After causing a ruckus in 2005 with their debut self-titled EP impressing all the right people, things going well for Melbourne duo Midnight Juggernauts – their video clip has debuted across the board from free-to-air to pay-TV spots, and once more the right sort of buzz for the group is sounding.

Andy Juggernaut recently had the slightly surreal experience of waking and seeing himself on the box, waking up in the morning to his own tune, thinking ‘wait a minute…I know that song!’. “It was pretty funny as it was literally me waking up and half hearing it,” he says. “It’s good to see it like that, in that format, because we’ve been watching it off the camera and on the computer, and thinking whether or not it looks good on the TV, but we were happy with it.”

Andy can’t quite fathom how well it worked out – previously the Juggernauts have always made their own clips, with “Shadows” being the first where they’ve had a friend make it. It’s come up trumps – it looks like it cost quite a lot of money but it cost next to nothing.

Midnight Juggernauts have been slowly building up to being one of the most talked about groups merging a rock basis with an electronic bent. Andy confirms that he and Vincent Juggernaut first started playing live shows in late 2003, and were immediately pretty serious about their music and that this was all they wanted to do. “But at the time we were just playing parties and playing for friends, and people were telling us to take it a bit more seriously.”

So they did, scoring a range of good supports and experimenting for the first time in the studio, culminating in the release of their debut EP in early 2005. “That was received really well, and we thought it was good but it was to our surprise as well,” Andy says. “We weren’t able to back it up straight away because we didn’t have the material ready to go. So we just played shows and ended up doing a film soundtrack and I think just since recording this new stuff there’s been a real buzz building around it, and this new EP people are responding really well to it.”

Headed in a slightly more dance-orientated direction than their live shows, Secrets of the Universe gets Midnight Juggernauts firmly back to their position atop the ‘new groups emerging’ pecking order thanks to the strength of the tunes. “We’ve always tried to make our stuff dance-y because when we play live we like to get people dancing, but for this recording it is more of a dance / electro kind of sound,” he confirms.

He explains that the key may well be that the duo have learned a lot over the last few months about production, and are now more confident to be able to experiment with their own parameters. “The fact that we have our own studio and are able to refine the production side of things helps.”

It’s got an instant vibe to it, with “45 and Rising” in particular having an instant hook that just doesn’t let go. “We still like pop-structured songs so it’s still working with the verse and chorus formula.”

For some groups, it may be a hard dichotomy to work out as to how you want the songs to go, but Andy explains that when it came to recording for this release Midnight Juggernauts jettisoned any plans they did have over style, and really let it go in wild and exciting tangents. That’s something that will continue for their debut album. “We’ve recorded lots of stuff in preparation for our album,” he says, “and for this EP it’s just a taste and an interim thing for our album, which is probably the next big thing. We were just picking songs that seemed to gel together, and when we listened to it back we thought it was a pretty dance-y record, but it’s probably the best combination of tracks at the time.”

Some of the cuts on Secrets of the Universe may feature on their debut longplayer, but a lot of it will depend upon at what point they release the album, and whether or not these tracks end up overseas. “45 and Rising” has been released as a 12” in Europe and the UK, and another two are to follow as a 12” as well, while some are going to end up on compilations.

Given that the duo have now released two EPs where the tracks are quite variable (although relatively cohesive within their own confines), it will certainly be interesting to see how any debut album finishes up sounding. “A lot of the other songs that we’ve recorded are in the style of that EP, but then there’s other songs that are quite different and a lot rawer and more guitar-based,” he says.

“What we’re excited about with the album is that it’s going to give us scope to do things quite differently. We do have poppy songs, and the EP is like SMACK, it gets you straight away, but with the album we want to do interesting drum-less things, and it just gives you more room to be able to do something that flows from track 1 to 14. There’s a lot of things that we’ll try that will be different. I think once we finish this tour it just depends if we go to the UK in September, October – we’re not sure what’s going to come first; if we head to Europe or if we do the album.”

The next trick for Midnight Juggernauts is to get the EP released internationally – already it’s confirmed that both EPs will appear bound together for Japan, but in America it’s a different story – the band have not had anything ‘officially’ released, yet the 12” releases have nevertheless made their way into influential hands, and found the ears of folks across the airwaves as a result.

“They’ve been played on various radio over there,” Andy verifies, “but there’s been nothing officially released over there. That’s something we’ll work on in the coming months. It doesn’t worry me too much because the release will come, and with the EP and the 12” we’ll definitely get something out in the US.”

Midnight Juggernauts’ Secrets of the Universe is out now, with the duo touring to support it. Dates:
Friday 23 June – Annandale Hotel, Sydney
Saturday 24 June – Fat Louies, Brisbane
Friday 30 June – Rocket Bar, Adelaide
Saturday 1 July – Spanish Club, Melbourne