Habituate

Avalon Bar gets treated to some DFU and CANYONS! And I had the opportunity to ask Leo Thomson some questions as well.

Located at:
820 West 19th Street
Costa Mesa, CA 92627

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Avalon Bar hasn’t seen anything along the lines of this in a while. Talented people have been holding down monthly residencies, but as far as bringing in guests it hasn’t happened much. Meanwhile The Double Fisted Underground has been up to a lot, but the Avalon days seemed like they were long gone. So this Friday feels like a revitalization of that OC underground vibe that I have heard so much about but haven’t seen a whole lot of. For me personally it’s such a pleasure to get a chance to dance a night away at a place I consider a home away from home, Avalon Bar, to a guest DJ whose record I picked up and played out so many times. It makes that international dance music community feel oh so cozy!

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Interview with Leo Thomson, DFU’s guest this Friday (July 8th) at Avalon Bar.

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Q: How did you and Ryan (of Canyons) connect?

We were friends in high school first.

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Q: What are your personal influences in music?

My musical influences are really varied – I grew up listening to rock and metal, then got really into hip hop and then through hip hop became more interested in soul and older music in general. Then from soul I started listening to disco and from disco I started listening to house music. So It’s kinda hard to pin point what the influences are, but I guess music from the 60’s through to the late 80’s has definitely been an influence.

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Q: Can you tell me about the scene in Australia?

Australia is unique in that it’s so isolated which I think has negative and positive effects. It’s a good thing if it means people try to make more original music but it’s a bad thing when it means that some kinds of music / bands / artists don’t necessarily get the recognition they deserve until they’re validated by another country first. There is definitely a strong scene for indie / rock bands here but maybe the dance side isn’t as strong, which I think has to do with there being very few venues that support good dance music.

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Q: Have you been djing internationally? What are some gigs that are most memorable?

When we released a 12″ with DFA in 2009 we came out to the US to play a few shows. We did a really fun boat party in NYC and a few other shows there and we also played in LA, SF and did a pool party out in Palm Springs.

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Q: My first exposure to your production was with the “Fire Eyes” EP on DFA. (I have this piece of vinyl!) If you don’t mind disclosing what went into this release can you tell me who is the vocalist and what samples and original instrumentation went into this?

The vocalist is a woman from Sydney called Delilah. She moved out to Australia from the US in the the late 70’s I think. She’s definitely a character. The only sample in there is that percussive build up kind of thing which is from a Sylvester tune. We played/programmed all the rest of the music.

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“Fire Eyes” (Jacques Renault’s Living In The Jungle Mix)

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Q: Scotty tells me you two met after he bought the first release on your label Hole in the Sky, he said he loved it and reached out to you and Ryan. Can you tell me about how and when the label started, and what (if anything) is going on with the label, now or in the future?

The label was started by Ryan and I as a way of us releasing the music we were making separately at the time, as well as music by our friends. It’s been pretty quiet for a while because we’ve been finishing off our album but we do have some good things lined up for the next few releases, which we’ll get happening really soon.

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Logo side of the first Hole in the Sky record: The Templates – Daylight

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Q: When you visited Scotty in Long Beach a couple years back, what was your impression of the happenings of SoCal? Did you have any gigs while you were here? Any memorable moments?

It’s going back a way now, it’s hard to remember to be honest. We played a fun gig with Scotty that he organized but I can’t remember the name of the place. Hanging out with Scotty was memorable!

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Q: So you are working on a full length album, how are these coming along, and what challenges or inspirations have you come across in your recent work?

We’ve finished the album now thankfully. It was definitely a challenge for us to write an album. I think a big part of it was that we’ve been used to making individual tunes for 12″s and doing remixes etc but we obviously wanted our album to be a coherent body of work. We are also into so many different types of sounds and music so it was tough to figure out a way to get all the different things we wanted on the record while at the same time have it still hold together as one thing and not sound too disparate.

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You can keep in touch with Canyons here and keep in touch with the Double Fisted Underground on here.

Tags: Avalon Bar, Canyons, Dirty Lo, DJ Poppa, Double Fisted, Leo Thomson, Scotty Coats