The Plump DJs are packing their DJ bags and heading down under for The Good Vibrations Festival, and we know these boys are synonymous with bringing a "good vibe". Their last visit to our great southern land bought great joy and pleasure to all Break Beat lovers and we are all eagerly awaiting to see and hear what the dynamic duo are concocting for us in the studio laboratory.. Errin Gregory caught up with Lee Rous to get the 411 on what the Plump DJs have in store for us in the coming year.

You’ve produced some amazing Breaks anthems in your many years in the studio. Tunes like “Get Kinky”, and recently “System Addict”, being a constant repeater on stereos everywhere. Did you ever just sit back afterwards and think to yourself just how these tunes will be shaping the scene?
We never consider the scene or a scene whilst we are making a record. We are unsure about the current ‘shape’ of the breaks, electro or techno scenes. The fact that a wide variety of people are diggin' our sound is fantastic and we never take that for granted or expect it every time we make a record.

It has been said that after the release of “Eargasm” you two single handedly changed the course of the Breaks scene that ended up spreading out to the rest of the club scene worldwide. At the time, were you both thinking that a change of pace was needed to take it up a notch in the industry?
The biggest thing that motivates us in the studio is our need to find new ways to make people dance. We get bored of things very quickly and find that unless we are developing our sound, we get frustrated and the tracks don’t sing properly.

Which leads me to my next question. There has been a fair deal of speculation that the Break Beat scene has gone stagnant. Although the Plump’s have been a solid rock of production, what are your thoughts on this murmur – Break Beat is dead?
All scenes have their day. We think that as with D’n’B, Trance, Minimal, Prog, House, Garage and Electro, Break Beat has had its day of max popular focus. Though, that is not to say that it is dead. Break Beat is still being made and played in clubs, homes and cars all over the world. The same could be said for music from the other genres mentioned. With the new emerging Dubstep and Fidget scene bringing fresh life to the dance scene, we are happy bunnies. Like Rock, Punk, Indie or Folk, Break Beat will never die!

I personally get a little excited when I find out there is something new in the production wings for Plump’s. Is the sound you two are pushing out are still as bad ass as when you both started out, can we expect a change of pace again in the coming releases?
Expect the unexpected. We have been working 24/7 on new music and developing our deck show. We are on form and in the zone, looking forward to what will be one of the best festivals in 2010. It has been too long.

The rumour mill is turning at the moment, whispers of new material to be released soon, when can we expect some bouncing, Plumped up tuneage to pleasure the aural senses?
We can’t give much away but we have just remixed Deadmau5 “Strobe”, so expect to hear that for sure. We are also road testing a load of new music planned for release on Grand Hotel next year. We wait in anticipation; the crowd will be the judge.

There has been some amazing producers doing some fantastic remixes of some of your tunes, my personal favourite’s being anything that your selves and Stanton Warriors have worked on, do you both have a favourite track that was released?
The Stanton’s version of Shifting Gears was amazing, better than our original! That’s the one for us. We were well chuffed to remix their Precinct track in return.

You have both received accolades of awards for your music and contribution to the dance music scene; it would be safe to say that Plump DJs are veterans of dance music in your own right. Does being musical geniuses become a burden after awhile, or does the mantle of success spur you to be better than before?
Every time we hear some new fresh music, we are forced to raise our game. The rest of the world has the same ears as we do, so we gotta stay on top of things. It’s a great feeling doing something you love for a living, and the awards we have been given over the years have on many occasions brought us to tears. The need to create and the challenge of acceptance is a constant burden but we are happy to ‘take the weight’.

It has been mentioned that you have played for crowds of up to 30,000 people. Does the mass people factor ever make you nervous? 
Of course, we always want to perform to the best of our ability and that puts us under pressure. Though different situations bring different pressures, e.g. when playing an intimate club the energy transfer is immediate; the crowd see your every expression, movement and action in detail. You can also witness the crowd’s reaction to the music that you play upfront and personal. You can imagine this intense scene? Alternatively, when playing to 20,000 people you are far away on a stage, removed or cocooned in a DJ booth. You feel protected but then if you make a mistake there are 20,000 people to witness it. Both situations have their own specific joy too as you can imagine, especially when the music you are playing you made yourself.

I have had the privilege to see you play at clubs and festivals around the globe, and each has its own pro’s and con’s.  What do you prefer, intimate club gigs or the festival atmosphere? 
We have been fortunate in the past to play in Perth at your legendary Ambar nightclub in town, also at Breakfest electronic dance music festival a number of times. These are great venues to use as example when answering this question. Both are unique in the world, both arenas have their specific attributes and joys. To choose one over the other as a preferred event to perform at is impossible! Like trying to choose between steak or ice cream, know what I mea? Yeah, a rare fillet steak cooked to perfection or, fresh cold vanilla ice cream, which would you go for?

You are touring Australia this year for Good Vibes, what can we expect from the Plump DJs this year?
Well at some point we would like to come back to Perth and play at Villa, it’s a new venue in town that apparently is ‘the bomb’ venue for 2010. Please put in a word for us with the peeps that pull da strings. Also, we are launching our new label “Grand Hotel Records” in London. We will be putting on regular events at London’s Fabric and Matter nightclubs to celebrate each release on the label. We have already confirmed gigs in Miami for the WMC, Amsterdam at Milkveg and in L.A. at the famous Avalon night spot. We really are looking forward to pushing the new talent that we have signed to Grand Hotel for 2010 in the early part of the year. If we get some time in the autumn we may get back into the studio to make some more Plump tracks.

“We will find new ways to make them dance.” – Lee Rous

Catch the legendary Plump DJs at the Good Vibrations Festival on Sunday 14th February!