- Interview With Sneaky Sound System

It's been two years since Bondi-bred Angus McDonald, Daimon Downey and new convert Connie Mitchell, dropped their self-titled album an album destined to become the soundtrack to 2007. As they bagged six ARIA nominations (and won two), completely dominated local radio play lists, had every one of their tracks remixed within an inch of its 7" life, and embarked on sell-out gigs across the country, Sneaky Sound System pervaded social consciousness in a way that no other dance act (bar The Presets) have managed to do.

Not bad, considering that Sneaky, like it's follow-up the aptly titled '2', were self-released and funded by Angus and Damon's independent imprint, Whack Recordings. "They [Sony] weren't biting at it [Sneaky] and we wanted them to take chunks out of it!" laughs Daimon, when asked as to why the band didn't sign with a major. "What do you need to release an album? You need a barcode. So we started up Whack just so we could have one of those barcodes."

To be fair, Daimon doesn't really liking talking business.  The blond-locked, blue-eyed, bearded wonder is chowing down on steak while we chat at Fellini's, one of Potts Point's more upmarket eateries. For Daimon, Sneaky is just an extension of his and Angus' long-standing Epicurean approach to life; namely, don't let anything stand in the way of having a good time. So deeply rooted is this mentality, that even the cycle of international touring cannot shake it, as Daimon fondly recalls, "heading over to Ibiza to have a little bit of a party there," and then attending to SONAR Festival in Spain, not to play, mind, but "to check some bands out and hang with Dan Single and all the crew" before actually buckling down and playing a show at Glastonbury.

I kind of choke on my coffee. The Glastonbury? The Amy Winehouse punches fan, Jay-Z makes Noel Gallagher look like a tool Glastonbury? 'That's a pretty big deal', I tell Daimon, 'weren't you nervous?' He explains: "We were playing on the West Dance tent, which was one of 28 stages! We were kind of amazed at how many people came to our tent; I think it ended up being something like four thousand."

As it turns out, while there were quite a few expats, most of the crowd had never seen Sneaky play before in their lives. "Well that's the power of the Internet," he concedes. "A whole lot of Aussies probably told their English and German friends. I think people are just a bit more music-savvy now."

And musically-savvy kids are whom Sneaky Sound System are going to be relying on. They're still going it alone, but judging by the positive response to lead single 'Kansas City', it doesn't really look like it's going to be an uphill battle.

"Now that Connie's actually in the band, it was a much faster process, writing songs," says Daimon. "Rather than what we did first time around, which is have all these songs sitting and waiting for the right vocalist." He pauses to take a big bite out of what might actually be his breakfast, despite the fact that's it's 1:30 in the afternoon. "Connie's the star now," he admits, without a hint of animosity. "So we play to her strengths."

In acknowledging his partner's fame, Daimon has also made the definite move away from his MC Double D persona; indeed, he openly confesses that he barely raps on the album at all. "No, I do some vocoder parts on Lost In The Future and some other songs."

The aforementioned track, a tribute to the robot-rock sound made famous by Daft Punk, is just one of many which seem to see Sneaky steering towards darker lyrical themes. "I'd say they're more open-ended as compared to 'Pictures' or 'UFO', which were sort of meaningless party songs. They are full of hope and redemption," he announces, "but without closure."

What does have closure is Sneaky's live aspirations, especially given their phenomenal success on the touring circuit last year, culminating in a performance at Live Earth, witnessed by millions world-wide. "Everybody always told us we sounded better live than we did on the first record," says Daimon. "So we thought 'Fuck it, why don't we make an album that sounds live?'"

As such, group leader Angus' crack team of session players were all enlisted in the recording of '2', with even drums and percussion recorded in the studio - an interesting move from the dudes who made a multi-platinum album with only a computer.  But then, Sneaky were never ones to screw with the formula (the cover art remains the same as the first CD), but rather improve upon it, which results in many sonic experiments which will challenge their fanbase.

But what of their party-boy roots? "Sneaky Sundays [at Hugo's] still runs while we're away, with Dan Single and Ajax we've got a good posse holding it down." As for their famous Bondi digs near the Sunday markets, where you could often see Daimon hanging about in the latest, most outrageous Tsubi attire: "I still live there, but I also live in London. It's safe to say I'm living out of a suitcase at the moment." Ah, success. It doesn't come cheap when you're Sneaky!

By Jonno Seidler

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