The Aston Shuffle are Australian duo Vance Musgrove and Mikah Freeman. As DJs, producers, remixers, selectors, and radio presenters, they have established themselves at the forefront of the Australian dance music scene and are forging a growing presence on the world stage.
Check out our interview with the guys, where we spoke about their new single, and the growing dance music scene in Australia.
T.H.E – Hey guys! How are you, and what have you been up to?
The Aston Shuffle – We’re great thanks! We’ve recently finished a tour of Australia roadtesting a bunch of new unreleased music. Was great to see the initial reactions to the songs on the dance floor. We’re currently in London right now finishing off the songs. We’re still doing our weekly Friday Night Shuffle radio show Triple J and dropping our monthly mixtape called Only100s featuring our favourite house releases for the month.
T.H.E – Love the vibe that your new single – Everything I Got, carries with it. How long has it been in the works?
The Aston Shuffle – Glad you’re feeling the vibe. We’re blown away by the response it has received so far. The song itself was in the works for some time as we were doing a lot of touring around that time so we ended up working on it in various locations like Melbourne, London and New York.
T.H.E – Up next on the touring front is Tomorrowland for you guys. How do you plan a set for a festival of that magnitude?
The Aston Shuffle – We’re really looking forward to our upcoming performance on the Potion stage at Tomorrowland. The Magician has curated an amazing lineup this year. To be sharing the stage with Claptone, MK, Boston Bun, Pete Tong & The Magician is a career highlight for us. In terms of planning our set, we don’t usually do that but I dare say we’ll be playing a lot of our own music to showcase the Aston Shuffle sound.
T.H.E – Your sounds have evolved ever since the Tommy Trash remix of ‘Sunrise’ exploded globally. What kind of process do you follow when you sit down to make music?
The Aston Shuffle – We don’t really have a set process in mind when it comes to writing music. We just usually vibe out in the studio and see what happens. We’re both inspired by different things so the initial writing phase can be quite an individual thing but then we share these ideas and pick and choose which ones feel like Aston Shuffle songs
T.H.E – Which artists/ songs inspired you guys to become producers?
The Aston Shuffle –
Mikah: After hearing house music anthems from the likes of Armand Van Helden, Paul Johnson, Roger Sanchez & Daft Punk I become super intrigued about dance music production.
Vance: Stardust’s ‘Music Sounds Better With You’ was a big early dance influence that drew me into wanting to become a producer
T.H.E – Australia is all set to host ULTRA next year. How has the dance music evolved in the country as there are some big entities like Armin van Buuren’s ASOT festival, that are touring/ have toured the country?
The Aston Shuffle – Australia loves a dance music festival. Over the years we have had the pleasure of playing at The Big Day Out, Field Day, Stereosonic and Electric Gardens to name a few. Up until a few years ago, a lot of festivals here relied heavily on the international artists to sell tickets but after the explosion of artists like Flume & Rufus, we started seeing a lot more lineups featuring local artists. it’s a really exciting time for Aussie dance music.
T.H.E – What can we expect from The Aston Shuffle in 2018/19?
The Aston Shuffle – Lots of new music on the way and plenty of touring to come hopefully!
