As the silvery ice maiden of winter licks our faces with her frosty morning tongue, the promise of a warm summer sun seems but a hazy memory; made all the more obscure by months of cold nights in with a little too much beer and puerile television.
My recollection of last year’s Foreshore Summer Music Festival brings to my mind’s eye a mental picture of shoulder-saddled semi-naked girls beating each other around the head playfully with fluorescent pool noodles amongst a sea of hands reaching into the deep blue ocean of sky stretched right across the horizon from the Kosciuszko ranges to Mt Ainslie.
It is truly a spectacular location and a fitting throne for the undisputed kings of festival party music, British breakbeat barbarians the STANTON WARRIORS (aka Dominic Butler and Mark Yardley), who return to the capital after their last successful tour as part of the Good Vibrations Festival roadshow. Dom B explains: “Good Vibrations was great. The crowds were huge, the rain made us think of home and hanging out with Q Tip, Deadmau5 etc was hilarious. We even made a track for the tour which has since become one of our biggest tunes.”
The lure of the international festival circuit has enabled the duo to ravish thousands of partygoers across the globe, although it seems Australian audiences have their own unique way of leaving a lasting impression on the guys. “We have done festivals all over the place from beach parties in Spain and Thailand to major events like Glastonbury and Global Gathering, through to Ultra Festival in Miami and all over North America and the Far East,” Dom says, going through the band’s broad itinerary. “Australians tend to drink a lot and bare their sun-kissed bodies more than, say, in Kazakhstan or China. Aussies are generally a friendly lot who simply love to party.”
The Stantons are to breakbeat what James Brown is to funk music; they have perfected and championed their art in an era when other genres of music have been popularised by mass consumerism. So what’s their secret? “We have always brought in tracks from anywhere and everywhere to be edited/remixed/retouched to fit into our sets alongside our own material,” Dom explains. “We love all good new music and we love slamming beats. We simply try to put these things together to create sets which make people enjoy being in front of very big speakers.”
Back in the early noughties I remember being introduced to the congenial art of broken beats when a friend handed me a fresh copy of the Plump DJs’ seminal A Plump Night Out. However it wasn’t until I garnered a copy of the now famous Stanton Sessions Vol 1 mix CD that I really chomped down hard on the shiny lure of funky breaks which is why it excites me to hear that the Warriors are working on a new album. This news is sure to leave cap-wearing beat boffins salivating in their air force ones.
“The album is nearly finished and we are very happy with it so far,” says Dom. “The sound is hard to categorise as each track is different in its own right. We have worked hard to bring bouncing beats, heavy basslines and dirty sonics matched up with a whole plethora of collaborations and extra ingredients. It’s certainly different from what we have made before and most importantly the demo tracks work well when we play/test them out.”
For those who have had the sweaty pleasure of wobbling their way through a Stanton Warriors live show, they will understand when I say the word ‘bootleg.’ No, not the Levi cut that falls nicely over your fake crocodile skin boots for a night out at a faux pub. I refer to, of course, the cheeky re-edits of well known tracks that the duo are famous for including in their dancefloor-friendly sets.
“We will have a few but we have a lot of tried and tested new original material from others and ourselves that we will be dropping,” reveals Dom. “It’s an exciting time for music at the moment and I can’t wait to drop a lot of the stuff we have on the Aussie crowd, who more than most enjoy new sounds. Deekline is doing some great ghetto house cuts at the moment and Diplo is making some slamming world beat-y numbers. There are lots of interesting dubstep-ish un-categorisable rolling vocal tracks out there from various spots.”
But these are just some of the tools that the Warriors frequently brandish from their sonic utility belt specifically manufactured by Wayne Corporation for their endless war on grime. Their reputation as big game players precedes them, having smashed big crowds on most continents with all the ease of a hungry Mike Tyson. Although constructing some of the world’s most danceable DJ sets doesn’t just come from years of practice downing liquor shots under massive canvas tents.
“A set needs form. Too many DJs go in with all guns blazing with their biggest tracks and then run out of steam halfway through,” Dom feels. “A set also needs a variety of sounds, tight mixing, momentum, excitement, tension in parts, exclusive bangers and lots of Jack Daniels. Without these parts, things can quickly get dull.”
Returning to Canberra for the Foreshore Summer Music Festival is an exciting prospect for the UK duo as they have some unfinished business down under. “It’s been a while since we have come to Canberra but we have great memories of the city,” recalls Dom. “The best being hijacking a hot air balloon after a gig. Canberra never looked so good from the air. But in regards to playing, people can expect some block-rocking booty bouncing bad ass punking bass music.”
Stanton Warriors will play at this year’s Foreshore Festival on Saturday November 28. Tickets can be purchased through Lexington Music, Moshtix, Ticketek and Landspeed Records from Thursday August 13.
