

George: Who are we listening to at the moment? I’ve been listening to on the way here the Mo Kolours album that came out at the end of last year. It’s actually really good. It went under the radar. It’s like a B-tape kind of thing. It is an album, but it’s a lot of short beats where … It’s really cool beats of music, like conceptual kind of idea. I’ve really enjoyed that. Who else have we been listening to? You should come and input on this as well.

Adam: Sorry, it’s just really cold in Montreal and George has stolen my coat, so I didn’t want to stand outside. It’s really cold here, mate. What the fuck!

I’m listening to a lot of old jazz like Tarika Blue, her album, stuff like that. Just in the car today, we were listening to a lot of Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire just because we’re in Montreal. It seemed quite appropriate. hahaha

Adam: Oh yeah, our favorite artist, Hiatus Kaiyote. That’s pretty much our favorite band of the minute, completely. Them and Tame Impala are life. Unbelievable.

We’ve seen them live and it’s crazy. Just absolutely crazy.

SR: Speaking of live shows, what can we expect from your upcoming one?

George: Well, I mean, I hope we have a lot of vibes. We’re just DJing this time so it’s gonna be a party hopefully. We’ll bring some new hooks that we’ve made and some little bits and of course, some close friends of ours… Hopefully, this will be a really good tour to express the progression of our music. So yeah, man, this should be solid.

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The guys will be wrapping up their brief Aussie tour tis weekend. Dates are below, and you can grab tickets here.

11 March – Royal Croquet Club – Adelaide

12 March – Oh Hello! – Brisbane

13 March – Sets on the Beach – Perth

18 March – Oxford Art Factory – Sydney

19 March – Anyway, The Bottom End – Melbourne