“There’s a lot of new music that we’ve been working on,” tells Beni. “It’s house music, there’s a bit of new stuff and some different twists and turns. We’re going to keep it light and fun.”
Beni first started playing with the Bang Gang DJs ten years ago with four friends and his brother. They played sets at parties every Friday for five years. “I can’t really remember much of that time,” he said. “But that’s the reason I really got into DJing.”
“I got into producing after I met Kim and then we started Riots in Belgium with a friend of mine Joel,” he said. “Then I started working on my solo stuff.”
Beni is looking forward to road-testing his new material on a live audience rather than hearing it back over and over in the studio. But as to how he thinks it will be received, the internationally known DJ is keeping things humble.
“Music is so fickle,” he said. “The way music is consumed now days, there’s so much to choose from, dance music here is broader so the shelf life is like a month.”
Unfortunately Beni won’t be bringing his stiletto wielding dancers to the stage this tour, but thinks he’s got something different to offer this time. “Maturity. My knowledge base of dance is a lot bigger so there’s a lot of new references in the new album.”
He’s currently listening to a lot of classical, but is digging the new music by Glorious Heaven, B-Port and the Blade Runner soundtrack. “I’d love to get good enough to work with Nicholas Jar, Kashmir, James Blake, Jamie XX,” he said.
He’s staying true to his roots though, and maintaining honesty no matter what the reception will be. “You can copy what is popular now, but that’s not really honest and you can kind of tell,” he said. “You’ve got to do what you do and do it well.”
It will be the first time KIM has toured under this moniker for four years and both are looking forward to playing to Australian crowds. “We played Coffs Harbour last weekend and they were surprisingly open – usually small towns are pretty closed minded,” Beni said.
BY HAYLEY DAVIS
