With new tune ‘Mufasa’ doing the rounds and three tracks listed in the ARIA top 25 club list for 2013, Canberra duo Peking Duk are just hitting top gear. And as the New Years’ holiday period ends and artists recover from weeks of relentless shows and travel, Adam Hyde has turned his thoughts to the year ahead, with a swag of new releases and big dates on the horizon.
“We’ve just done a collaboration on ‘Mufasa’ with Laidback Luke, have two singles coming out soon and we’ve got about seven demos that we’ve been going back and forth on,” he says. “We’re trying to figure out which ones to put out first because they’re all very different styles.”
“We’ve been really stoked with the reception of both ‘I Love To Rap’ and ‘Feels Like’. The support from the public and radio alike has been a surreal experience because we never thought we’d get that or have our own proper fans, which is a really good feeling.”
Hyde and bandmate Reuben Styles came together in the nation’s capital, inspired by hard electro sounds, and got to work using affordable software programs. “I was doing a bunch of hip hop stuff and Reuben was in an indie rock band that was doing really well,” says Hyde. “Guys like Fake Blood, Crookers and Bloody Beetroots really intrigued us, so we decided to sit on our computers using Reason every day until we could get something sounding semi-decent.”
Now based in Sydney, the guys have joined the ranks of Australian electronic music’s elite and benefitted from the competition. “We share a studio with artists like Yolanda Be Cool, Flight Facilities, Beni and Cassian, which makes it a really cool building. We’ve met a lot of guys just through seeing them out at clubs and using other contacts.
“The electronic music community in Australia is really tight-knit since everyone knows everyone, and everyone’s quick to offer a helping hand.”
Hinting at constructive criticism from their peers, Hyde is grateful for objective viewpoints while still maintaining an enthusiastic approach to coming up with ideas. “We can definitely bounce a lot of stuff back and forth with these guys and get their vibe on it,” he says. “It’s really helpful when they don’t like it because they’ll tell you what to change up.”
“Our process changes every time – I’ve been trying to figure out what the formula is so I can nail it out every time, but it’s always different. I think the best things to do are keep an open mind and have fun with it, because a lot of the time I’ll be working on an idea and I’ll get stuck with that idea and forget about the bigger picture, which can get frustrating.”
Hyde’s inspirations come from all over the music spectrum, providing means to change direction under the influence of something different each time. “Some older soul music, a lot of hip hop, indie bands like The Strokes and The Hives, and Timbaland is a massive influence as one of the best producers in the world,” he says. “Diplo is also an inspiration in the sense that he doesn’t care about what’s happening around him and just goes for it.”
Looking forward to their upcoming sets at Big Day Out and building the suspense, Hyde says there will be new music and some other faces in the mix. “I can’t say too much about our Big Day Out sets, but we will have a few guests onstage with us and a pretty cool set-up. We love both festivals and club tours, but festivals are just out of control.”
Peking Duk play at Big Day Out 2014 at Sydney Showground on Sunday January 26.
