It’s hard to deny the energy of Melbourne Bounce. The genre gained popularity quickly, not just from the unique sounds, but from the squad of Australian DJs who have come onto the scene. It’s a brotherhood of guys who all enjoy playing and touring together, with each combination producing a different set of vibes for each show. This time around, Uberjak’d and New World Sound have joined forced for the Bounce Those Mates Tour, in honor of their respective Uberjak’d & Mates and Bounce That EPs (in stores now). Last week, we sat down with Ben aka Uberjak’d and Tyrone from New World Sound on the first night of their tour.
If you could pick one famous person to be your best mate, who would it be?
Ben: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
Tyrone: I’d bring Paul Walker back to life because he’s a don.
I saw you guys drinking out of a shoe at the Dim Mak office?
Ben: It’s called a shoeie, there’s also thongies (flip-flops). It’s not an Australian thing, it’s just a weird thing they wanted to do. There was this list and it was on there and we didn’t want to do it ourselves, but when we asked if anyone else wanted to there were about 10 hands in the air, so we went with it.
So who parties harder between you two?
Ben: I don’t know, I think it’s pretty even.
Ty: Yeah I reckon we’re even, but the one thing you don’t want to do is tell the Staffies (The Stafford Brothers) you can out-drink then because then you’ll die. I think all Aussies have that level that’s just turned up to 11.
Ben: Yeah, it’s called, let’s fucking go man.
Is that what happened to all of us in Miami?
Ben: I just broke it off and threw it away because it didn’t make any sense to have it on there. It was just pointless.
Who do you think went the hardest out of the entire group?
Ben: That’s a really good questions. Everyone peaked at different moments.
Ty: Everyone just had their time to shine.
Ben: Actually, Jaime (J-Trick) saw a ghost. He was pretty shaken, I don’t think he’s the same man.
Ty: It was definitely a big week. We’ve all earned our stamps or whatever.
Ben: Stripes..
Ty: Whatever I call it stamps; that’s a new one I just made up right now.
Ben, how many pairs of shoes do you actually own?
Ben (laughs): Oh, I don’t know. I think at the moment I have 12 pairs of shoes and most of them are all at their house in L.A. because I didn’t want to check a second bag on tour.
Ty: I think his bank is about to cut his card because they suspect fraud from all his transactions lately.
Ben: They were like, ‘What’s going on? Why are you spending all this money?’ And all I said was , ‘Listen, I’m buying shoes so unlock my card and go away.’ They just wanted to make sure I was the one buying them.
A lot of DJs like to collab outside of their genres, who are some artists you’d like to work with?
Ben: I was working with Reid Stefan a few days ago and we just came up with some weird, boppy shit. He does real breakbeat stuff and with my sound it was just the weirdest fusion of genres I had ever done before. It was cool and I think something’s actually going to come from it so stay tuned.
Ty: Cool things definitely happen when you do a mash of two different styles. I think any of us are down for whatever as long as it’s interesting and it’s something we can add to.
Ben: It has to have your vibe on it. There’s no point in doing a collab if it’s not you.
Ty: You have to be able to take it to another level.
Ben: You have to be able to take it to 11, break the knob off, and throw it away.
Speaking of collaborations, your entire EP features team-ups with other artists. Was it on purpose?
Ben: No, it just kinda happened. It wasn’t like I sat down and decided to make an EP of collabs, I had just been sitting on a few projects with other people. Dim Mak was keen to put a new EP out so it all came together. I really like the one with Ruby & Tony, they’re a couple of guys from Jerusalem. I’m happy with all the tracks because they’re all so different and trying to push the boundaries on what people think Bounce is right now.
You also have your first EP coming out. Were there any challenges you faced?
I don’t think there were any challenges? It all fell into place really naturally. We worked with No Talent and Reecelow who are really great to work with. I think if you try to force it, it’s hard to get something good to come out something forced and unnatural.
So what artists do you see evolving the Melbourne Bounce sound?
Ty: We were just talking about this; you didn’t quite get the question, but we were waiting for the ‘where do you think Bounce or EDM is going?’ And to be honest, we’re all just doing our thing. It’s easy to get your crystal ball out and predict the future but it’s really all about what’s going on now.
