Jonny and Andreas are the A and B side of The Dollar Bin Darlings and The Guide had the chance to embrace the warmth, the joy and the energy of this duo of formidably knowledgeable DJs who will spin the platters to get Sydney audiences up and moving during SF19.
These unofficial, they decided for themselves, mayors of Sydney will be bringing their matchless style to the Speigeltent and the Festival Gardens. Purveyors of disco with a unique twist, the DBD’s are the cool uncles of dance motivation as they use their encyclopaedic knowledge of late 70s and early 80s jazz-to-funk to get young and old on their feet. A bit like, they tell me, the cool matriarch aunty who gets the family on the dance floor at weddings.
The DBDs search endlessly for lost hits, tunes that re-wake the earworm of memory. Most often finding relegated albums in record store bargain bins from where the DBDs resurface them to be treasured forever. You have to put in the work they explain, venturing out alone or in a stylish, if small, amass pack. Get your hands dirty with 50 year old grime under the nails! “Crate digs” obviously pay off as, in their workspace in Waterloo, the pair have a huge collection. Their quest is for tunes that make the listener go “I know this song!”
I had to ask … what is the record that will get the dancefloor full? The answer appears to be a bit of a trade secret but Michael Jackson will stop people leaving apparently and The Sylvers will clear the floor in a Soul heartbeat. Some disturbance in the harmony of these boiler suited, glamed down actor/ comedy music aficionados. The Sylvers ‘Hotline’ gets a big yes from Andreas and a resounding no from Jonny as a disco discord descends. They have different play styles too apparently, back to back turntabling blends with beat matching to get the feet atwitch with irresistible rhythms.
After all the excitement of getting them posed for the camera in their lame draped SF19 secret weapon, Johnny and Andreas settle down to speak passionately about their work. Andreas lights up as he discusses a “visceral technique of delivery” the purpose of which is connection. Which leads to a question about bass, what I remember most I think. It’s mixed differently now but the expression of the newly ancient remains true to the period. Jonny loves “a good baseline” but prefers a song that builds to an end that is easily recognized.
In a relaxed mode on the sofa, their abashed enthusiasm entirely catching, we get swept up in a ‘what is disco’ discussion. I was there after all, in thigh length white boots and a green paisley hotpants … quite the hit at The Shack on Friday nights! The DBDs, both WAAPA graduates, have a piercingly intellectual reflection on what the period means now, about how it defies categorisation and how, like queerness, it is not what you want it to be. They are thoroughly engaging to spend time with so it’s no wonder they have so many famous names as part of their unannounced drop-in ‘Celebrity Shifts’. I can’t share the exciting line-up but I can say that Jonny’s aim of the fest is to get living legend Marcia Hines to spin with them. Marcia, if you are in town. Just sayin!
“You will dance” Andreas assures me as we bid farewell and I express an excited anticipation in watching them work their magic on the crowds. Having spent the time in their gracious, enthusiastic and highly entertaining company there’s no doubt about that really!
The Dollar Bin Darlings (Jonny Golightly and Andreas Lohmeyer) [Facebook] host the Festival Garden’s free outdoor entertainment from Thursdays to Saturdays, with an entertaining and unique live show featuring their crate dive treasures and surprise guest djs. And I’ll be hangin around their free late night Friday and Saturday dancefloors after the last show in the Spiegeltent. Especially prepared for the Sydney Festival, you can groove to their disco bangers playlist here.
All things Sydney Festival:
Sydney Festival Website and Digital Program
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,YouTube.
Sydney Festival 19 Teaser Video
