Let’s face it: if you know New York, you know that this day in age, the playground for sharply-dressed, well-coiffed cool kids lies below 14th Street (or sometimes – subject to much debate – across the East River over to Brooklyn).
That’s why, on this unseasonably warm October night, it’s a little odd to walk down east 56th Street and stumble across throngs of chicly-clad boys and girls – many attired in fluorescents and old-school hip-hop throwback gear – talking and laughing and smoking cigarettes.
So why, on this Monday evenings, are they huddled outside a large brick building by the west side highway? One glance at the marquee says it all: Justice. Very few things can lure the downtown set up to the social wastelands of midtown Manhattan other than a popular French electro duo.
Tonight is Justice’s second gig at Terminal 5, the newest venue from the people at Bowery Presents, the concert-promoting team behind the much-loved Mercury Lounge and Bowery Ballroom. In a past life, this multi-storied, 40,000-sq. foot space was Club Exit. Perhaps it’s an appropriate place, then, for a live show from a band synonymous with bouncing around in a club.
Upon entering the second level of the venue, I am greeted by the aforementioned beats and synths. People are gathered around the railing surrounding the open space, peering towards the stage, bobbing their heads and kind of smiling at one another. But it’s not Justice that’s playing, it is three thin, bearded gentlemen —clad in dark clothes and t-shirts, one donning the requisite leather jacket – thumping along merrily and warming up the crowd with a roster of spacey, synthy tunes. In between songs they speak to the crowd in a jovial Australian accent. When their set ends and their drummer tosses his sticks into the audience, a slight tumult ensues as people dash to grab one.
They are the Midnight Juggernauts, three lads from Down Under who met in high school, decided they wanted to play in a band together, and began jamming at friends’ parties. Despite being in one of the most isolated countries in the world, they managed to make their music known in Europe (thanks to the Internet, natch) and soon found themselves accruing a steady fan base there – not to mention in their homeland, as well – and winning over stalwart admirers in the music world like, well, Justice – who asked them to tour North America with them. The ideal opportunity for the group to showcase their EP, “Secrets of the Universe.”
Lucky for us, this high –profile gig, coupled with the warm reception they received from the normally-reserved New York crowd, hasn’t rendered the Midnight Juggernauts high and mighty. Following the gig, they were kind enough to trade watching their tour mates for getting a tape recorder thrusted at them, so that I might ask them a few questions…
Music video for Midnight Juggernauts ‘Road To Recovery’ Directed by krozm
So how did you guys hook up with Justice for this tour?
Vincent (Vocals, Synths): It’s all about the internet, I suppose. They knew our music through….well, dj’s will play our music out at clubs, and somehow our music has just traveled over the ‘net-
Andy (Vocals, Guitar): -and we met them in Australia for the first time. We had just finished our album, and they happened to be in Australia, and we gave them some music-
Did you just drop off your cd with them?
Andy: Actually, they just came over to my house for dinner. (Laughter).
Nice dinner company. How’d that happen?!
Andy: I dunno, we invited them, and they came! We had a good night. I think the main thing was is that we just get along and enjoy each other’s company. And it was great that they liked the music. And then we went to Paris, we went out for dinner a few times there, and then they asked us to tour with them.
This is your first time playing the States. What’s been your best gig so far?
Andy: Like…Montreal and Vancouver and San Diego and New York. On Saturday it was amazing; we’ve played some good festivals in Australia, where they’ve been incredible responses. But it’s hard to pick out one, because sometimes you’re so high when you get offstage, and there’s different reasons why: the crowd, –
Vincent: – or the music.
Daniel (Drums): We had just been overseas for a couple of weeks last year, the end of last year, and it was our first overseas trip. We came back and like three days later, I remember playing this festival, and I was a little bit jetlagged, and it was like the first kind of time that we noticed that people were really starting to get into the band – there were like ten thousand people or something and it was crazy, the whole crowd went nuts!
Speaking of Saturday, I heard Kanye West was at the show…
Vincent: Yeah.
What did he say to you guys? Anything?
Andy: “Let’s collaborate!” (Laughter). No, he didn’t say that.
Vincent: It’s weird, all these shows there are all these celebrities backstage. You walk around, and Perry Farrell is backstage. I guess it’s like the French scene is getting a lot of interest. And Kanye loves that now.
What’s the coolest celebrity encounter you’ve had so far?
Vincent: Justice! (Everyone laughs). I was walking backstage and Xavier from Justice was there and I started screaming! (More laughs). People think I look like Gaspard (the other member of Justice) (ed. note: it’s true. Especially the hair).
