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Midnight Juggernauts are the house band for the intergalactic party circuit of the future—and fortunately we can all join the fun right now, right here. The Australian band incorporates such spacey influences as Air and M83, Neu! and Electric Light Orchestra, John Carpenter soundtracks and Giorgio Moroder disco-tech epics, creating a murky electro-pop with woozy, nebula-like clouds of sound swirling in and out of the grooves. The band was personally chosen by Justice to open its 2008 world tour and has shared stages with two of the biggest acts in the nu-rave scene, Crystal Castles and Klaxons. Daft Punk manager and Ed Banger records label head Busy P also named the Juggernauts’ Dystopia his album of the year. Not a bad 2008. We talked with sky captain Vincent Heimann, a.k.a. Vincent Vendetta.
PLAYBOY: Your sound incorporates a lot. Can you point to any non-musical sources that have been a big influence on your style?
HEIMANN: I sat through a lot of 1970s Italian genre films as a kid, and they still have a strong influence on our approach to music today.
PLAYBOY: Was there a moment in your life when you realized you just had to be in a band?
HEIMANN: When I was 13 and first heard “Hot for Teacher” by Van Halen, with its extended drum solo intro, I knew I had to be a drummer—or at least be in a rock band. Somehow I ended up focusing more on guitar and synths.
PLAYBOY: What’s your pre-show ritual?
HEIMANN: It’s good to eat something light before we go onstage, so we always end up eating Japanese food—sushi or [something] similar. Now whenever I go eat sushi on my own time, I get all this pre-show energy and feel like jumping around. It’s very strange.
PLAYBOY: Speaking of food, what do you like to eat on the road?
HEIMANN: Whenever we pulled over at a truck stop, I used to debate whether to get an ice cream or a chocolate bar. Then I realized I could just get a Snickers ice cream bar. So now that’s what I do. Also, I love seafood, so I constantly ask for oysters on our rider. But they never supply them. Which I guess might be good—not the best thing to eat after it’s sat around the band room all day.
PLAYBOY: What’s your favorite place on earth?
HEIMANN: The rail yards in Melbourne, Australia.
PLAYBOY: What’s the best song you’ve heard lately?
HEIMANN: An old one: “Sleep Walk” by Santo & Johnny.
PLAYBOY: Tell us about your T-shirt graphic.
HEIMANN: We wanted to create something that felt as if it came from another world.
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