The Upbeats
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 9:49 am

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"The Upbeats are conducting a massive national tour with microphone assistance from Sydney confiscated songstress Georgie, and the closest thing Aotearoa has to a rapper version of Joe Dukie (Fat Freddies Drop), Sunshine Sound System's MC KP.
But wait a minute, that’s not even the exciting part! The exciting part is for four of the shows, The Upbeats will be performing LIVE. Not just live as in live. LIVE, as in 80s glam big hair power rock LIVE, and yes; costumes will be involved!

As Glen explains, “Dylan [will be] on guitar and keys, and I’ll be on keys; and both of us [will be using] Ableton on laptops. It will be all about Jazz hands and fluorescent fingernails man! [We’ll be] taking tracks we've been writing over the last six months and converting them into the live format. So [it’s a mixture of] stuff that will be on the new album and old classics that we've reinvented. [Most importantly though] it’s a chance [for us] to perform man. We've been DJing for a long time and still love it, but doing it live is something completely different…[At the end of the day] we're all about putting on a show, [and] getting people into it.”

Abridged Article written by Martyn Pepperell for Groove Guide 15/10/08



The Upbeats NON VOGUE TOUR!!!

Full Article written by Martyn Pepperell for Groove Guide 15/10/08

Affectionately referred to by their families as Jeremy Glenn and Dylan Jones and known to a certain percentage of their friends as Terror Snake and Downie Wolf, The Upbeats have cut a consistently unique and iconoclastic figure since first emerging on the local and international drum and bass circuit back in the watershed days of 2001.

2001 begat 2002, and every Tuesday night at a grimy back-alley bar in Wellington called Valve, Glenn and eventually Jones could be found Djing at some the most buckwild weekday parties of the era. Drum and bass was pretty zeitgeist like in the capital back then, and what really set The Upbeats apart from the rest of the pride (and continues to set them apart, but now on a globally respected scale) was the divergent range of influences they threw into their production and DJ sets. Which isn’t really that surprising when you take into account the record crates Glenn’s father gave him, and Jones’ history as a guitarist. At the time though, who knew? All I remember is it was one hell of a party.

Who else was going to play a jungle remix of 'Intergalactic' by The Beastie Boys? Where else were you going to hear Europe's 'The Final Countdown' reinterpreted as 21st century urban pub rock breakbeat? And who the fuck else was going to dress up as Tennis Players, Bogans or Space Wizards while they were Djing? No one was, but Glenn - who I still remember as an enthusiastic raver from the age of 14, and Jones – who we used to refer to as the California Games guy at High School.

Anyway, The Upbeats ended up releasing an album locally through Loop Recordings, and made a bit of noise on some second-rate internet message boards. UK drum and bass royalty Bad Company came knocking and before you could wink the boys were constantly touring the globe and had released a ridiculous number of records on some of best drum and bass labels out; it was all very surreal.

That wasn't enough though. This October, The Upbeats are conducting a massive national tour with microphone assistance from Sydney confiscated songstress Georgie, and the closest thing Aotearoa has to a rapper version of Joe Dukie (Fat Freddies Drop), Sunshine Sound System's MC KP.
But wait a minute, that’s not even the exciting part! The exciting part is for four of the shows, The Upbeats will be performing LIVE. Not just live as in live. LIVE, as in 80s glam big hair power rock LIVE, and yes; costumes will be involved!

As Glen explains, “Dylan [will be] on guitar and keys, and I’ll be on keys; and both of us [will be using] Ableton on laptops. It will be all about Jazz hands and fluorescent fingernails man! [We’ll be] taking tracks we've been writing over the last six months and converting them into the live format. So [it’s a mixture of] stuff that will be on the new album and old classics that we've reinvented. [Most importantly though] it’s a chance [for us] to perform man. We've been DJing for a long time and still love it, but doing it live is something completely different…[At the end of the day] we're all about putting on a show, [and] getting people into it.”

RE: The Upbeats
Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 10:45 pm

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