Hungary’s foremost (and only?) purveyors of uplifting vocal trance are heading our way after recently hitting the coveted number one spot in the American billboard dance charts. But far from sitting on their laurels, the duo are aiming to conquer the pop world and they’re not ashamed about it one little bit. They’re bringing their act to Metro City on Friday, August 8. ANDREW NELSON gets the lowdown from the boys.
Márió Égető and Előd Császár are better known as Myon and Shane 54, and judging by the amount of effort involved spelling those names correctly and finding all the special characters on the keyboard, it’s little surprise that they’ve opted to go by their nicknames. Besides, the duo need a name that trips off the tongue once they achieve the stardom they’re obviously heading for. Their last single, Lie to Me (with Cole Plante & Koko Laroo), recently reached number one in the Billboard dance charts, but while most DJs are promoted from the underground and would be overwhelmed by this level of success, these two have always had their eye on the pop market.
“I have a fairly extensive media background in Hungary,” Shane explains. The pair have taken the time out from their hectic schedules and they are both eager to share their stories, finishing each other’s sentences and interjecting where necessary.
“I was 5 when I first appeared on TV, on a kids show,” he continues. “In my ‘late 90s media frenzy’ I was a well-known TV/radio host, with DJing merely as a hobby.” Myon takes over the story: “We are a dance duo with a pop background, so our main roots lie there. This is one of the biggest differences between most DJs and us. We did loads of pop songs before we properly got into DJing and producing dance music. We just have to have a strong foundation before we start building on it. A good chorus or something like that.”
Whilst most producers would hide similar roots, the pair are more than willing to embrace these sensibilities and prostrate themselves at the feet of the great goddess of popular culture.
“Yes! Without a doubt,” roars Myon when asked if this is a good ethos or not. “Why would it be a bad thing? Pop songs have this wonderful ability to take you back to the exact same moment when you first heard, or got emotionally attached to, it. If there’s anyone who had this effect with our music, we did our job well.”
“Pop has such a wide palette,” Shane continues, “You can squeeze basically anything in there. And we’re more than happy to be squeezed. We value a good song more than anything. At the end of the day people will hum or sing choruses at the top of their lungs – synth riffs or, god forbid, drops, not so much. If a song’s good it doesn’t matter if you play it with a flute, an acoustic guitar or a full blown EDM arrangement. It will work perfectly every time, and that’s what we aim for.”
The pair have been making music since 2008. It was when Armin Van Buuren started playing their tracks and invited them to appear at his ASOT 450 party that their dance music career soared, but as Myon explains, this wasn’t the pinnacle of their calling; more a tempting glimpse of the future to spur them on.
“At that moment there’s nothing bigger than that, and you strongly believe you’ve ‘made it’. Then you realise it’s more of a sign that you’re on a good path. Making a good tune is one thing. Keep coming up with ones people like is much harder. You can never be sure if your song will work as you’d like, so you better do everything in your powers to make sure you did your best.”
“There’s always more to do,” Shane agrees. “And the further you go, you wanna do even more. That is natural, and once you are satisfied with yourself, I think you’re over. But of course we can have moments where we look at each other and think: wow, we certainly never expected this to happen, like when you’re playing a festival and tens of thousands of people are singing your song. Those moments are to live for.”
Perhaps it’s those moments that drive the duo’s work ethic. In the last year alone they’ve worked on countless tracks, including remixes for Dash Berlin, Markus Schulz and Lana Del Rey. They spend their lives touring, making music, producing their weekly radio show (International Departures) and filming their own reality TV show (IDTV). After the current tour, it’s straight back in the studio to do it all again.
“We’re working on a new album, which is maybe 54% finished,” Myon says. “We’ve got about 18 songs in various shapes and forms, an ideal situation. We can easily ditch stuff we don’t like that much, ending up with like 13 songs in the end. Even though we’re far from finished, at least we see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Those rocking up to see them in action at Metro City will surely get to hear a whole heap of the mash-ups for which they’re famed, plus, as Shane explains, we’re also promised a world-wide exclusive: “We definitely will play our new single, Summer Of Love, as a test. We actually will play it in Perth for the first time ever! We sort of have a backbone of the gigs, tracks we definitely wanna play, but this is the first thing that falls apart during a show when the audience gives us a different vibe. Anything can change very fast. There’s no recipe or pre-made tracklist to give you.”
One thing they can tell us is that they’re excited to be back in Australia. Anyone who saw them at Stereosonic the last time they were on these shores will agree that the passion is sincere. These guys have a hunger for the music and a genuine desire to please the crowd with proper songs, and if that’s not cool, then what is?
MYON & SHANE 54
DREAM IN COLOUR
FRIDAY, AUGUST 08 @ METRO CITY
