Bondax Interview: Something Good

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Lancaster electronic duo Bondax have been on the radar of discerning listeners for a few years now despite both Adam Kaye and George Townsend both being in their early 20s.

With the initial help of BBC introducing the pair began to make a name for themselves before Nick Grimshaw and Annie Mac shifted them further into the spotlight and towards the right audiences.

Their music has been described as genre transcending, touching on melancholic synths and dreamy hooks, with early singles 'Gold' (listen below) and 'You're So' attracting wider audiences, all intrigued by Bondax's future garage sound.

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A steady trickle of releases have kept fans keen and the Erik Hassle collaboration 'Love Me Blind' is the latest new music to come from the pair, reuniting the partnership responsible for 'Temptation' last year.

We caught up with Bondax ahead of their gig at TheSoundYouNeed festival and their return to the UK for a slew of dates and a WHP show at Old Granada Studios with DJ Shadow.

Bondax are back! What have you guys been up to this last year or so?

We did a big tour at the start of the year, we went to the states, Canada, Mexico, Australia and a few countries in Asia. That was an amazing and inspiring but exhausting experience. So much of the rest of the year has been focused on being in the studio and the gigs have been far more spread out! It's definitely been a very exciting year creatively.

Can we expect a lot more new music throughout the remainder of 2016?

Yes! We've been making so much music in the past couple of years and it's been very frustrating for us as we obviously want to get it out to our fans. However, there's been a lot of behind the scenes obstacles that have delayed us from releasing anything. This aside, expect a lot of new music from us towards the end of the year.

You’ve been working with Erik Hassle again, what does he bring to the table?

We always say that you have to know each other well and be on the same vibe when it comes collaborating succesfully. We hit it off with Erik from the start and we love making music with him. He's a lovely and genuine guy, which can be a rarity in the music industry.

You’ve been on the road all year realistically but how different will things be on a UK tour?

UK tours are always really fun as aside from our DJ friends that are on the lineups, we get to have a party with all our friends from home that are spread across the country, and friends we've made from previous nights.

Which of the UK dates are you most looking forward to?

We always look forward to playing the northern towns as we're northern boys. Manchester especially as we've been living here on and off for over two years  London is always a big show, despite being from up north, our first ever proper gig was in London and we've had countless memorable shows there.

You created the artwork for the UK tour and your Through The Fields mix, what inspired it, what does it mean to you?

The mix was about curating an array of tracks that would mirror what our ideal summers day would sound like. Although it's a little cliched I think we managed to pull enough different influences from across the globe and a selection of genres so the artwork is just the visual reflection of that.

Describe the thought process behind the track listing on TTF.

Aside from wanting to create our perfect soundtrack to a summers day, we really wanted to put together a mix of all the amazing music we've been listening to that's come out this year. It also seemed a good way to finally get some of our new tunes and edits out there.

The main thing we wanted to do with the selection was choose tracks that were different genres but still on similar vibes. We wanted to start quite chilled and quite jazzy and end on some bigger tunes. The last tune by Kaffe Creme is a belter; the tune of the summer for us.

What’s been your favourite event you’ve played at this summer? (there’s been a lot)

We always find that a hard question. Lost Village was really fun, the crowd was fun and the festival itself is really sick. We had three really fun sets at Forbidden Fruit in Dublin festival as well.

You’re also going to be a part of WHP 16, what does it mean to be playing alongside DJ Shadow and Lapalux?

Really excited for that show! A very strong memory for us is George's 18th when we snuck in with fake IDs to see DJ Shadow at WHP. We've always been massive fans of DJ Shadow and Lapalux was a massive influence for us when we were starting out too.

What are your memories of WHP, any particularly special nights?

One of our favourite gigs we've ever played was back in 2014 when we played live in room 1 of the Victoria Warehouse. It was a crazy experience for us as we grew up going to WHP and to play in the main room live in front of 4000 people whilst people sung our songs back to us which was very special.

You’re on of the acts representing the UK at TheSoundYouNeed in Malta, how excited are you to be a part of it?

That should be really fun. There's a lot of our friends playing that weekend so it should be a mini holiday for all of us. Olivier who runs TheSoundYouNeed is a great guy too.

Tickets for TheSoundYouNeed are available from the box below.

Check out other upcoming Bondax gigs.

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