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Vice Blog

INTERVIEW - MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS

When we first spoke to the Midnight Juggernauts a couple of years ago, we were shocked and impressed that a couple of really, really shy guys from Melbourne were responsible for creating such unique and sophisticated party anthems. We had an idea then that they might be gearing up to forge something in the way of a very new and exciting musical path and, after hearing their brand new first album, we're happy to say that we were correctomundo. They're in the middle of what sounds like an incredible tour through Europe and from all accounts, it doesn't seem like France is too keen to give them back.

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VICE: The guy who just connected us sounded so amazing. How good is the French accent?
Vincent Juggernaut: I know! Even when they're telling you off or you're ordering a Big Mac it sounds amazing. I shouldn't admit that we went to McDonalds in Paris though should I?

Does it taste different over there?
We were desperate at the time so anything would have tasted good. Because we were in an exotic part of the world, we wanted to get something different to what you can get in Australia. It wasn't the Royal with cheese but it was something like that. We went to a McDonalds in Indonesia once and they had murals of all the McDonalds characters hanging out in the rice fields. That would have made a good album cover actually. It was like some postmodern artwork but it was entirely serious.

So, apart from the burgers, how is it over there?
We love it in France and we're thinking we might move here eventually. We have so many good friends and you can get away with just speaking English generally. The Justice guys have been taking us out for dinner and I think we're going to do some shows together. People over here genuinely seem to like our new album. They'll say it to us and we don't really believe it but then we'll be reading a magazine and they'll mention it in an interview. It's actually kind of mind blowing.

So, what's going on with the electronic music scene in Paris – the whole Ed Banger kind of thing? It's a fairly distinctive sound and it seems like there's an endless stream of goodness coming out of that part of the world at the moment.
The strange thing is that it's still very underground in France. Over here the mainstream is hip hop. It's all French hip hop making up the pop charts. All these electronic labels are just for the clubs and it's actually more popular in places like the UK and Australia.

You've been playing some VICE shows over there?
Yeah, we played in Marseilles. It's weird over here because we're kind of heralded as an exotic international act. On the posters it'll say "Midnight Juggernauts (Aus)". We're like a crazy overseas band to them. It's good. We're headlining massive shows and there's lots of French people going nuts and it makes us happy.

Other memorable shows?
The first show we played in Paris was with Muscles. It was at this famous restaurant come club called Maxims. We soundchecked during the day and everything was cool but when we turned up to play the show, it turned out John Travolta had needed our room for his dinner party and jazz band and they'd moved all our gear to make room. When they eventually left and we finally set up again, we had a bunch of technical issues through the whole set. It's pretty ludicrous that John Travolta was responsible for messing up our set. Every show we've played over here has been memorable though. We played at Eurokanes with Air and TV On The Radio which was incredible.

So, you have never signed to a label in Australia? Doesn't anyone want you?
We have just wanted to do everything on our own label at home. Mainly because Australia is a small market and we have no aspirations of competing with Australian Idol contestants or whatever. We feel most comfortable doing that — having creative freedom and being able to follow our own path. Europe is another matter though. With this album, a lot of people were probably expecting a whole lot of straight indie dance tracks. We love all that type of music but with this we wanted to create something more permanent – a classic album. In our eyes anyway.

So, what's next?
We're finishing this tour in Barcelona which we are excited about. Then I guess we'll come back to Melbourne and be living on cat food. But that's all part of the deal you know?
BRENDA WALSH _Midnight Juggernauts' debut album _Dystopia_ is released 4th August through Siberia Records via Inertia. Catch them at Splendour in the Grass and on their national album launch tour throughout August/September._