Midnight Juggernauts To Release Own Toothpaste At Sugar Mountain

Melburnian mainstays and apparent entrepreneurs Midnight Juggernauts are diversifying their interests with the impending launch of their enigmatic company MJX at the forthcoming Sugar Mountain Festival.

That's what we've been told, at any rate, but the most surprising thing about the entire exercise is that it appears to be legitimate, despite first impressions to the contrary.

"Yeah, it's a bit unorthodox," band member Vincent Heimann, aka Vincent Vendetta, laughs. "It's an idea where - I guess it began when we were in China. This was last year, and we became friends with some designers there who were working in manufacturing, and they had some interest in some factories over there, and then we ended up discussing collaborating on some products and ideas. Then, eventually, it became, as we explored into the idea further, it became more and more serious, and we thought, 'There's actually a lot of potential there to create something original,' so late last year we decided to actually take it one step further, and we discussed creating this company together, so it's been an enjoyable project but it's actually genuine. It's 100% legit."

The average punter could be excused for not knowing where to draw the line between art and reality, especially given that the MJX website so frequently seems to straddle it. While, for example, it's entirely plausible that a band could be looking to broaden their revenue streams by developing their own toothpaste, the appearance of words like "psychoacoustic" and the promise of products such as a "smart oven" in the works instinctively send eyebrows skyward. However, Heimann says, Midnight Juggernauts are indeed developing the promised products.

Well, most of them, anyway.

"We're actually making products and we're selling them," he says, sans evident irony. "It is quite unusual, and I guess initially it was... I was just seeing it as, like, an interesting project, where it was a comment on the music industry and art, and... but as we went further, we thought there's actually a lot of potential to do something unique here, where it kind of ties in with commerce and free trade and global markets, and we were discussing all these different ideas, but we were surprised that the people there were saying, 'Oh, we can actually do that; it's easy for us to manufacture these items.' So it's an ongoing project where we're seeing how it develops, but it's all authentic.

"There's certain products which ... some scientists and microbiologists who are friends who are discussing possible ideas, which are a bit more ambitious; they probably won't be reaching production in the near future, such as DNA augmentation... but I guess on our website we have a Products page and a Research Development page, and the Products page is items which we're actually manufacturing, and the Research Development are much further afield. I guess we're just discussing ideas.

"It may not come out in that form ... a lot of them are just conceptual ideas in the Research Development area, but we're manufacturing all the more realistic items."

Among the "realistic" items presented on the website's product page are a therapeutic spritz energy spray, breath spray, energy drink, energy chocolate, energy health pills and, excitingly, toothpaste (not energy-enhanced, as far as we can tell).

In this digital age, the value of music, when you think about people - they won't pay for an album any more, but they'd gladly pay more money for a six-pack every week.

The impetus for the portfolio expansion is an understandable one; in an age when, as Heimann expresses, average consumers are willing to spend more on the temporary altered state promised by imbibing alcohol than they are on the lasting connection that exists with music, it makes sense that artists might be turning to more "traditional" frameworks to complement their creative pursuits.

"We're definitely taking it as steps beyond what would be expected," Heimann explains. "In the beginning, it was something which I personally just saw as, like, maybe a new media project and a comment on the industry, but as we further explored, we realised there was a lot of potential to make something ... which maybe people haven't seen or experienced before. It brought up a lot of other questions, like, in this digital age, the value of music, when you think about people - they won't pay for an album any more, but they'd gladly pay more money for a six-pack every week.

"And it's thinking about seeing music and art as... is it being pushed into this idea of being a commodity or presenting everything as a product now, and how does it compete with the realm of physical products? And we just pushed that further to where it kind of eventuated as a manufacturing concern. As we continued down that path, we saw that it opened more doors to get more creative in the product world as well. So even though it is a business, there's still a lot of creative ideas being explored, so it's not like a dead, corporate concern.

"It feels like we're in a foreign territory right now, but we're realising, when we speak with the people at the designers and the guy who runs this factory in Shanghai, he's very serious, and it has to be presented on a professional level, so we know that it has to be quite authentic and genuine when we're dealing with him, because it's all running to schedules and there's money involved and it has to be quite serious."

It will be a performance with music but then it's also a product launch, so we'll also have a spokesperson there and we'll try to express some of these ideas and this grand vision

"We'll have a few of the items [for sale]. Some are being sent through to us now; some were manufactured and we'll have quite a few which we'll be selling after the launch as well, but then there's others which will be prototypes, in limited runs, and we're also going to test out which... I guess it'll be half market research testing as well, so it'll be part product launch, part market research, but there'll be at least six items which will be available there.

"Every product has its own soundtrack. The pills have their own soundtrack, or the chocolate Dyna-Block has its own soundtrack, so it's trying to tie in the products with their own customised experience. It's been a labour of love; it's been a lot of fun, actually, exploring these ideas and just trying to look for more possibilities beyond music.

"I think that's been the most inspiring for us, is not being limited to putting out audio tracks and performing it live; we're really finding a lot of inspiration just looking for new experiences and new models and platforms to trial. Some will work, some won't work, but it's been enjoyable."

For more information about Sugar Mountain Festival, see our dedicated event page. Alternatively, find out how Midnight Juggernauts plan to deliver "A Better Forever" at the MJX website.