Midnight Juggernauts in Sunny L.A.: Part 2 of 2
by Lynn Lieu | 11.06.2009

It’s been two years since new recorded sounds leaked from the Melbourne, Australia band, Midnight Juggernauts, but that wait ended with the release of "This New Technology," a track from the upcoming, yet to be titled, full-length album due out next year. But, just because the trio, Vincent Vendetta, Andrew Szekeres and Daniel Stricker, wasn't releasing new music doesn't mean the group wasn't busy: The guys have been traveling, redefining what "home" means, reconfiguring their sound and all the while self-managing. Here, we continue our discussion with the Juggs, shedding light on what they've been up to and of course, the new album.

Is there is difference playing in Australia verses playing in Europe or the U.S.?

Andrew Szekeres: They're like five major cities that you play in Australia. If you do a tour, you fly everywhere; you wouldn't drive. It's a bit limiting there because it's a smaller population and you have to keep coming up and down the coast to keep playing. You can only get to a certain point before you need to leave…When we're in the U.S. or even when we're in Europe or the U.K. we do a lot of stuff on the bus. It's always fun waking up in a new city; it's the amazing part of living on a bus. Flying would seem like the best way to do it, but it's not because you’ve got to check in heaps of equipment.

Vincent Vendetta: It may have been good once upon a time like pre-9/11 before security just became a major nightmare.

Daniel Stricker: The only way flying would be good is if you had your own plane or something.

Vendetta: We have been offered that in the past. There was a show that we didn't really want to do, but then they were like, "What if we offered to fly you down in a private plane and we'll give you money and a suitcase?" So we decided to do it.

Stricker: You can't say no to that.

Vendetta: It sounds like a scene from Lethal Weapon or a James Bond film.

Have you been doing a lot of traveling lately beside these recent U.S. stops?

Vendetta: Pretty much we've been hiding away writing and recording. There are a few things we've been juggling, but it's all been about getting this album together… We mastered it the night before we arrived in New York City, so it's all really fresh. We don't have a set date yet but we are aiming for March/April next year.

What can you tell us about this album now that the single, "This New Technology" has been released?

Vendetta: We wanted to have a different approach for this next album. It's evolved in a different way. It probably sounds a lot more live and raw, but it still has dancey elements and lots of synthesizers and old analog equipment and new toys we've been playing with.

Stricker: We went at it the other way around; we started with the live stuff and then added the dance production elements—the stuff we had on the last album was added after the live stuff so, you get more of a human element. But, it's still got that electronic sound.

Szekeres: I think we were all really happy about how things went with our last album but you're always trying to improve so you never really sit back and go, "Gee, this is really great what’s going on." There's always more we want to achieve and when you have a new album you make yourself start again; you got to prove yourself with new material again. I think you have to have that attitude to keep going.

Stricker: We just wanted to do something that reflected where were at…I think we’ve gotten better at playing together. It's still very electronic but from a live perspective.

So, I heard you guys are really into self-management what has that meant for this album?

Vendetta: We've always had a DIY approach to everything from the early days when we started the band ourselves and released the EPs ourselves—we did the music clips ourselves—probably because if you don't have much money it’s the easiest option. Once the band starting getting big and we started getting offers from labels and management we already had a system in place which worked for us, so we didn't want to change that too much. We just like having control over everything.

Even if you were offered a plane?

Vendetta: Well, I wouldn't say we wouldn't be enticed if the offer was right.

Stay updated with the Midnight Juggernauts on their profile pages:

Watch "This New Technology" video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcMsG8FYxXA
Click here to purchase the EP: itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=333506935&s=143441