Melbourne’s finest taking on the Universe
Aden, Josh welcome to DMCWORLD dudes – Melbourne in the house! You have just wrapped up your In My Mind USA Tour, eight clubs in eleven days. Talk us through some of the stand out gigs on the American road…we hear you even slotted in a charity night at Pacha NYC?
“Yeah that gig was completely impromptu. It was such a great night and it was to benefit the victims of Hurricane Sandy, so for us, to be able to contribute and to get on the lineup with guys like Afrojack, Morillo, Tenaglia and so many others, it was a huge honor. It was definitely a highlight for us. The tour has been insane though. It was only two weeks so it was pretty hectic but our favourite night was probably playing with Kaskade at Marquee. He’s a dance legend and its such an iconic club.”
Next week sees the release of your first ever mix CD, Onelove Sonic Boom Box 2013 mixed by yourselves and Avicii. You happy with your the end result, how difficult was the tune selection?
“Very happy with it! The tune selection wasn’t too difficult. We were so lucky to be able to put so many track that we love on there and we can’t wait for it to come out.”
You list your influences as people like Fleetwood Mac, Chemical Brothers and AC/DC. That sounds like one fucked up childhood you two had?
“I guess so! We love all kinds of music. We listen to anything and everything. A lot of the older rock stuff I guess came from our parents growing up, then as we got older we progressed to the more electronic sounds. We believe you can find inspiration anywhere.”
When did you first meet and how did the idea for Feenixpawl happen?
“We first met about 8 years ago now. I [Josh] was running a nightclub in Melbourne so that’s where I started DJing. Then one night Aden came to me and asked for a gig. So we became mates and eventually decided to play together. Feenixpawl came about when we were trying to create a brand, we wanted to make a word that literally had never existed before. Aden’s middle is Phoenix, which I thought was pretty cool, and mine is Paul, we added the two together and changed the spelling. Something different!”
Your new single ‘Universe’ feat. Quilla swings our way on Neon Records next week. Tell us about the tune…
“It was something we were working on a little while back now that we just felt had a lot of energy to it. We love testing our tracks out when we feel we’ve pretty much wrapped it in the studio. We dropped a few different accapellas on this one and every time we played it we got such a great reaction. So we set out to get a vocalist and we were fans of Quilla from her work on ‘Walls’ by Sultan and Shepard. One day we hit her up on Twitter to see if she was interested and she was. We are really really happy with the way it turned out.”
Where was the video filmed, looks a frickin riot?
“That teaser video was actually from two separate gigs. A club called The Met in Brisbane and another club called Platinum in Broadbeach. Both in Queensland, Australia. Those clubs rock. They’re two of our favourite to play.”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning?
1. Marco V, Doctors in Florence – Lotus
2. Afrojack – Can’t stop me (Kryder and Tom Staar remix)
3. Sebastian Ingrosso and Tommy Trash – Reload
4. Feenixpawl feat. Quilla – Universe (David Tort remix)
5. Steve Angello and Third Party – Lights
6. Discopolis – Committed to Sparkle Motion (Dubvision remix)
7. Feenixpawl and Jason Forte – We are Together
8. Alex Kenji – Blue Strobe Light
9. Jewelz feat. Scott Sparks – Toxic Rush
10. Ivan Gough and Feenixpawl – In My Mind (Axwell Mix)
The year started rather well for you with the release of your ‘In My Mind’ collar with Ivan Gough, topping the charts everywhere and just nominated for an Aria Award for best Dance release. You are up against Havana Brown, Hermitude, Knife Party and Sneaky Sound System – who is the clever money on?
“Our money is on Knife Party. They’ve literally taken the world by storm in the past year and they’re Australian dance legends. They totally deserve it. Having said that, everyone nominated has had a huge year, so who knows!”
Were you aware of how much of a massive tune you were sitting on when completing this belter?
“No not at all. We did feel we may have something special, but who can predict how big a song will get? I don’t think its ever really possible to. To be honest we still can’t believe so many people know it! Its still so surreal when we travel half way across the world and people are singing the lyrics to our track.”
How many minutes did it take Georgi to write the lyrics!!!?
“Like…. two?! She was sitting on the couch in Ivan’s studio and Aden played her a chord progression and she just starting bopping her head. She was into it straight away, she pulled our her phone and just started jotting things down. It was fantastic!”
Australia is in the middle of another EDM boom, your touring schedule takes you all over your home country. Where are your favourite clubs to play at right now?
“We’ve always been huge fans of the club we mentioned early, Platinum. Joey and all the crew down there have been great to us over the years, and the club always rocks. WIthout fail. Aside from that, Marquee has just opened in Sydney and that place absolutely pumps. The Met in Brisbane is another favourite. There’s so many we love playing at its impossible to pick favourites.”
Tune of 2012?
“Wow… there’s been so many. Probably Nari & Milan – ‘Atom’ or Alesso – ‘Years’. We remember when we first heard that and waited for the release for a hell of a long time.”
Tell us about your studio partnership – who brings what to the production process?
“Aden is definitely the driver. He’s an Ableton whiz-kid. But generally we sit there and just throw ideas at each other. The key for harmony in studio is not to be precious. If one of us thinks the other has a bad idea we scrap it and move forward. In terms of who brings what to the table, I think we both see things slightly differently, Aden is maybe a little more uplifting, loves his melodies, I probably gravitate towards more an electro sound, but the ability to find a middle ground is a great thing.”
The big summer season of Oz festivals is upon us with Future and Stereosonic unleashing the big talent yet again. Where are you looking forward to playing over the coming months…?
“Well we are about to start the Stereosonic tour. We are doing Sydney, Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane, so we we are extremely excited about that. To be able to tour with guys like Tiesto, Carl Cox, Tommy Trash, Avicii, Calvin Harris, Sander Van Doorn and so many others is really a dream come true. We are going to have a blast.”
This month saw Future team up with EMI Records to form a new dance label. Australia is now producing some incredible talent. Your events are rivals to the best in the world. Why has it taken so long for you to become a major dance music nation?
“Well in my opinion Australia has always been a major dance nation. For as long as can remember Dance music has been at the forefront of the club scene and we’ve always thrown amazing festivals. I think perhaps with the invention of Facebook and the growth of social media as a whole is what has started to put us on the map more. Its hard for people to know whats going on in our corner of the world, but yeah, Australia’s amazing electronic festivals and nightclubs back when we were kids is the reason why we got into dance music to begin with.”
Was the worldwide admiration for your Adele’s ‘Rolling In The Deep’ bootleg a surprise to you?
“Of course! Its just a bootleg we made in our tiny studio at home in Melbourne. We had no idea that someone like Kaskade would get his hands on it and drop it. When we saw the video of that night at Pacha we almost fell over.”
What is coming next from the Feenixpawl studio, we hear there are some collabs and remixes on the way…
“Well obviously Universe is about to drop. We have a remix almost in the can for some buddies of ours Strange Talk that is sounding great. Then theres a couple more Feenixpawl originals that we are keen to get out. Plus we have some more collaborations with Ivan as well as a few other people that aren’t far away. So stay tuned!”
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