Midnight Juggernauts in Sunny L.A.: Part 1 of 2
by Lynn Lieu | 11.05.2009

With the release of their first full-length album, Dystopia, in 2007, the guys of Midnight Juggernauts are now on the brink of a second full-length release due out in 2010. The Melbourne, Australia band has been releasing material since 2005 with its first self-titled EP, back when the trio was still a duo consisting of Vincent Vendetta and Andrew Szekeres. "When we started off, we played small little clubs and friends' houses and stuff like that," Szekeres says. Back then, small shows kept the band busy as they created lyrics on the fly: "I remember those early shows where sometimes we would come up with songs the day we were performing and they wouldn’t always have lyrics, so sometimes the lyrics would be improvised from like a Chinese restaurant menu," Vendetta says, "but now that we're a professional, hard-working band, those days are over." And with Daniel Stricker permanently signing on after Dystopia, the trio was complete and began touring in Australia, Europe and selectively throughout the United States. Recently, while making a stop in Los Angeles fresh off a flight from New York City, the threesome took a breather over burgers on Sunset Boulevard to talk with FILTER about their travels and appreciation for sunny California:

Andrew Szekeres: Although we’ve spent a lot of time in Australia playing, we've always wanted to spend time out of Australia.

Vincent Vendetta: Since the last album, we actually got an apartment in Paris that we base ourselves out of when in Europe since we always just travel doing European and U.K. festivals. It's a place to return to. That's really good for Europe and the U.K.; however, we don’t get to visit the U.S. as much as we would like to. But I think next year we may have a base in the U.S. It’s funny, the U.K. can be very gray and cold, and so I much prefer sunny Southern California.

Daniel Stricker: It's actually pretty nice but it's like, fucking hot. I remember one time we played a festival and it was raining and the festival wasn't set up properly and there was a cover to just the end of the stage and the rain was coming into the stage and Vince got electrocuted…

Vendetta: [Laughs] Yeah, I mean it wasn't like it was a huge electrocution, but I remember just seeing all the water coming down on all the electrical equipment and I thought, "Oh, I’m going to be in trouble." And as soon as I went to the microphone I just felt my body shake and thought, "Oh, this might be the end of this set."

Stricker: But, we kept going. It was pretty tough though.

Vendetta: When we first played in New York on the Justice tour, we played at this venue called Terminal 5, which had just opened that week so it was still semi-under construction. During our set, I think there was a burst pipe or something and it just started drenching our sound guy in water. It was so dangerous, and during our set we just saw them trying to keep everyone dry.

Stricker: You never really have a home, you're always moving.

Vendetta: I didn't have a home for 14 months; all my stuff was in boxes. It's a pretty crazy way to live. Apart from our place in Paris where I finally got to have my own room again. I could put a poster on the wall.

Stricker: We were living in Paris for two months when the summer festivals started. Maybe we'll get a place on the beach in California.

Come back tomorrow as Vincent Vendetta, Andrew Szekeres and Daniel Stricker talk about transportation, self-management and their new album.