Aston

One day I decided to look for some covers of Lady GaGa’s ‘Telephone’, and I came up with Aston. It wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but hey, it was much better! Here’s what they do. They take contemporary pop hits and re-arrange them into classical form. The result is frankly astonishing. Their arrangements so far include Rihanna’s ‘Rude Boy’, Kylie Minogue’s ‘Confide In Me’ and La Roux’s ‘Bulletproof’. Their next single is “going to be loud! And you’re gonna play it over and over” – Any guesses?

What began as a side project amongst some friends created an instant buzz as soon as they put up on YouTube their video of Lady GaGa’s cover. In just two weeks, the track had 700,000 views online, was blogged by the infamous Perez Hilton, became the most viewed Australian music video of the year and earned the band a legion of fans from around the world. They are now recording their debut album, expected later this year, that will come out with Warner Music Australia.

I caught up with Daniel Luscombe, the percussionist and the one in charge of all the musical arrangements. By the way, those of you who have not yet seen their YouTube videos, do it before you read this interview.

Tell us a bit about your background. Where and how did the 6 of you meet?

We first met each other at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music about 5 years ago where we were studying the performance degree. We were all very good friends and would just hang out together. At the con (as we call it) we played in different orchestras, chamber groups as well as attend theory classes together. As part of the course at the con we had to perform in a chamber group in a concert every semester called a Lunch Break Concert. We decided to start a group as a bunch of friends so the rehearsals and concert would be more enjoyable. This is how Aston was Born.

How did you first come up with the idea of playing covers of current music?

There was no traditional classical music for our particular configuration so we decided to do our own arrangements. The Lunch Break Concerts were attended by the general public, many of whom had never been to a classical concert, so we thought we would play some songs that people would know. The first songs we debuted were Confide In Me by Kylie Minogue and Rihanna’s Umbrella. We were also being examined for this concert so we were being a little bit cheeky by playing these songs as we knew our professors would have know idea who Rihanna or Kylie were.

Where does the name Aston come from?

We wish we had a more profound back story about our name but to be quite honest it was because Hanna and Michael love Aston Martins! Also Aston is part of the word astonish, which we hope to do!

You have received really good feedback and gained lots of fans around the world, how does that feel?

We talk to our fans through Twitter, Facebook and YouTube and it’s amazing to get such a strong positive response. We get a lot of ideas about new songs and a feel for what our fans want. They give us inspiration to keep making music!

Perez Hilton recommended you on his Twitter. How did that feel?

I remember when someone on YouTube wrote on our Telephone video “I found you through Perez Hilton” and I was so confused. I went to his website and there was our Telephone video on his blog! A rush of excitement and disbelief ran through my body and I frantically called the others to check it out.

How did it feel getting signed to Warner Australia?

It was a huge confidence boost. It was confirmation that we were on the right track and that our music had potential to reach a wide audience.

There is no other group out there that do exactly what you’re doing. What do you think you have to offer to the musical panorama?

We are passionate about classical music and we know that it is a dying art. We want younger people to get interested in what classical music has to offer. Hopefully we can get more people to pick up an instrument. Playing an instrument brings so much joy to yourself and others while giving you confidence, a sense of achievement as well as teaching you about our culture and giving you an insight into our history.

What artists are your favourite to play?

I love playing the songs that the audience loves to hear. You can feel the vibe when you know the audience members are enjoying themselves. When we play Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Beyonce or Nirvana you can sense the excitement in the air.

Have you ever considered doing mashups of different artists or maybe current music with classical pieces?

We have actually! We just haven’t really got around to it yet.

Do you also play your own songs?

At the moment we are focusing on paying homage to other peoples songs. There are so many fantastic songs out there that would sound amazing with the Aston touch!

When will your debut album come out?

We are expecting it to come out in mid to late October. We have included a few tracks with choir as well as some other instruments. You can expect everything from Gaga, Britney and Beyonce to Muse, Florence and The Machine and Coldplay.

What are your future plans?

Well Oprah is bringing her show to Sydney so maybe we should try and get on that! We would love to go on a world tour and meet as many of our fans as possible.

Where do you see yourselves in a couple of years?

Hopefully sharing our music with a lot of people worldwide! Collaborations with some amazing pop artists would be awesome! We want to inspire people or even just help them get through the day.