Behind the decks of the party every Friday night you'll find the Purple Sneakers DJs, fronted by PhDJ, who's mutated DJ style leads a new school of Australian DJs who insist on taking a different approach to DJing.
When Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys tells you you're one of the best DJs he's seen you gotta know you're doing something right. He may have been drunk at the time, who knows? But that's what he told PhDJ at the Splendour in the Grass after-party this year and we'll take his word for it.
Purple Sneakers is like a big house party in your own lounge room - sweaty, boozy, packed dance floors, random pashing and non-stop dance-riot action all night long. It's a weekly indie club that started at the Abercrombie Hotel in Sydney a little more than 2 years ago. In that time it has grown to become Sydney's biggest and most favourite late, late night indie club, attracting over 800 indie kids weekly who just wanna get off on the best tracks around.
Behind the decks of the party every Friday night you'll find the Purple Sneakers DJs, fronted by PhDJ (aka Boundary Sounds label owner Martin Novosel), who's mutated DJ style leads a new school of Australian DJs who insist on taking a different approach to DJing. They prefer to mix album edits and singles rather than club mixes. "Rather than a deep electro or house sound the onus is on a pure pop appeal of whatever genre I want - it doesn't matter whether it is indie, girl-pop, Baltimore, hip hop, rock, baile funk, electro, punk, or just any shiz from the last 40 years" says PhDJ.
Since starting Purple Sneakers PhDJ has become one of the highest profile indie DJs in Australia becoming a gun-for-hire the world all over. Having cut his teeth in the London indie club scene he's also played gigs all around the UK (London, Brighton, Cardiff, Birmingham); New York; and Vancouver, with a recent appearance at the world's biggest indie night, Club NME at London's Koko.
After living in London for three years, overstaying his visa and getting fired from a string of day jobs for DJing and partying too much, Martin moved back to Sydney to avoid extradition. A few mishap attempts at regular jobs and another couple of firings later, Martin masterminded Purple Sneakers and established Boundary Sounds (http://www.boundarysounds.com/) - an independent recording label and music events company responsible for three of Sydney's best indie clubs: Purple Sneakers (http://www.purplesneakers.com.au/), Classics (myspace.com/classicsattheclare), & Bad Kids Recreation Club (http://www.bkrc.com.au/).
Every week PhDJ is joined by a bunch of misfits who's ridiculous dedication to partying will one day be legendary. The Purple Sneakers DJs are: Nick Findlay who brings the new biz straight off the press, DJ Fle (aka Ben Fletcher of The Devoted Few) is the crowd pleaser (and we're not just talking looks here), and joining them are a couple of new recruits including the princess of avant-garde Vivienne Kingswood, as well as the young prince of versatility Walkie Talkie. Between them they've played everything from VICE parties at indie dives (in Australia and UK), to dance institutions like Ministry of Sound, the MTV national tour, and huge stages with up to six thousand strong audiences at festivals like Splendour In The Grass, Falls Festival, Parklife, The Great Escape Festival, and Playground Weekender alongside some of the biggest acts in the world.
Stylistically PhDJ and the Purple Sneakers DJs flexibility is demonstrated by the supports they've performed. Over the last year PhDJ and the guys have opened for heavyweights like Le Tigre (USA), Ian Brown (UK), Chicks on Speed, Princess Superstar (NYC), Death Cab For Cutie (USA), Liars (USA), Lily Allen (UK), The Presets, (Australia), The Dears (Canada), Mattafix (UK), Souls Of Mischief (USA), Roots Manuva's MK (UK), The Crystal Method (USA), !!! (Chk Chk Chk), and many more.