Forte’s favourite mad men of mixtapes have done it again! Their fifth instalment of mash-up madness, Oddity Number 5, is out now for your listening pleasure. Like the others, it’s available for free online – and has already been touted as their best yet. So to celebrate Gaz and Guy have enlisted the help of a few rising stars to launch Oddity Number 5 to infinity and beyond. “We think it’s great music – and we’re our own worse critics, so hopefully people dig it!” Gaz confessed. “These shows we’re planning will be a lot of fun.”
Warming up the crowd on Yacht Club’s home turf, Ballarat’s Karova Lounge, will be Melbourne duo GodWolf – a band that I believe, after this kind of exposure, will be noticed for all the right reasons. “I’ve not seen them live yet but from what I’ve heard they’re unreal! We’ve been very lucky in the past when it comes to picking the right support acts. The guys from I OH YOU [independent Aussie record label] called us the best PR firm in the country because every band we take on tour blows up!” he laughed.
“The first band we ever took on tour was DZ Deathrays – they’re ARIA winners these days! Then we took Bleeding Knees Club, and they got massive too!
“Also, at the Sydney and Melbourne shows, we’re doing stuff with hip hop artist Remi. We’re really excited about that – I want to write music with him so bad. He’s been on my radar for a long time, so hopefully we get along. Maybe we’ll have a few brewskies … but not too many,” Gaz promised.
Speaking of writing new music, the guys also revealed that they’ve been busy working away on Yacht Club’s greatest challenge yet – an EP of entirely original music. “It’s been the most fun and yet the most shocking experience of my life. I’ve never worked so hard on anything! We’ve always wanted to play our own music but the timing never felt right.
“Guy and I have been writing music for a lot longer than we’ve been in Yacht Club DJs and we’ve both been in different bands for what feels like forever. So it’s a relief to be finally doing original stuff as part of Yacht Club.”
Guy is one half of Twinsy, the “electronic lovechild” he shares with Hunting Grounds’ frontman Michael Belsar, while Gaz is a proud member of the indie punk act Rick Moranis Overdrive and the blues-inspired band Them 9’s. It seems like the former goldfields of Victoria have become a hot bed of band swapping. “I’ve been a part of half a dozen bands in the last six years and I think that’s helped us come up with a really eclectic collection of music.”
As with the mixtapes we’ve come to know and love, expect the unexpected. “It’s all over the place,” Gaz said enthusiastically. “From German techno to Aussie hip hop, no genre is off-limits. The first single is an indie dance tune called ‘Undertow’. We plan on releasing a series of EPs, hopefully leading up to an album. We’ve just decided to go for it. Lots of the new stuff will be included in these run of shows.” Bring it on!
When&Where: The Karova, Ballarat – April 17.
Written by Natalie Rogers