Sneaking Up

A lot happened in 2005. For Martin Novosel, better known as PhDJ, 2005 was Year One for his Purple Sneakers venture. “We've continued to work with musicians and small bands before they became big. We played music before it became popular and I consider myself to be lucky to do what I love. We've got clubs in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne and I feel fortunate to be in this position,” he says.

The Purple Sneakers brand has cast its net wide, from club nights to DJ sets – diversity, it seems, is what keeps Novosel interested. He's had a busy day and excitedly explains how he's had an idea for a song. “You know when you're in a pub and they give you a piece of plastic that beeps when you're meal's ready? I sampled bits and wrote lyrics that featured that sound.”

Since 2005 Novosel and fellow sneaker freaker DJ, Randall Stagg, have built quite a reputable business. It helps that Novosel's a savvy businessman and has expanded the Purple Sneakers 'brand' via their regular club nights, a no-holds-barred blog and their popular We Mix You Dance compilations. That they've supported the likes of Bloc Party, The Rapture and Miike Snow as well as appeared at Big Day Out and Parklike says much about their rise to notoriety.

We Mix You Dance remains popular. Novosel reckons it's not just the frantic arrangements and edits that helped sell Purple Sneakers (the first instalment of We Mix You Dance featured a whopping 39 tracks), but also the speed of their mixing. “We mix quickly as it could easily be a verse or a chorus followed by a breakdown. We play song-based music and generally start off at around 85 beats-per-minute and if people listen they'll hear the difference between us and someone like Girl Talk.”

Their original point of difference was that Novosel focused on the indie-dance scene. He says the indie definition soon expanded to encapsulate a broader and more diverse take on indie. “Everybody broadens their horizons as it's natural. Everybody's allowed to evolve and we've just naturally evolved,” he explains.

Alongside Stagg, Novosel has prepared edits for a distinct bunch of artists, Architecture in Helsinki, Jinja Safari and Yelle to name a few. However, Novosel says the time has come to focus on original production. “Once again it's about evolution. I started making edits and remixing tracks but then Randall came along, who is a production whiz, and at some point you back yourself to put a song out to the world.”

Their first original piece of artistry, Last One Standing, features vocalist Amy Pes of Sydney indie unit Tokyo Denmark Sweden, and is best tagged as indie synth-pop. “Last One Standing ended up being a band track and sits somewhere between indie, dance and club. We love reverb, which probably stops it from being an all-out club banger. Although the remixes make up for it.”

To keep things just that little bit more interesting, Novosel says the local release of Last One Standing will be launched via the new-fangled Purple Sneakers label. “Let's be honest, these days starting a label isn't that difficult. I looked back at the bands we've had through our clubs – bands we had before they were big, and realised that that's a form of A&R right there. Between us, we think we know what good music is and if we can help put good artists through our network, then there's no reason why we shouldn't.”

For now, he's content with their achievements but says to expect more as the fledging label grows. “We want to keep it loosely club music based. It's not just house or disco – it's anything that can play in a club. As long as we're releasing music that makes sense within our context, then we want to help those acts.”