Midnight Juggernauts - Out of this World

Midnight Juggernauts will hit the road in August to promote the release of their debut album Dystopia. At times dark, dirty and haunting, at others it’s fun, catchy and bright. Fusing elements of rock, dance and electro, the album projects a sound that reflects everything cutting edge in alternative music right now.

Listening to Dystopia, its easy to imagine the Juggernauts as the archetypal indie DJs; living in a nightclub, playing music until sunrise, rarely seeing the light of day and living on coffee and cigarettes. But Andy Juggernaut is far more personable and friendly than expected, explaining that for the band, their interest in music wasn’t about cashing in on the latest indie fad. These boys have been making their own brand of electro synth-rock since back in high school- way before it was cool to do so.

“We weren’t really conscious of what other people were doing. When we first started we would just play on line ups with rock bands and we always felt like the odd one out,” says Andy.

“Here in Melbourne when we started to do our thing we were always interested in synthesisers, and I think we wanted to incorporate synthesising into our music, but we kind of wanted to have a rock approach,” he says.

Dystopia is a reflection of that ardor, but the subject matter is off on another tangent altogether. While indie bands like the Arctic Monkeys and Good Shoes delve into lyrical social commentary, and others like Snow Patrol are steeped in the tradition of romantic love balladry and broken hearts, Midnight Juggernauts have departed from the norm. Actually, they’ve departed from Earth.

Dystopia delves into a complex discourse on worlds other than our own, and notions of anti-utopic societies, says Andy.

“We get asked a lot about the meaning of the title being kind of referencing a totalitarian kind of world,” he says.
“It’s more that we were putting together the tracks of the album and there was a lot of different styles and different ways we could take [it]. I think some of it’s quite dark and some of its hot and light. We were thinking of titles and we just liked the idea of creating another world and the album has that feeling,” he says.

“Dystopia kind of summed that up. It is the idea of another world. It’s something where we thought it was creating more [the opposite of] a utopian world. Not so much a dark and repressive society, it’s more about something where it’s a little chaotic and there’s less boundaries, something like that,” he says.

Listening to tracks from the album, it sounds exactly as Andy depicts it. The eerie atmospheric rush and distant sirens of ‘Into the Galaxy’ sound like a space odyssey, while the epic ‘Scorpius’ has all the demonic sonic terror of the soundtrack to a mass alien invasion. Alternatively, tracks like ‘Shadows’, with its euphoric melody and funky upbeat bass line, showcase a more hopeful theme. The exploration of other worldly concepts is carried throughout the album consistently, and with a surprising degree of articulation considering how complex a subject it is to explore. Certainly, it’s a pretty impressive feat for a debut album.

In fact, things are going pretty well for the band at the moment. In August alone, on top of their album release and tour, they’re supporting Bloc Part on their Australian dates and will play at the Splendour in the Grass festival in Byron Bay.

In preparation for their impending tour, the Juggernauts have had to make some changes to their live show because of the demanding nature of their new material.

“It’s interesting because I guess a lot of the tracks on the album are quite different to what we’ve played live previously and we’ve had to spend a lot of time thinking about how we’d recreate the album,” says Andy.

“There’s other instruments now that we’re using like acoustics and glockenspiels and things that we’re trying to get in to recreate the feeling of the album. We’re still kinda getting there,” he says.

Part of that process was adding a new Juggernaut to the line up, drummer Dan Clicker, who used to sit behind the kit for Sydney band The Valentinos. After having played with the band in Sydney on numerous occasions, Clicker scored a permanent gig with the band when the Juggernauts decided they wanted a full-time drummer for their live shows.

“It’s definitely changed the dynamic. Being just two of us for quite a while and now having Daniel join, it’s made a big difference to our live show. It’s just taken it to another level and he brings a lot of really raw energy. It’s taken us from a band that played live and sounded kind of electronic into a proper band now,” says Andy.

Where the Juggernauts have succeeded is in there their ability to blend the line between electro and rock, essentially opening up the two different spheres of fans from each genre to a whole new sound. It’s a tactic that seems to be working, with the Juggernauts having recently been nominated for a Jack Award for Best Live Performers.

Despite any success they’ve had so far, however, the band is determined to stay independent and have had a completely hands-on approach to making the album.

“We’ve made choices over time to remain independent, its not that we were against signing to a major label but it always felt like every time there was that possibility it never suited us. We thought we were better off doing stuff on our own,” says Andy.

“It’s a lot of work but I think ultimately it’ll be really rewarding when we get through it and know that it’s all our work and it’s our album.”

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