Music / Features
Dobbing in a Maven -
A Chat with Julian Schweitzer
A Chat with Julian Schweitzer
'Seeking Available Mavens' is the latest blast of stacks-on electro-pop from powerhouse frontwoman Dallas Frasca and producer Julian Schweitzer. A few weeks on from their debut collaboration, we caught up for a chat with Julian to discuss working with Dallas, their mutual admiration for pop and the importance of "dobbing in a maven".
Marrying a shared love for emphatic pop music, 'Seeking Available Mavens' finds Melbourne rocker Dallas Frasca and producer Julian Schweitzer (Tones and I, Sterling Campbell) glowing in their unlikely collaboration. Led by glistening synths and Frasca’s iconic rasp, 'Seeking Available Mavens' is an ode to the quiet achiever - a track spotlighting the inspiring forces in our lives through heartfelt performance. Both fiery and considered, Frasca and Schweitzer explore their creative range across the track, pairing subversive genre stylings to build their bold outlook on contemporary pop.
Discussing their partnership and the unique marketing behind 'Seeking Available Mavens,' we caught up with Julian to find out more behind the collaboration.
Discussing their partnership and the unique marketing behind 'Seeking Available Mavens,' we caught up with Julian to find out more behind the collaboration.
TJ: Hey Julian, how’s it going? For the unacquainted, want to introduce yourselves?
JS: Hi! Nice to meet you. Well, let me summarize very quickly. I grew up in Brisbane playing in the local music scene as a guitarist and drummer in several bands. After moving to Melbourne around eight years ago I got more into the audio side of things in which I now freelance as a producer/engineer. Outside of working with other acts I’ve been diving more into my own material writing more pop based material. Finally you can catch me in a local hip-hop duo called Deathbeat.
You’ve just dropped your first collaborative track ‘Seeking Available Mavens’ and it’s a bit of a belter - tell us the story behind the track.
After completion, the track was sitting on my hard drive begging for a badass sassy female vocal. Dallas was the first name that came to my mind and I was lucky I had a mutual friend who knew her quite well. After playing primary school hook up, my friend showed her the track and reported back to me that she dug it, a phone number was exchanged and the rest was history.
Given your varied musical backgrounds, it was a little bit of an unexpected move seeing you two joining forces - what drew you to each other and inspired the collaboration?
After our first phone chat was filled with dry untasteful humour, I knew straight away we would get along really well, and we did. I can’t speak 100% for Dallas (but will anyway) but she was really excited about getting onboard with something a bit left of field. As soon as I mentioned Lizzo as a rough reference her eyes gleamed and from there I knew Dallas had a little pop queen in her waiting to explode.
Was there anything you learnt from each other that might inform what you do next with your own music? Or are there more collaborative tracks on the cards?
For sure, heaps! Dallas really cares about every single word and vocal performance whilst tracking. She wears a strong self-critique hat which is vital when working a track as a duo. I remember her talking in third person about her performance saying ‘I don’t believe her’ whilst listening back and wanting to re-do takes based on authenticity which I thought was super cool. I think the main reason why this collab was so rewarding was because of how much I took away from working with Dallas.
Alongside the release of ‘Seeking Available Mavens’ you ran a pretty epic contest for fans. Talk us through what happened.
Why thank you! We were really excited about the lyrics for this track and after many Zoom meetings and consumption of wine we decided to run a competition that asked for people to ‘dob in a maven’. Essentially the competition involved people telling us rad stories of awesome things people had done. It was tough but we managed to pick ‘the best story’ who received all the pre-sales for the single.
A song with this much energy clearly belongs on the live stage - how have the release celebrations been without the chance to launch the single live? What are you most excited for when things start to return to normal?
The initial premise of this collab (as with all my collabs) is that it’s studio based, the live aspect is definitely a second thought BUT one that may be realised one day in the future. What I’m excited for when things get back to normal? Oh boy, where do we start… I’ll keep it simple, having a pint and watching a friend’s band perform, can’t beat it.
JS: Hi! Nice to meet you. Well, let me summarize very quickly. I grew up in Brisbane playing in the local music scene as a guitarist and drummer in several bands. After moving to Melbourne around eight years ago I got more into the audio side of things in which I now freelance as a producer/engineer. Outside of working with other acts I’ve been diving more into my own material writing more pop based material. Finally you can catch me in a local hip-hop duo called Deathbeat.
You’ve just dropped your first collaborative track ‘Seeking Available Mavens’ and it’s a bit of a belter - tell us the story behind the track.
After completion, the track was sitting on my hard drive begging for a badass sassy female vocal. Dallas was the first name that came to my mind and I was lucky I had a mutual friend who knew her quite well. After playing primary school hook up, my friend showed her the track and reported back to me that she dug it, a phone number was exchanged and the rest was history.
Given your varied musical backgrounds, it was a little bit of an unexpected move seeing you two joining forces - what drew you to each other and inspired the collaboration?
After our first phone chat was filled with dry untasteful humour, I knew straight away we would get along really well, and we did. I can’t speak 100% for Dallas (but will anyway) but she was really excited about getting onboard with something a bit left of field. As soon as I mentioned Lizzo as a rough reference her eyes gleamed and from there I knew Dallas had a little pop queen in her waiting to explode.
Was there anything you learnt from each other that might inform what you do next with your own music? Or are there more collaborative tracks on the cards?
For sure, heaps! Dallas really cares about every single word and vocal performance whilst tracking. She wears a strong self-critique hat which is vital when working a track as a duo. I remember her talking in third person about her performance saying ‘I don’t believe her’ whilst listening back and wanting to re-do takes based on authenticity which I thought was super cool. I think the main reason why this collab was so rewarding was because of how much I took away from working with Dallas.
Alongside the release of ‘Seeking Available Mavens’ you ran a pretty epic contest for fans. Talk us through what happened.
Why thank you! We were really excited about the lyrics for this track and after many Zoom meetings and consumption of wine we decided to run a competition that asked for people to ‘dob in a maven’. Essentially the competition involved people telling us rad stories of awesome things people had done. It was tough but we managed to pick ‘the best story’ who received all the pre-sales for the single.
A song with this much energy clearly belongs on the live stage - how have the release celebrations been without the chance to launch the single live? What are you most excited for when things start to return to normal?
The initial premise of this collab (as with all my collabs) is that it’s studio based, the live aspect is definitely a second thought BUT one that may be realised one day in the future. What I’m excited for when things get back to normal? Oh boy, where do we start… I’ll keep it simple, having a pint and watching a friend’s band perform, can’t beat it.
'Seeking Available Mavens' is out now in all the usual spots - check it out here.
