Flight Facilities Chat Entering A New Era, Reinvigorating Sydney Night Life & More
Flight Facilities chat moving on from their legacy dance music record 'Down To Earth', entering a new era in the form of 'FOREVER' and staying in touch and connected with Australian underground dance music.
Flight Facilities (made up of Jimmy Lyell and Hugo Gruzman) are one of Australia's most prestigious dance music brands. With over 12 years in the game, their distinct style of electronic dance music that features some of contemporary pop music's finest has made them the hallmark definition of longevity in the Australian music industry.
Last year the duo released their highly anticipated, 8 years in the making sophomore record, Forever. The album tracked Lyell and Gruzman's learning acting as a chronicle of their experiences. What culminated was a playground of coloured experimentation, one that features some of the worlds best vocalists and top liners, (notably Chanel Tres and a duo of features from Broods) over era defining deep house inspired grooves.
The album feels like the celebration of the the country, and the world exiting from the global pandemic, and it's no surprise their homecoming tour has perfectly aligned with regulations being lifted. They'll be taking FOREVER across the country throughout March and April of this year to some of the countries best outdoor venues, with dates at Perth’s Red Hill Auditorium, Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Brisbane’s Riverstage, H
You can grab last minute tickets to the tour HERE.
Ahead of their massive performance in their hometown in Sydney this weekend, we chat to the duo about moving on from their legacy dance music record Down To Earth, entering a new era in the form of FOREVER and staying in touch and connected with Australian underground dance music.
How do you think your attitudes have changed in terms of performing live over the past two years? How has being away from it all changed your appreciation for it/the beauty of it, or in literal terms have the things you want to deliver from a live show changed?
James: It just made us appreciate what we do, because it’s unicorn shit. Having not be able to do our job for a while made us realise how lucky we are that our job is what it is. There was a point before the dawn that I thought we would never do this again. It was at that moment I reflected on how great it truly was. That being said, it’s not being as easy as just going out there and doing it again. I’ve been trying to explain the headfuck of not doing your job for 2 years then having 20,000 people in front of you. It’s totally wild and been such a rollercoaster. Everyone has had a rollercoaster, but more than anything I’m just feeling lucky.
Hugo: I also think it’s made me realise that nothing is certain. After a certain amount of years of postponing shows, you just want to shut up and take it as it comes as there is no guarantee of anything. Two years ago it would have been ridiculous to say we were doing this tour. It sounds insane, but somehow we are here.
How did the roller coaster infiltrate your creative process? Did not performing live have an obvious and practical effect on the way in which your motivation/music creation was done?
James: We were finishing our record as it was all breaking, and even into the second year. It got hard to create because it didn’t feel like we were creating for a purpose. Like everyone, we had to put plans back 5 or 6 times, and it didn’t feel right or inspiring but we had to push through that anyway. It was tough at the end to say we were doing it. Our industry is very lucky, as my appreciation for my own job has risen dramatically, we were the first ones to aid Bushfire Relief when it started happening and then something as big and encompassing as the pandemic, our industry was forgotten. It was bloody tough at the end there finding inspiration to finish the record. There were some days at the end where me and Hugo were grinding. We couldn’t even talk to each other about it with huge decisions needing to be made.
Hugo: Our industry sort of rocked up as the unfortunate partner in a toxic relationship, once we were struggling we were straight to the back of the line.
The debut album was 7 years ago, and you’ve toured everywhere off the back of it. Now with Forever out, and massive local dates. What was the feeling like of playing shows before the new album, was there a weird comfort with your live set, or did it drive you nuts?
Hugo: We still had a few pieces that were new, the odd extra track. It didn’t feel like it was dramatically changing over the years though. It was weird. I always think people will question it and say, ‘How are you guys still playing the same shit from 10 years ago’. I don't know, it worked. Now it's so exciting to have a bunch of new music in one drop to see how it works its way through the weeds. People have a fondness for older work, and I think we could have got away with just continuing to play that stuff. For our own sanity, it's necessary to have new bits and pieces.
James: It was getting to a point where it was cool, everyone loves the old stuff and it resonates. I was telling myself that we were in an era where people were listening to a full body of work rather than the real single time that we are now in. I feel like we were really lucky with ‘Down To Earth’ that it was one of those things that stuck for so many people for a long period of time.
