Mind Gamers will be making their highly anticipated live performance debut this weekend during the MoVement Sydney festivities, and by the sounds of it, we’re in for something special.

For those who might not know, this eclectic trio is made up of three familiar faces in Sébastien Tellier, Dan Stricker of Midnight Juggernauts and John Kirby of Blood Orange, who have found themselves forging a new music group built on ‘unity’ that makes music ‘from the heart with no goal’.

We caught up with Dan this week to chew the fat about Mind gamers, and get some juicy inside goss on what to expect.

Stoney Roads: How long has Mind Gamers been around? How did this group come to be?

Dan: I first met Kirby when I was putting on nights down at Goodgod when it was out the back, we’d do improv gigs as FLRL with friends , Siberia nights etc and Kirby checked out one of those gigs as he was passing through Australia – a couple years later he asked me to do a tour with him and Sebastien , and then about a year and a half ago he asked if I wanted to be part of a new project with the two of them ->> a free spirited ‘jazz’ approach to music .. but modern and nothing like jazz ^_^

SR: Mind Gamers is “music from the heart with no goal”. Can you explain this further?

D: It’s ‘free’ – we aren’t trying to limit ourselves to anything or have any goal in mind as sometimes you can have in your individual projects – there’s an air of freedom. It’s led by feelings and emotion.

SR: Each member of the trio has quite a different history and approach to music. How did you all find common ground?

D: Through our friendship unity and power

SR: This month will see the first ever Mind Gamers performance. What can the world expect from you guys when you take the stage?

D: Liquid sounds

SR: Each of you have had a lot of success in other musical outfits. Yourself with Midnight Juggernauts for example. Personally, what lead you to wanting to start a new music group?

D: It wasn’t about starting a new group, more just collaborating with fellow artists I respect ->> over the years I’ve done heaps of other projects like e.g.  Playing drums and working on Kirin J Callinan’s first album, running Siberia , creating a child with another human ->> its all new collaboration.

SR: There isn’t a whole lot of social presence from the group other than this ">video. It’s quite an interesting and short video with an obscure caption. Is this a teaser of more to come or just a fun experiment between the three of you?

D: Its a bit of both really. There’s this too:

SR: How would you describe Mind Gamers in terms of musical genre and style? It seems to be quite unlike what we’ve seen before.

D: I guess it’s a melting pot of where we all fit into the world. I think it’s the sum of our parts but in a way something totally new.

SR: On the topic of musical style, are there any artists that influence this project for you guys?

D: 3 moments resonate with me : sitting watching the sunset on the Island of Hydra in Greece , driving around Normandy, France in a tiny 4WD  listening to a mix Maxo had made of Limp Bizkit (which I highly recommend ) and driving back from the colo river outside of Sydney with Experience by the prodigy playing as loud as possible in the dark going 110 down a small country road.

SR: Generally speaking, what do you think of music at the moment and what is to come in the future? How do you think Mind Gamers slots in? 

D: I think music is in an incredible place. We can make sounds out of any sample or noise and adjust them in any way possible ->>>> we can combine anything to make a melody. We are the masters of frequencies. We can create music over vast distances. Its limitless at the moment and to me super exciting. This is the essence of Mind Gamers.

SR: What are Mind Gamers currently working on? Is there an EP/album in the works?

D: finishing our album , which is almost done. There’ll be an EP soon, yeah. Plus we just produced a record for Dita Von Teese and all of us are busy doing a million things : ))

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Be sure to head along to their debut show this Friday night at OAF for MoVement Sydney, following an exciting day breaking a world record for the largest B2B DJ set! It’s all happening I tells ya!