For Chevy Long and Gabe Gleeson, the DJ collective better known as Indian Summer, the rest of the year is going to be exceptionally busy, and their debut appearance at next month’s MoVement Sydney is part of a massive national tour for the electronic duo.
When reminded that last year’s MoVement drew roughly 7,000 people to venues across town, Long’s voice cracks when mentioning the figure. “7,000 people? Really? Jesus, we should have been told that, we had no idea!”
Gleeson chimes in to reassure his friend. “I guess we’ll just try and do our thing and hope it translates. We’ve never done the event before but we’ve played the Metro, and this show with Nicole Millar and Moonbase Commander, good friends of ours, should be a lot of fun.”
Indian Summer will return to Sydney with an arsenal of tantalising new music, writing and production having been their primary focus in recent years, and Gleeson couldn’t be more excited to resume live shows. “We’ve been away working on music the last two years,” says Gleeson. “We’re really looking forward to getting back on the road and the swing of touring like before we went to America: that was when we decided to write a more substantial body of music, taking our time working on our craft.
“There’s always been a fair amount of energy and hustle in what we’ve done – Chevy and I love touring but it’s been so great for our work to take a step back and get a bit of breathing space.”
Long agrees with his partner. “The beauty of having an extended writing period was we don’t have pressure on each single. It’s a different approach but it’s eased us, in many senses, into a much better system.” But even with more time taken to focus on the new material, a pensive Long says he often wonders where their ideas come from, calling it “a strange place”.
“At one point we were writing club music in our bedrooms. Dance music is more about sound than songwriting elements and we made the decision to pull back and work on our craft, saying, ‘Let’s try and be like our friends’, which has been an interesting process.”
“There’s a thousand different ways our stuff comes together,” adds Gleeson. “I wish we could say there’s a definitive way it comes to us but there’s not: we’re just doing our thing.”
It is important to Long and Gleeson that fans in the venues on the rest of their tour don’t lose out on an electrifying set, though the pair feel there’s still plenty of room for them to evolve as performers. “I think in our shows up until this point, we haven’t ever been the type of performers who necessarily reinvent the wheel or completely change direction,” says Long.
“Our craft is like a slowly evolving beast and we like it that way: for the moment anyway,” he adds. “There might be a point in the next year and a half where we change direction, but, for the most part, we love being DJs. It’s something we’ve been doing together since we were 18, so for the moment, that’s what we love and that’s what we’ll keep on doing.”
“It’s something I think about a lot actually,’ Gleeson adds. “How different people and different places socialise and enjoy music is interesting – different cities, different vibes.” Of course, the impact of the lockout laws on Sydney’s club scene hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Melbourne pair.
“Sydney was a completely different place before the lockout, it really has changed the nature of how clubs and punters socialise and how they operate,” says Gleeson.
“Sydney can be a lot less pretentious than Melbourne, so as much as Sydney people complain how bad their nightlife is, it’s definitely got its positives and there’s a lot of people who work very hard to put on events and shows – there’s no place on earth I would rather live than Melbourne, but there’s less big room EDM stuff going on down here and I think people are a lot more discerning.”
Friends since they were 14 and partners in music from 18, the duo don’t have to look far for some confidence and reassurance if nerves set in before a show. So do Long and Gleeson feel their music gets more of a lift that solo DJs might not have?
“I don’t know if there’s a correlation between the amounts of people there are in the production or DJ world,” Long says.
“Any more than two probably isn’t necessary but as for production, there’s a lot to be said for this system of trust.Knowing there’s this other person who can give you constructive criticism, helping you achieve, is really nice.”
Gleeson agrees. “It’s nice to DJ solo every now and again, but it’s nice to have a friend there and to travel: you’re never really bored. I don’t know what it’d be like to always be on the road without Chevy.”
Indian Summer DJ as part of V MoVement Sydney on Sunday October 23The Lair, Metro Theatre.
