With their Poptronic tour about to dance across the length of the East Coast, Sneaky Sound System are riding high. MARIJA ZEKO caught up with ANGUS MCDONALD (Black Angus) as they finish up a whirlwind tour of the US.
Where did the name Sneaky Sound System originate?
Daimon and I started a night a while ago called Sneaky Sundays. As you might expect, it was on Sunday nights. Initially it was me DJ’ing and Daimon MC’ing and being the natural born ‘hype-man’ that he is, it was over the top. When we got Connie on board and started touring we needed a name and Sneaky Sound System seemed like a sensible option.
What was it like supporting Robbie Williams on his Close Encounters tour?
Incredible. The man is obviously an amazing performer and to tour with him was a great opportunity. That sort of chance doesn’t come along every day. Also, he’s a great guy. We had lots of fun.
What’s it like having ‘I Love It’ as the longest (70 weeks) charting single on The Australian Aria charts?
People keep mentioning this and whilst I try not to get too caught up in it, I can’t help but be really chuffed about it. It’s a pretty special achievement, especially in the context of this country’s pop history to date.
What was it like being one of the headline acts at this year’s Big Day Out, and has this confirmed your ‘made it in the big league’ status?
The Big Day Out tour was a lot of fun and it’s always a great opportunity to give your fans a little of something else. Whilst we started out in clubs, and that’s probably where we’re most comfortable, we always have a great time at festivals. As far as making it in the big league, that’s not something we’re too concerned with. Obviously we want to be successful, we want people to hear our music, but we don’t have set targets or a list of indicators or anything like that. It’s cliché, but at the end of the day we just want to keep writing music we like and performing it to people who like it.
What was the recent UK tour like?
Fantastic. We’re yet to have a bad time in the UK. The shows have been great and we’ve been lucky enough to meet a lot of great people along the way. You hear people bitch about how much of a drag the touring life is, but we always have fun, that’s why we’re here.
Do you have a strong following in the UK?
The UK has been really receptive to us, dare I say ‘embracing’ of us, which is great. People just seem to get what we do and where we’re coming from, so it all feels really natural and not too removed from where we started out. We’re really lucky in that regard.
Where is your strongest fan base?
I would be lying if I didn’t say Australia. We started out here, did the hard yards here, grew as a band here, this is where it all happened and we’re really grateful to all the fans that have supported us along the way.
You are headlining the Poptronica tour in April—are you excited about that?
Very excited indeed, although to be honest it would be a little bit weird if we weren’t headlining it because it’s our tour. But yeah it’s going to be especially good to go beyond the capital cities and play some shows a bit further out to the fans.
What else is going on for Sneaky Sound System in 2009?
More singles and more touring. With the singles, we’ve got some killer remixes lined up and ready to go that we’re pretty excited about. Obviously we’re proud of what we put out ourselves but hearing other people’s interpretations is always really exciting, and we’re equally excited to share it with everyone. Beyond that, there is some secret-squirrel collaboration stuff happening behind the scenes but I can’t really go into that right now.
Sneaky Sound System performs at Newcastle Panthers Friday, April 10, and the Doyalson RSL Saturday, April 11.