Fishing have been making juicy dance floor fillers for years now. After a small but deafening silence from them, the duo played Volumes Festival in August and reminded attendees of their enormity, and of their integral place in the metamorphic Australian party scene. They've since dropped "Yuwa," the first taste of new music in a long time, and if we're lucky, indicative of what's to come.We spoke to Doug and Russell about new music, the future of nightlife in Sydney, and techno music out of Portugal ahead of them playing the VICE room at Thursday's House of Bacardi party in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley. This week's party will mark the first of the first of three huge events this summer that Bacardi are gifting to us all, as they champion Australian nightlife and its key players (think Pelvis, think Goodgod), and will have rooms also curated by The Creases, A Love Supreme and Bedlam Records.
THUMP: Good morning!Doug: Hi!Russell: Hello.So! Fishing. It's an exciting time for Australia and its nightlife—particularly in Sydney, where you guys are from. It feels like a lot is happening. Living here must sometimes feel stifling, but as a visitor it really feels like things are happening. Like people are pushing back, and finding ways around the lockouts, and doing things in really interesting ways.Doug: I think Sydney became very complacent with being able to go out, every Friday and Saturday night, to places like Goodgod, and it does feel like that there's a bit more community, lots more people putting on good shows and good parties.Totally. I think also you get to see what people do with the opportunity—to take it upon themselves. You end up seeing a more exciting and underground… dare I say DIY aspect to the nightlife.Doug: Yeah, you've gotta get up on that underground, DIY thing.Oh no, does that sound really dumb?Russell: No, it's true though!Doug: It's true. It's legit good.*Yeah it is. It also feels like, nice to see different kinds of people and subcultures ending up at the same parties and interacting for once, because they're kind of being forced together. Like that feels pretty nice.*Russell: Yeah, it's true. And you can really tell that something's going well if you've got a really diverse crowd somewhere, and you've still got a really good feeling, and everyone's positive and getting along, that's a really interesting thing. It doesn't happen often. When you cram all these different people together, it kind of forces everyone into a kind of temporary community and everyone gets on board with it, and there's no room for exclusivity or anything like that.Exactly, and it's such a stifling thing. I often hear people talk about jumping ship with Sydney but most of the musicians I speak to say it's just not an option. Do you ever think about moving?Russell: Yeah, I think that's pretty much how I feel about it. Whether it's because of some sense of maybe owing something to Sydney, or not, I'd still really like to be here. There's a lot of great stuff here, and there's always going to be—once to get used to somewhere—some things that aren't right about it. It's good to feel at home somewhere and feel support in what you're doing with a good community of people.Doug: I like the idea of moving, and getting excited about being a stranger in a new place, but at the end of the day I'll probably always come back here. Which is the important thing. It's not necessarily wanting to jump ship and leave forever because it's "not a cool place," but I like the idea of moving away and bringing that attitude back here.Are there any people who are really exciting when it comes to throwing parties?Russell: Yeah, totally. One of the greatest things about Sydney are the collaborations. Jemma Cole's Insert parties are amazing, massive favourites. They're so well put on and well thought out. And Vibe Positive, Heavenly. Personal favourites. I guess what we like is people putting on parties for the sake of it, as opposed to trying to make money.Doug: The sort of parties and things we like are the ones where the vibe seems to be all about people trying to make really fun things happen, rather than any sort of ego trip or anything that's about making a name for their own brand, just providing a place for people to enjoy themselves.So when is the next release from Fishing?Russell: Pretty soon! We're thinking before the end of the year.Doug: We actually don't have a date… we probably should! It's a bit like when a teacher sets a due date in high school and you work to it, except the opposite. We need to set ourselves due dates I think.Russell: Basically it's a four-track EP with two really cool remixes. So that'll come out before the end of the year.Exciting, it's been so long!Russell: It has, it has. It's a lot of fun to be releasing stuff again."Yuwa" was amazing—great track, great video.Russell: Yeah that video was a lot of fun. Both the track and video were. We're having a lot of fun making stuff at the moment, I mean, we always were but especially now.Doug: Especially now.What's the balance like, with other projects and day-to-day life? Is that why fishing dropped off a little bit or is it just the nature of things?Doug: There are a lot of answers to that, I think we kind of had time last year that was workshopping a bunch of tracks to write an album and working with management, shopping around to labels, and we just realised that the music we were making wasn't really suited to an album format. So it just took us while to figure out the sort of music that we wanted to make together, and to put pen to paper and put a plan into action. But it's been a really good year because it's made us think about what we really want to do with Fishing and the sorts of shows that we want to play. So I think that from here on in we have a way more solid understanding of what we're doing together.Good to hear. Finally: What are you guys listening to at the moment?We've been listening to Jikuroux's Ruptured Pulse EP out on Air Max '97's label Decisions is amazing. The sound design is lush on that. Christopher Port's Vetement EP, as well. We really love his tight, clean, choppy UKG flavour. Cop Envy's Total End EP. A personal favourite producer, such dark and moody dancefloor rollers. A lot of stuff in that zone seems to be functional music, DJ tools and stuff, but the EP is so hooky and listenable, both in and out of club contexts. That was released through Black Opal/Opal Tapes, who can't really put a foot wrong. Their catalogue is an absolute goldmine. The new Principe Discos Compilation: Mambos Levis D'Outro Mundo, a massive new compilation from one of our favourite labels in the world. Madly Futuristic Club. Kuduro, techno excursions from Portugal. Music moving out of Lisbon ghettos onto the World Wide Web.Fishing join Nutrition, Flex Mami, Gavin Boyd and Sezzo Snot at the Brisbane leg of House of Bacardi parties, which are storming the East Coast this summer. Entry is free! To RSVP, head here. And stay tuned for information about the Sydney and Melbourne shows.
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THUMP: Good morning!Doug: Hi!Russell: Hello.So! Fishing. It's an exciting time for Australia and its nightlife—particularly in Sydney, where you guys are from. It feels like a lot is happening. Living here must sometimes feel stifling, but as a visitor it really feels like things are happening. Like people are pushing back, and finding ways around the lockouts, and doing things in really interesting ways.Doug: I think Sydney became very complacent with being able to go out, every Friday and Saturday night, to places like Goodgod, and it does feel like that there's a bit more community, lots more people putting on good shows and good parties.Totally. I think also you get to see what people do with the opportunity—to take it upon themselves. You end up seeing a more exciting and underground… dare I say DIY aspect to the nightlife.Doug: Yeah, you've gotta get up on that underground, DIY thing.Oh no, does that sound really dumb?Russell: No, it's true though!Doug: It's true. It's legit good.*Yeah it is. It also feels like, nice to see different kinds of people and subcultures ending up at the same parties and interacting for once, because they're kind of being forced together. Like that feels pretty nice.*Russell: Yeah, it's true. And you can really tell that something's going well if you've got a really diverse crowd somewhere, and you've still got a really good feeling, and everyone's positive and getting along, that's a really interesting thing. It doesn't happen often. When you cram all these different people together, it kind of forces everyone into a kind of temporary community and everyone gets on board with it, and there's no room for exclusivity or anything like that.
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