Does performing new music re-enter a phase of anxiety or is it pure excitement and eagerness at this stage?
Hugo: The main thing I’m apprehensive of is that you’re still compared to the old music and hoping this record has the same longevity. I think it’s wrong to expect we will have the same. We hope its satisfactory enough to bleed into the consciousness of listeners so they can listen to it for an extended period of time. Everyone is so willing to take something rattle it and throw it away in quick succession, so it puts even more pressure on us. There was pressure there, and because people kept listening to the debut record it was softened a bit. The main thing I want to get out of it is that while there’s hype initially, once that comes down the record remains a reliable listen for people.
The Airfields event is happening this weekend in Sydney. There’s this idea of reinvigorating this city that’s been discussed a lot over the past 5 years. Lots of people talk about the glory days of this city, and a generation of electronic artists that it birthed. A lot of it has gone completely underground. How important was this idea of “showing” Sydney off, or reinvigorating the city in the creative process of this show?
James: Super important. It would be extremely egotistical to time the opening of the world with the show, but we’ve got pretty lucky with it. We’ve tried to do what we could to try reinvigorate our fans, but any part of Australia that is listening. We all haven’t been able too do this for so long. I was so worried it’d get cancelled. We chose big outdoor venues for that reason. It’s such a big play.
Hugo: I always think about the city and the era where there was almost a festival every month. I always think about afterwards, where there were people out everywhere. If you went to King’s Cross or Oxford Street there were thousands of people wandering the streets in their festival gear. That was the culture in itself. It’s weird to think that that suddenly disappeared. Venues used to anticipate big nights because XYZ festival had finished, and the festival would be crawling with people to see music. I’d really like to see that aspect of nightlife and social life again. It’s going to be great to have them at the show, but afterwards to have some life breath through the surrounding areas.
The lineup. Talk through Jayda G and CC Disco. Where did you see them first doing their thing, what do you admire about them both?
James: For Jayda, I got this mix sent to me by her. Listening more and more it was just jam after jam after jam. After watching her Boiler Room I was so blown away. I haven’t seen her live and I’m so excited.
Hugo: I played with CC:DISCO! One night in Thredbo and we just had such a good night out in the snow. I think she was amused by me being a drunk pest. She played a really good set and it's really nice, as her name suggests, it’ll be the perfect vibe for Saturday afternoon. We’ve got a massive act to follow in all of them.
On that too, you’re extremely passionate still about Australian music and underground dance music as well. I feel like there’s often a divide between underground dance music and anything that leans slightly commercial, and you have achieved this perfect crossover, with the music and the curation of the tour. How important is staying grounded? Staying tapped in? Both on a personal, mental level and also from a cultural external standpoint?
Hugo: Our references are deeply from both. We take the cheesiest pop music and we try to fuse it with the things we like that's cooler or unusual that you’d play in a DJ set. We are really lucky we hit both of those sides of things but the pretentiousness is so unnecessary. I get that people lie to have songs to themselves, and its cool to feel like nobody knows it. Ultimately, if it's good music you want people to hear it and share it, and that benefits your cause. We’ve all felt the feeling of, ‘I don't want anyone to have this and ruin it’, but at the same time, it influences the culture in a way that benefits the broader spectrum of music.
James: Totally, and thats so important to stay on that line, and that’s what we’ve tried to do for 10 years. In a DJ set you always try to entertain and also educate. Our roots are deeply in the Sydney club scene, and that all went back to Bang Gang. Their style was to mix techno and pop, and that was the exact thinking we’ve carried into our own style. In that era it was cool to be pop as long as you did it in an almost ironic sense. We aren’t short of abit of irony ourselves with the pirate hats on, called Flight Facilities. In that, that’s already taking people out of their shell, or making them a bit more vulnerable. Mixing that in with a tinge of techno or Chicago house, is the juxtaposition Flight Facilities have always strived for. Hopefully we can stay on that tangent. In releasing a new record there's always questions over relevance. We’ve been so lucky to skate that line and that is our bread and butter.
Words by Parry Tritsiniotis
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