It seems like just yesterday 2006’s Myths of the Near Future launched itself into the CD players, minds and ears of music lovers the world over. The tunes were addictive – the “OoooOoOoOo Aah-ahh’s” of ‘Golden Skans’ could not escape even your wildest dreams.

Seven years later, we’re still humming ‘oohs’ – and thankfully, Klaxons are heading back down under to sing along with us. The UK boys are heading the bill at our massive party with Modular – What We Do Is Secret – and according to Jamie Reynolds, they’ll be back with a new album to consume our minds forever…

————————-

Jayne (FBi): It’s been a little while since you’ve been to Australia… The headline shows here in late 2010 were at the very beginning of your Surfing The Void tour. Are you excited to be coming back?

Jamie (Klaxons): Yeah, you know, we absolutely loved it in Australia and can’t wait. Absolutely.

So you’re playing the Splendour in the Grass festival and the only other show you’re playing is a live DJ set for a Modular party, helping to celebrate FBi Radio’s 10 years on air! Has community radio been a help to Klaxons?

Yeah, absolutely! We wanted there to be a little pocket of songs that sound good coming out of a car, whether it’s driving down the road or you know, in a place where the music’s on in the background. Being on radio has always been a massive part of our pop aspirations.

We’re big supporters of Klaxons here at FBi! So how does DJing compare to playing live instruments?

It’s completely different. It’s strange. I mean, it’s not as kind of hands-on and crazy, but it’s fun to watch people go (sort of) as mental as they do to the live shows. It’s just something I’ve been doing for years and I just love making parties, really.

Yeah, it must be a completely different vibe in the audience. What kind of songs should we expect to hear from your sets?

I think we’ll play a bit of house and disco and techno records. Stuff that’s come out over the last year or so. Some old classic tracks that we love, you know. We’ll bring the party.

I bet you will bring the party, but just in case, do you have any emergency floor fillers?

Yeah, my tune of the last however long is the song, “The Giver” by Duke Dumont. Love that track! That’s the staple for the moment. It’s been going on for the last six months. Hopefully you can come along and yeah!

I heard you’ve been collaborating with James Murphy from LCD Sound System and also the Chemical Brothers on some new tunes. Should we be expecting a new album?

Yeah! We’re almost finished. Literally in the last couple of weeks we’ve been putting it together and getting it all little extra bits in. It’s almost there and good to go. We’ll be playing half of it when we get going in a couple of weeks.

So, why has it been so long since Surfing the Void? What have you guys been up to?

I think it’s sort of like, we continued touring for a while, we thought a lot about normality and settled down with our lives in London for a bit and then sort of got on with the process of writing a record, and we’ve just been writing songs and working really hard. We’ve been busy!

And with this new album that’s coming up, have your ideas changed much since your very first album, Myths of The Near Future?

Yeah! I mean, our first record was very much, four boys who didn’t know each other and who were, just spewing all their ideas onto the page. This album’s been sort of old friends meticulously going through the songwriting and production process to make a great sounding dance record.

So it’s a little more personal, would you say?

It’s incredibly personal, I think, in comparison to records we’ve made in the past. This one matters closer to the heart and experiences over the last few years, whereas the first one’s stealing other people’s ideas and kind of helping putting them back out there.

Who would be the ultimate person you would like to collaborate with?

Good question… I don’t know actually. I think that what we’re doing now has pretty much been a dream. I’ve been a massive fan of Tom from The Chemical Brothers. It’s been my dream since I was like, seventeen. Just to think that we just made a record with him, it blows my mind.

That’s awesome. Now – it’s kind of off the topic – but I once heard that the astronaut cat on the award winning cover of your second album is actually your very own cat! Is this true?

He’s my cat, yeah!

Oh, no way! Is he a fan of your music?

(Laughs) Erm, no. If something comes on, he kind of just goes out and does his own thing. He’s not really interested in much, to be honest.

Well, he certainly did a very nice pose on the cover and won you a few awards.

He looks good. He looks fantastic. He’s still good looking.

So, your first album, Myths of The Near Future was a really important album to many people, including myself. Could you ever pick a favourite track?

My favourite track off our first record? Ah. Good question…I think it’s Gravity’s Rainbow. Just because that was the first like, we just spewed it out without thinking and it just had the magic and I think that was the key track for us going on working together.

What :: FBi Radio and Modular present ‘What We Do Is Secret’
Who :: Klaxons (DJ set), Softwar, Movement, wordlife, Slow Blow, Club Mod DJs, Otologic, Kilter, Moonbase Commander, Meare, Kato, Mike Who, Kali and Max Gosford)
Where :: Oxford Art Factory
When :: Saturday 27th July, 8pm
How Much :: $23.50 from moshtix

Read more from Jayne Cheeseman