PNAU

Australian dance/electro duos PNAU are best known for their outrageously entertaining live shows and contemporary approach to film clips which prominantly feature, of all things, dancing fruit!

The geniuses behind the comical mask are Nick Littlemore and Peter Mayes. The two met in Sydney and have been collaborating together since the late 1990's.

Though famous for the edgy new electronic sounds, PNAU have seen some setbacks. Their first release titled "Sambanova" in 1999 was ungratiously pulled from every record store in the country due to uncleared samples. It seemed the twosome emerged relitively unscathed; just one week later they received an ARIA award for Best Dance Release.

In a delayed turn of events Warner Music Australasia re-released the pulled record in 2000, which they quickly followed with vinyl release 'Need Your Lovin' Baby' in 2001.

After re-releasing the 'Sambanova' hit 'Follow Me' in 2002, the album ranked higher than their previous release in both the Australian ARIA Singles and Albums Charts and success was firing up.

Their second album is titled 'Again', although it was a quiet release in 2003 and didn't receive a great deal of airplay.

The speed hump didn't seem to discourage PNAU, and soon they were hard at work creating new masterpiece which would take over the charts and commercial airwaves in 07.

The pair finally reached consistent recognised success in the last year with the smash hit self-titled record released digitally on the 30th October 2007.

PNAU are at the height of their career riding high on the success of hit single 'Wild Strawberries' which placed at #100 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2007 and 'Baby' which quickly became a remix anthem on the club scene, and a crowd favourite.

Lately, Pnau is also showing UK audiences what Aussies have known for some time. It was Aussie actress Toni Collette who encouraged legendary hit maker Elton John to see the band while he was here on tour last December. He did, and was so impressed he bought dozens of copies of their latest album. He has since heaped lustrous praise on the duo and is such a big supporter, he's just signed them up with his management company.

"We talk more about art than business and hopefully introducing us to that part of London, artists like Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Sam Taylor-Wood," Nick Littlemore told The Daily Telegraph.

"His tenacity is something we admire because it's something we have had from day one, always trying to do something new. And when we're worried about money and how much it is going to cost to record there, he reminds us we'll be able to use the studio he is building there."

"To get a leg up from Elton John is an awesome thing - made better because he's not one of those pompous rich guys, he's totally normal and into art and music."

By Samantha Dickson