After a 3 year hiatus, Bondax returned with new music in 2018 and just completed a run of U.S. tour dates. The UK production duo of Adam Kaye and George Townsend recently released the new track, “Neo Seoul,” with an accompanying video which was shot while they were on tour in Seoul last year. The duo is gearing up for their full length artist album set for release later this year.
Speaking with B-Sides about their hiatus, Adam Kaye noted the creative struggle between them and their label management at Relentless Records at the time. “We definitely had our disagreements, but the thing about it is that they’re just trying to keep their jobs. They’re trying to make pop hits because they’re scared of losing their jobs and we’re trying to be creative and they don’t like us being creative because it doesn’t have a 4-4 kick. It’s understandable, I’ve had to not be as angry with them and see it from their angle and it makes sense. It just wasn’t the right place for us to be.”
Biding their time until the legalities to release them from their contract were sorted out, Bondax took time DJing around their native Manchester, Europe and it was their trip to Asia and Uganda that spawned the inspiration for their comeback track, “Neo Seoul”. Kaye is from a family of those in the medical field as his father is a doctor, sister a psychiatrist and his mother worked in anatomy. Growing up, Kaye and his family had visited Uganda to accompany the patriarch on a visit to work at open clinics. It was after an Asian tour did Kaye bring his Bondax colleague, George Townsend to the country where he would play football with the local kids. The visit as an adult gave Kaye a different perspective and observation for new music, stating, “Hard to say the direct influence but more inspired by the people there and the joy they find in the most minimal things. We took that joy from them that they gave us and we wanted to make something for them because we feel really good for these people.”
Amongst the various gigs performing and working on the new music, Bondax got involved with podcasting (through MCR Live) recently, giving them an outlet to play music they liked and would “never play anywhere else”. Releasing a new podcast monthly as of late, Bondax have been having fun as presenters, says Kaye, “We do it together in Manchester in this little studio above a corner shop and it was a quite learning curve for us because sometimes it’s hard to be natural when the mic gets turned on.”
Broadcasting a podcast and DJing gigs will soon be enhanced by the new Bondax album release slated for 2018. Three years after coming onto the scene, the duo have collected new experiences that influenced the writing and recording process that included new instruments including a Prophet-5, the analog standard synthesizer produced between 1978-1984. Kaye noted, “We just got it fixed and it’s amazing. The best thing we’ve ever bought. The same one that produces the classic James Blake sound and getting into more analog stuff. We also have a Roland Juno-106 as well, and have run pedals into the space echo and it gives it that tape, warm effect. We’ve been experimenting on anything we can get our hands on.”
