Sweet Mix Kids

DJ duo the Sweet Mix Kids are about to embark on the Summer Vineyard Tour, sharing the stage with such notable acts as Tiki Taane, Aloe Blacc and the John Butler Trio.  

The pair have big plans for 2012, with more international shows throughout the USA and Asia in the works.  We caught up with one half of the outfit Sandon James before the duo hit the road ahead of them.  

When and how did Sweet Mix Kids form?

We formed about 5 or 6 years ago in Wellington, just DJ'ing at a club. We decided that there is not much fun in pop music within the Auckland scene, everything was a bit dated and a bit house music wise, so we decided to relocate to Auckland and see if people remembered and liked old and fun music.

So how would you describe your sound?

A bit of an eclectic pop mix, a lot of 80's and a lot of fun... girly music, that's quite important to us. Nobody has every complained about too many girls on the dance floor, or too many girls at a venue or at a gig. But it's the opposite if there are too many dudes (laughs). Yeah, there's a bit of everything and a lot of fun.

Who were your early influences?

P Money is pretty good and pretty talented. He crosses all genres, which has always been quite a big inspiration and does things internationally on a grand scale. We just follow trends in the pop world really. Any big act that crosses a lot of genres inspires us to be able to get away with playing anything.

You've got the More FM Summer Vineyard Tour coming up, is this the first one you've been involved in?

Yeah, the first Vineyard tour for us. We're extremely excited and it's a great event to be on... one of the biggest tours in the country. We're blessed to be a part of it.

Are you looking forward to checking out some of the other acts that will be performing?

To be able to perform alongside Aloe Black, Tike Taane and John Butler Trio... it's such an amazing array of artists. You literally couldn't wish for more amazing acts to be alongside and associate with. Hopefully also have a few beers with and learn a few things from.

And you have shows in the USA and Asia coming up later this year?

Yeah, we actually toured America briefly a couple of months ago which was quite cool. We were received amazingly well in Los Angeles and New York, which was quite surprising and quite comforting to know that our sound was received so well over there.

Do you find there is much of a difference between American and Kiwi audiences?

Absolutely none! The audience's which we've found over there, as well as back here, is everyone is open to interchangeable genres.  We mix genres all the time. 5 or 10 years ago you wouldn't really get away with it. But now everyone is up for a bit of everything really.

What's been your favourite performance so far?

Probably playing in Hollywood last December. We played at an album launch for a couple of bands over there in this big old house in the middle of Hollywood. To be able to drop an old Michael Jackson track not far from where he use to live was pretty cool. LA is great, there is something mysterious, cool and crazy about the place. It was a lot of fun.

Could you see yourselves relocating to the States?

We've been received so well over there and had so much great feedback, and had a lot of great feedback here about how well we would go overseas, so we're looking at focusing most of our energy on Los Angeles and New York pretty much for all of this year.

Do you have any music that people can buy or download?

Only mix tapes at the moment, but we've got our first single coming in a couple of months which we are quickly working on.  That's going to be a bit of fun. We're going to be a bit cheeky because we have a couple of radio shows, so we'll probably put it on high rotation every hour (laughs).

When are your radio shows on?

They're on George FM every Sunday afternoon at 2 PM, which is such a great spot to chuck all your great jazzy fun kind of summery tracks at this time of year.  The other one is nationwide on Friday and Saturday nights, we do a club show on More FM from 7 PM which is a bit of fun because we get to play a lot of music, which is very similar to our club and festival sets.

What do you hope for the future of Sweet Mix Kids?

To go international. We're pretty confident from associating with heaps of internationals in New Zealand, and DJ'ing alongside heaps of them. We know we've got a great product for overseas, so we really want to crack the US. That would be a great way to go financially and socially too.

http://www.facebook.com/sweetmixkids

Catch Sweet Mix Kids Live On The More FM Summer Vineyard Tour With Annabel Fay, Tiki Taane, Aloe Blacc & The Grand Scheme and The John Butler Trio!

Friday 3rd February, Sileni Estates - Hawkes Bay*

Saturday 4^th February, TSB Bowl of Brooklands - New Plymouth

Sunday 5th February, Daisybank Farm - Martinborough*

Monday 6^th February, (WAITANGI DAY) Claudelands Green - Hamilton

Wednesday 8^th February, Trafalgar Park - Nelson

Thursday 9^th February, Peregrine Winery - Queenstown*

Friday 10th February, Pegasus Town - Christchurch*

Saturday 11th February, Turanga Creek Winery - Auckland*

Tickets on sale now from:  www.summervineyardtour.co.nz & www.ticketek.co.nz

*Bus tickets/packages are available for these venues, for more info go to:

www.summervineyardtour.co.nz

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