A.Skillz & Z-Trip Are Pushing The Boundaries With Their New Collab

"We talk a lot about juicing and cleansing and vitamins and exercise," Sciacca reveals. "We're constantly trying to just maintain our health in the middle of all this." Mills laughs, "And then we'll go out and smash some massive fish tacos and completely go back on everything we've just talked about!" Yet the DJ mates also endlessly discuss "records". And it's this love of music that is the foundation of A To Z.

Today, the party faves are on a conference line – the outgoing Sciacca calling from his San Diego base, with a more chilled Mills in London. Mills admits that, being 10pm locally, he was "falling asleep on the sofa". Regardless, he's happy to be heading Down Under, evading the British winter. "My car breaks down if it's too cold!" Mills laments. "My car is, like, 'It's just too cold – I don't work now.'"

As b-boys, Mills and Sciacca both started out as turntablists – Mills subsequently associated with the nu-skool breaks movement (though once remixing Queen!) and Sciacca, from Phoenix, Arizona, pioneering the rock/hip hop mash-up (he's dubbed "the Rick Rubin of the DJ world"). Mills previously partnered Krafty Kuts (a fellow Breakfest 2017 draw) as the TrickaTechnology sound system.

"I've never been more excited about playing a set than this  Breakfest  set coming up."

Bonding on the circuit, Mills and Sciacca had long pondered a joint project, the latter explains. "We've always wanted to get together and collaborate on something – whether it's a remix or just us working, jamming, making a new tune or whatever. But DJing obviously is the thing that comes most natural to us. So we were like, 'Hey, we should do this at some point.'"

The DJs were approached to play California's Boogaloo: Art Car & Music Festival last April, "jumpstarting" the A To Z enterprise. "Since it was kind of the test, the launch of it, the beta test of it, we were like, 'We should really do this bigger and do it in a grand-scale,'" Sciacca continues. "So we talked about collaborating and making it happen again – and that's when Breakfest reached out. They were like, 'Hey, do you guys wanna do it here?' This is really gonna be kind of like us turning the volume up to 11."

Inevitably, two DJs spinning funk, hip hop, bass, rock, everythang, on four turntables requires some prep. And so the A To Z-ers recently bunkered down in Sciacca's studio, sharing tunes and, Mills says, "vibing". "We've had to put a little bit of planning into this, because it's really hard to turn up and play a set as short as about an hour and 15 minutes and it be completely off-the-cuff – it's such a short amount of time to squeeze in everything you wanna get in."

Indeed, without parameters, their set could quickly descend into chaos, too. "We got a rough plan, but there's room for movement in it." They will have a second session pre-Breakfest. "We're gonna be sort of rehearsing in the bat cave – wherever that is in Perth," Sciacca quips. Above all, the duo are determined to deliver a set "specific" to Breakfest – an event they've both headlined independently and cherish. Sciacca talks of A To Z creating bespoke tracks, remixing or "reinforcing" them. Mind, punters should expect curveballs.

"There's some things in there that may totally fucking suck," Sciacca cracks up. Mills concurs, "We might have got caught up in the moment!" However, these DJs value risk-taking. "We're trying to push new boundaries – even within our own sets and with each other and with the crowd," Sciacca stresses.

The stalwart DJs have distinct musical identities in the dance scene – with A To Z touted as "The Battle Of Breakfest". But Mills and Sciacca consider their union a chance to learn from, and challenge, each other – moving out of their respective "comfort zones". The DJs do give each other space. "We don't have to both be striving to get the spotlight," Sciacca notes. "It's about ebb and flow. What ends up happening is the whole set itself becomes the bigger thing."

Any flossing aside, A To Z are legit amped for Perth. "I can honestly say I've never been more excited about playing a set than this Breakfest set coming up – this is the most excited I've been for a set," Mills declares. Adds Sciacca, "I think we're gonna fucking murder it."

Mills and Sciacca are still pursuing productive solo careers. Mills, who presides over the label Jam City, has just wrapped a mix due in early 2018 ("it's a little bit late to drop it now near the festive season"). Meanwhile, Sciacca has had "a crazy week". The American, who moonlights as LL Cool J's tour DJ, orchestrated a "very last minute" music tribute to the legendary MC for the Kennedy Center Honors (recognising lifetime achievement in the performing arts) in Washington DC – wowing Mills.

"He's the first hip hop artist to get honoured at the Kennedy Center in 40 years," Sciacca states. At the gala, he DJed alongside an all-star billing of MCs, including Black Thought, revisiting LL classics.

"I'm just so excited that it came off slick. [LL] got a two-minute standing ovation – and he loved it. I'm really proud of it. It's a big deal. The first DJ to ever be in the Kennedy Center, honouring the first hip hop artist to ever be in the Kennedy Center – and that's the right guy to honour. So I'm stoked."

A.Skillz and Z-Trip bring A To Z to Breakfest on Boxing Day. Check out the festival's website for all the details.