Paul Mac has spent the last few months in the city of angels, Los Angeles. But he’s not been partying hard nor relaxing by the pool – instead, he’s been hard at work playing keyboards on the much anticipated return for Silverchair.

“It’s fucking great, really beautiful music,” he says enthusiastically, before electing to remain tight-lipped. “I can’t divulge any more information than that.”

He does explain that the four (the Silverchair three, plus Paul) are working with Nick Launay, who produced Silverchair’s best album, their third effort Neon Ballroom. All this activity means that Paul’s own songwriting has been put on the back burner for a little while. But he also says that it’s incredibly beneficial. “I find that when I was working on my own stuff in the early days I’d be doing Itch-ee and Scratch-ee, or I’d do a remix for somebody else or I’d produce something for spmebody else, and then go back to my own songs. I get really bored, and I enjoy that stimulation of doing other things. Even after the first album I sort of when off and did the Dissociatives and then came back and did my second album, and now I’ve gone off and done something else. It gives you the hunger to keep going, but in the mean time it stretches your musical abilities and thoughts.”

By working in this situation for the Chair Paul has for the most part only been playing piano; it gives him a real hunger to expand his own horizons next time around. “I think the more you do the more it feed back into what you do and being creative. I love electronic music and it will always be my home, but it’s nice to rock out occasionally and get in touch with that side as well.”

He readily says that he’s looking forward a great deal to playing at Splendour in the Grass, where he’ll be joined on stage by at least three of the lead vocalists from his last album, a few backing vocalists, and a four-piece band. “I’m stupid, because I’d be a millionaire by now if I just did DJ sets because you make so much more money, but I like the idea of a ten-piece band all these humans on stage just belting it out and connecting with the crowd,” he states. “I think the music is really emotive and really human, and about feelings and joys and sadness – it’s beautiful to be able to see that being created live on stage rather than just being a DJ with a guest vocalist and two dancers.”

While he likes that idea of being able to bring the music to life with as many of the original singers as he can afford, it subsequently means that he can’t tour as much as he would like, as he loses money pretty much every time he plays a gig. “Opportunities like Splendour mean I can afford to do it and give people a special experience; you don’t get to see that sort of show very often, and the whole crowd seems to really get into it.”

It’s a completely different environment to when Paul was first emerging as part of the nascent Australian dance music scene as one half of Itch-ee and Scratch-ee, accepting ARIAs and thanking drug dealers everywhere. “In the early days it was 100% live, then we tried DJing it,” he explains, “and that music is a very different thing and about rhythms and atmospheres, and the spaces, whereas this is about that plus the human side with lyrics, and live singers, and it’s a very different kettle of fish. I enjoy both, but at the moment I really enjoy putting on the live show.”

He’s now gone 180 degrees – from something very electronic to something very organic. “I think somewhere along the line I realised that I just love sound,” Paul explains. “Very early on I think it was very militant and thought I had to be electronic-based, but then I realised that, actually, whether it be coming from a synthesizer or backing vocalists or guitars or anything – that’s what became more important to me. I still love electronic music, and having an electronic basis to it all, but fleshing it out with some humanity to take it somewhere else I find really interesting. Having said that, where I go next I don’t know – I have a hankering to go back and do some more pure electronics on the next album. I’m not sure yet.”

Having not actually started working on it, Paul’s future solo endeavours are very much in the formative stage where he’s thinking about it, rather than doing anything. “It’s hard when you’re promoting an album because your head is in a different place, but Splendour is pretty much the last gig and then I’m going to start playing around with some beats and seeing what’s next.”

He explains that working on the Silverchair album gives him the hunger to do something else after it. “I think you should clear your head out between albums and do something different. Last time it was the Dissociatives and this time it’s Silverchair, and there’s some other people that I want to work with before I head back into the studio.”

He expects to continue with the collaborative process with of the last Paul Mac album, as it’s what he enjoys most about the creative process, as he finds that he ends up with something different than he’s normally envision on his lonesome. “I find that it’s more fun, and that’s what was great about Itch-ee and Scratch-ee, and working with Daniel is the same. Even though I wrote all those songs on the album, when the vocalists enter the room it still pushes it off into a different direction, and that I find way more exiting than sitting at home in front of a computer. The interaction thing is what really pulls out the emotion and the ideas of what you’re trying to do with the music.”

Paul Mac plays Splendour in the Grass on Saturday in the Mix Up Tent, from 9.15-10.15pm.