Sydney Confirm is a double-headed beast. Fresh off an Observer Music Award nomination for Best Electronic/Experimental Act and staying busy flaunting their DJ skills at Fallout Lounge’s buzzing Tuesday weekly, Disqo Disco, Sydney Confirm is quickly establishing itself as the go-to crew for lusty-electro-dance-parties.
We stopped by the Fallout Lounge to talk to Sean Humphrey and Preston Deanda about the meaning of sleaze and how dancing could just possibly save the world. (Third member of Sydney Confirm, Gian Carlos wasn’t present.)
Can you give us a three-word description of the style of music that you play?
Sean Humphrey: I got it!
[He whispers into Preston Deanda’s ear and they both smile.]
Preston Deanda: That’s a good one. I can’t argue with that...
Humphrey: "Hazy cosmic jive."
Do you want to give us any insight into the name Sydney Confirm?
Humphrey: [Smiles.] No, I don’t. It came out of nowhere, really. I really like the opera house in Sydney, Australia. But, other than that, no.
On your Web site, you describe your music as “ a massive rock traveling back in space to meet us here. A rock traveling at speeds that would make your sleazy uncle shit his pants.” Do you think that there is a high level of sleaze in the music you play?
Deanda: It’s definitely sweaty.
Humphrey: Yeah, there is some sleaze to an extent. I didn’t know about this until it happened, but there was some sleazy asshole up here last week that the other guys here got in a fight with. So, we don’t really like asshole-y sleaze.
Deanda: Maybe sexy sleaze.
Humphrey: Yeah, sexy sleaze.
Deanda: Actually, I think we’re crossing over into more of a romantic sleaze than a sexual sleaze. Hmm… It’s still sexual though.
Humphrey: Well, sexy isn’t sexual. It doesn’t have to be.
Deanda: True.
Humphrey: "Sexy sleaze." I think sexy sleaze is good.
Do you think dance parties can save the world?
Humphrey: Yes.
Deanda: Yes.
Humphrey: Well, dancing is such a primitive form of emotion…
Deanda: Expression. Anything that’s synonymous with celebration and having a good time and not worrying about anything else. I mean it’s Tuesday night…
Humphrey: Anything along those lines will inevitably save the world.
Deanda: Absolutely. This is somewhere where people come after work. You just drop everything and you have a good time. We’ve made some really good connections with people and bonded with people just because they love coming out and dancing.
Humphrey They need the release.
Deanda: Yes. Absolutely. I know I do
Humphrey: Release will save the world. [Smiles] You can quote me on that.
How do you stay on top of discovering new music?
Humphrey: I’m a very large Internet nerd.
Deanda: Yeah, blogging. I read a lot of Internet blogs.
Humphrey: Torrents, too. I used to try to stay on top of the newer stuff, but, now I’m digging deeper into '70s and whatever is good. I don’t know, I guess, sometimes I get bored of music after a while. So, I’ve been getting into the old stuff that I haven’t heard before.
Deanda: I usually read a lot of blogs and try to play what’s hot. But last week was the first time I played something from the '70s. I think it was Suzy-Q, and Sean actually came over to me and said, “Wow, this is really good.”
Humphrey: It wasn’t Suzy Q. I remember saying that to you, but it wasn’t Suzy Q.
Deanda: I think you’re thinking of Stacy Q.
Humphrey: Oh, yeah! You’re right.
Deanda: I should really play “Two of Hearts."
Humphrey: Can I just interject here and say that one time we were playing this show in Abilene for Sydney Confirm and we were sleeping in this house--I think it’s called the Castle--and they had this large room that used to be a pool and it’s indoors now and there’s no water in it? Evidently, some girl was murdered there--that’s the urban legend. We slept in the pool.
Deanda: The pool was full of couches.
Humphrey: The only thing I remember was waking up to Preston saying, “This is the best song of all time! I’m going to get this as my ring tone!” It was Stacy Q, “Two of Hearts.”
Deanda: And, actually, I left my phone there and we had to turn around half way home to get my phone and the only way we found it is because we were in this room--this giant pool--and I hear “Two of Hearts” playing from inside the couch cushion. Stacy Q saved my life right there.
Humphrey: Stacy Q saved his life. You can quote him on that.
Disqo Disco runs every Tuesday for free at the Fallout Lounge. --Krissi Reeves
