Classixx Tap Nancy Whang, Active Child And Kisses For New LP

We recently caught up with Michael and Tyler from Classixx to talk guest vocalists, studio fires and their June Mix Up residency on triple j. The duo embarked on the first leg of their Australian club tour last week but you can still catch them in The Gold Coast, Melbourne and Sydney this weekend.

How’s the album shaping up and who have you been working with? It’s coming together. We’re really happy with it. We called on friends for all of the guest vocals. Nancy Whang from LCD Soundsystem lends her voice to one song, Jesse from Kisses blessed the mic on another. Active Child did a vocal for the album’s slow jam. I think it’s pretty well rounded. There are dance songs and then there’s some slower groovy stuff. There’s some deeper stuff with some layers and then there’s songs that are straight pop.

What’s your studio set-up like at the moment? We record with Protools 9. We have a bunch of outboard gear that we use often. Our favorite mic pre is the Universal Audio LA-610. It’s tube and has got a great built in optical compressor in it. We use the Eventide 2016 stereo reverb pretty religiously. We have a Roland Space Echo, an old spring reverb, a bunch of pedals. We have a lot of synths and guitars as well including a Mini Moog Voyager that we use for most of our monophonic stuff and a Prophet ’08 that’s great for the poly stuff. We also have a Juno 106, dx7, all sorts of stuff. Our guitar collection is pretty extensive. We have a ’67 Gibson Trini Lopez ES-335, a Gretsch white falcon, a ’68 Fender Telecaster. We also have a Yamaha CP70 electric grand piano which we use all the time and love.

You guys are June Mix Up residents on Triple J – what can people expect to hear throughout the month? We’ll be playing some disco edits, some new and old house music, some of our favorite songs from our childhood and some of our friends’ music and a little of our own.

Describe the best and worst DJ sets you’ve played this year. Our best DJ set this year might have been in El Paso, TX. They have a great party there at this venue called Lowbrow. They’ve been been booking really great stuff and they’re growing a really cool little scene. When we played there was this electric energy. The kids are so enthusiastic and the venue has such a great vibe. I won’t say where but our worst gig happened pretty recently. The monitor went out and I got really flustered and was trying to fix it. When I got back to the CDJs, without thinking, I hit the cue button on the wrong one and it went silent. It was only a second or two but it’s pretty hard to come back from something like that.

Your studio is on fire, what five items do you salvage?
Easy:
1) Minimoog
2) Prophet
3) Eventide 2016
4) All our guitars (this is kind of cheating but they’re all in one case!)
5) Computer/hard drives.

CLASSIXX AUSTRALIAN TOUR

Gold Coast
Happy Endings @ Elsewhere
Friday 10 June

Melbourne
Roxanne Parlour
Saturday 11 June

Sydney
Adult Disco @ Oxford Art Factory
Sunday 12 June

Title Image Provided by Classixx

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