Rising Melbourne pair The Journey make their return to Stil Vor Talent this week with a thrilling new cut titled ‘Drainpipe’. 2020 has seen the Australian duo making waves in the melodic techno and progressive space and the new release with Oliver Koletzki’s burgeoning imprint provides the ideal finish to a tumultuous year. Check out the track in exclusive premiere only on When We Dip today. What’s more, The Journey joined us for a little Q&A action. It’s all below!

WWD: Thanks for joining us guys! What has your week looked like so far?

J. Hey team, thanks for having us 🙂

Well our week has been quite crazy. We both participated in a Marathon to raise money for the Fred Hollows Foundation. The majority of the participants in the race consisted of people in the music community so with all the crazy stuff that has gone on in this year, training for this and banding together as a group was super rewarding. As a group we managed to raise over $230,000 for the foundation which restores eyesight for 9200 people.

WWD: Tell us about the creative process behind your new track ‘Drainpipe’.

T. We aren’t in the studio every day as we both have other ventures in life so the creative process starts when my muse becomes me. This particular record began life whilst I was in Metung experimenting with some new sounds. It came together rather quickly and when i returned to Melbourne we got in the studio together and polished her off within the day. They don’t all come together that quickly but it was a pretty fluent experience.

WWD: What else can we expect from The Journey in the coming months?

J. Early 2021 is looking really exciting for us. We have an EP on Dear Dear Music with Freakme and Doppel on remix duties. We have teamed up with Doppel also for a 2 track EP that will drop on a new label called 333 who started one of the most successful podcast series called the Flow Sessions. We love working with this crew and have been fortunate enough to secure remixes from Quivver and Tim Engelhardt to round out the release. In March we have a remix coming out for Super Flu through Thick As Thieves and then a split EP dropping on Stil Vor Talent not long after that with a huge remix for Bebetta. There will also be a few other bits and pieces which still need to be confirmed.

T: We have been chipping away at an album too which will see the light of day in 2021. At the moment it is a little less club orientated so we will see where it ends up.

WWD: One thing you’ve learned in 2020 pandemic experience?

J. 2020 has been a very transitional time for me in regards to my mental and physical health. Before the pandemic I was definitely burning the candle at both ends and it was really starting to affect my mental health. Having forced time to reflect on my current situation with work/gigs and social life i have learnt that i need to slow down and think about what are the most important things in my life.. my health.

T. I found myself in a similar position was Jacob. I have found a lot more routine and have learnt to be a lot better with where I allocate my time.

WWD: What’s been your 2020 Track of the year?

J. Tim Engelhardt – Shine off his debut album on Stil Vor Talent pulls the heart strings for me.

T. Matthew Dekay – Heimreise

WWD: What changes do you hope to see in a rebuilt music industry and in future shows?

J. I’d love to see less ego and more inclusiveness moving forward with more focus on combining multiple facets of the arts in one event. Whether it be workshops for personal development or art installations I think there can be more to take from music events than just music. We have the opportunity to almost start fresh with new ideas and education with almost a year of no events of any significant size. The landscape is going to look different no matter one in 2021 and that is something I am really excited about.

WWD: One Australian artist you’ll be watching in 2021?

J. So many Australians have had huge years in 2020 but one watch in 2021 is Luke Alessi.

T. Jamie Stevens has had an absolute steamer of a year so it will be interesting to see what happens for him in 2021.

Follow: The Journey