On Shuffle

The Aston Shuffle's career has moved quite quickly over the past handful of years. Given that many DJs build their careers through decades of marination and refinement, The Aston Shuffle's rapid transformation from promising selectors and remix artists to bona fide mainstream-bothering producers and musicians over the past five years is, speaking frankly, somewhat unbelievable.

“I think, when we started The Aston Shuffle, we always intended to be more than the standard remix/DJ/single act,” Mikah Freeman - who rounds out the pairing with fellow producer and DJ Vance Musgrove - says of the duo's trajectory. “We always wanted to find a way to reinterpret our music through live shows; we always wanted to write our own material. I think that ambition was always there.”

“I mean, we never ever intended to do this as a career. That just sort of happened, really,” the producer laughs. “We were just individually writing records, we just started hanging out, writing records together, came up with The Aston Shuffle name, all of a sudden a few record labels were asking us for remixes - and it all just kind of snowballed from there, really. Eventually, we made a conscious decision to try and make this a career.”

Particularly impressive has been their most recent transformation from dancefloor kingpins into mainstream-friendly producers and songwriters. In truth, The Aston Shuffle have always had a foot in both camps (and, even after developing a live show, continue to DJ regularly). The release of their debut album Seventeen Past Midnight last year, however, saw them fully transformed into a successful pop act in their own right.

The album peaked at #45 on the ARIA charts upon release and was ranked by Rolling Stone Australia as one of the top five albums of 2011. Lead single Your Love hit #67 on the ARIA charts. Couple these successes with their position as triple j DJs, their #1 spot on inthemix.com.au's annual DJ poll in 2010 and their previous chart hits (2007's For Everyone topped the ARIA charts) and you have the makings of a pop-dance juggernaut.

“I don't think that stuff necessarily has much impact on us, actually. You know, when stuff like the Rolling Stone thing or inthemix thing happens, you're really stoked - and there will be private moments between the two of us where we kind of marvel at it - but, more than anything, that sort of stuff just makes you want to keep working,” Freeman reflects. “You know - heads down, bums up, onto the next.”

The pair is currently working on their next move. They've just released new single Can't Stop Now and will be touring the country throughout October. Next year will see the release of their sophomore artist album. One can't help but wonder if they'll be able to maintain the remarkable momentum they've enjoyed over the course of their career - whether they can keep progressing at such a rate?

“Internally, I think there's definitely pressure. You're always putting pressure on yourself to do better, to do more each time and always take it further,” Freeman says. “But I think that's something we've always done to ourselves and will always do to ourselves. You know, we're proud of the music. With our last album, we were kind of fumbling around for a long time and trying to figure out what we were doing. This album's different.

“In a way, I think it's more of a statement - of the kind of music we want to make, of who we are as artists. We're really stoked with it.”

The Aston Shuffle will be playing the following shows:

Friday 12 October - Villa, Perth WA
Saturday 13 October - The Toff, Melbourne VIC
Saturday 20 October - The Standard, Sydney NSW
Friday 26 October - Elsewhere, Gold Coast QLD
Saturday 27 October - Valley Fiesta, Brisbane QLD
Monday 31 December - Harbour Party, Luna Park NSW