Andy: We’ll go somewhere, we’ll be arriving in the car to the show, and then all these kids that have been waiting to get in will be there, and Vincent will walk out and we’ll like usher him away and everyone’s like, (waves his hands with excitement) “guess what! Guess what!?”
Vincent: In L.A., after this street party, I turned up to this afterparty with Xavier from Justice in a taxi, and people automatically thought I was Gaspard! And so people came up to me and they were like, “sign this!” and they gave me records.
Did you guys always start out with the ambition of being a dance act?
Andy: Not at all. I think that’s like the point, for us always. We’ve been experimenting with instruments of all types, and we love synthesizers, and we love a lot of synthesizer music from years gone by…I think the record probably shows that – that there are dance songs, but there’s also a lot of tracks that just aren’t dance floor kind of songs, they’re just a totally different type of mood.
But what does appeal to you about dance music, exactly?
Vincent: It’s really direct. Dance music is where you feel like you have to move, and that’s like amazing, and we love that feeling, as well. But we’d like to explore other ways of moving people where it’s not always about the dance beat, it’s about – you can movepeople with this more downbeat or take them to another world where it’s not about moving them physically, it’s about moving them…(pauses to think of the word). Okay. (Laughter).
Goofing around backstage after their performance
What do each of you guys bring to the band, in terms of influences?
Daniel: I like kind of dreamy pop stuff, stuff like the Pixies. I like the new Animal Collective record a lot.
Vincent: I dunno, my taste is like moving…. I like dance music, but I like a load of older stuff as well, like soundtracks and more moody stuff, where it’s all about this world you can create. I love dance music with that big kick, like getting everyone to move, but when you can take them to another place, that’s what I’m loving – just atmospheric, I suppose.
Andy: I’ve grown up with a lot of metal music. I’m trying to turn them into a metal band, but they don’t want to buy it – because he (motions to Daniel) wants pop and he (motions to Vincent) wants dreamy and more spacious, and I’m like ‘all that harmony and guitars.’
Vincent: When we first met at like 12 or 13, he was like doing all the Slayer and Hawkins metal riffs, so that’s like a big kind of driving force to his early years.
How much longer on this tour do you have?
Andy: This is the last Justice date. We play some shows in Europe and France. We have a big show with them and the Klaxons.
Vincent: And we’re touring with Digitalism in the UK.
You’ve been remixed a lot (Cut Copy, Wolfmother) and you’ve remixed other groups a lot (!!!, Electric Six). What draws you to remixing?
Andy: As far as what draws us to remixing, I suppose it’s a lot of fun. The idea to really just muck around with someone’s song and try and completely deconstruct it, make it better, and that’s not sounding egotistical, but you do try and say, ‘I wanna make this better than the original.’ Our whole thing is to make it the opposite of what it is.
Vincent: Definitely. It’s like a whole new artistic take for us, like completely new interpretation. That’s what the original artist appreciates as well . So our take – the Midnight Juggernauts’ take on the original track – should be something where it takes down a different avenue.
Daniel: The same thing with people who do remixes of our stuff –
NickyDigital.com’s Cornelia Rowe backstage with the Midnight Juggernauts after their performance
At this point, an overpowering force hits the room from outside. It’s Justice, whom are onstage. It’s “We Are Your Friends.” Vincent’s eyes light up and he grins broadly.
Vincent: Do you guys just want to go out there and see the show?
The tape recorder is shut off. We make a mad dash outside, where we stand side- stage, watching Xavier and Gaspard do their thing. The Midnight Juggernauts have just been talking about what fun it is to ‘muck’ around and deconstruct other’s songs; as Justice rocks to the beat of their own re-working of Simian’s “We Are Your Friends,” it’s evident they share this sentiment.
After the show, one of the bouncers comes backstage and is talking about how much he enjoyed the bands. He’s one of those guys you can tell was born and bred in New York, no-nonsense, bald and with a thick accent. “I like this kind of music,” he says. “Electro-dance music?” I ask him. “Yeah…it’s like, house music.” In a way, groups like Justice and Midnight Juggernauts have not only reaped the rewards of tinkering with other people’s songs, they’ve been successful at tinkering with a genre. They’ve taken house music and made it more modern and accessible, palatable to more people, helped build it into the underground phenomenon it is at the moment.
Yet who knows how long it will stay relegated to the indie kids dancing into the wee hours of the night in New York and Paris? After all, if both asymmetrical-coiffed scenesters and wise-cracking, 30-something Noo Yawkers are digging it, who knows how far this musical movement will go?
Related Links:
• Midnight Juggernauts on MySpace
• Click HERE for exclusive photos of the Midnight Juggernauts
• Midnight Juggernauts on Amazon.com
• Midnight Juggernauts on iTunes
