meet set mo, australia’s most optimistic band

10 things to know about the Sydney house producers and DJs amassing a great following and hanging with Diddy.

26 October 2015, 11:55pm

Article in collaboration with David Jones. Set Mo wear Levi's

Nick Drabble and Stu Turner are Set Mo, the party-starting DJ / production team doing their bit to put Australia's house music scene on the map. As part of the David Jones 'Watch This Space' campaign and with a national tour looming, they are steeling themselves for great things ahead. They genuinely love what they do and it shows. With a number of tours and releases under their belts they have some envy-inducing tales to tell...And this is just the beginning.

1. Despite dissimilar musical tastes in their early years, Nick and Stu eventually found a common love of dance music.
"We didn't know each other in high school, I was more of a hip hop kid and Stu was more into punk rock. After school, when we turned 18, we started clubbing and listening to more electronic and dance music. We were both playing at the same parties around Sydney and started hanging out and making music."

2. Now that they're in demand, Set Mo aren't tempted to take up a residency...but they do have an exciting gig on the horizon.
"We try to keep our gigs somewhat limited in Sydney so people get excited to come out and see us. We try to play once or twice a month tops, and we try to keep it to touring. We're about to begin a tour playing eight weeks of festivals and the last show is on NYE at the Beyond the Valley festival. We have the midnight slot so get to bring in the new year. We're fans with so many people on the bill. Our friend Oliver Dollar is actually playing straight after us. We can't wait.

3. They have a sneaker dependency.
"We own too many sneakers but we're not those people who keep them in boxes. If we're buying them, we're wearing them 100%. Right now we're into the adidas Ultra Boosts. We're both trying to get our hands on as many as possible of them."

4. Monochrome outfits have become Set Mo's unplanned trademark.
"Funnily enough, it's rarely planned. When we play clubs or go on tour, we pretty much have staples of black and white tees because you can't go wrong. The first time is happened, we turned up one wearing a full white outfit and the other a full black outfit and it kind of just worked, so we thought maybe we'd just play it up a little bit more.

5. Set Mo's song White Dress was a radio hit that took them to the next level.
"We feel like White Dress was us really finding our feet musically, us finding our sound. Everything prior to that was very clubby. It was the first we were like, 'Ok, This isn't necessarily for the night club, it can go beyond that'. It was the first song that lots of people heard too - my mum heard it in a bakery and got really excited and I had people from my high school calling me. It was great."

6. Their first festival gig was surreal...
We played Splendour in the Grass and playing to that many people, looking out to a sea of people watching you play is mind boggling and hard to comprehend. It was surreal. A few people told us after this set that they'd never seen anyone smile so hard. Our faces were sore afterwards."

7. They played a Music Conference and had the biggest weekend of their life.
"Earlier this year we also went to Miami to the Winter Music Conference. It goes for a week and involves a bunch of parties - there's pool parties we'd play during the day and parties we'd play at 2am in a little club. It was so great to hang out with a lot of people we've looked up to for years. We were lucky enough to be hanging out with Oliver Dollar and Jesse Rose who were DJing there too. We played with them at a party called Sweat it Out and that turned into one of the biggest weekends of our lives. We eventually ended up at Diddy's house. He has the party every year from 6am until 2pm that afternoon. It was amazing; there was Ciroc everywhere as you'd expect."

8. They have some winning travel tips.
Stu: "Up until the first tour I couldn't sleep a wink on the plane, which is not ideal when you live in Australia. Then I bought a pair of noise cancelling headphones and some whale and rainforest noise apps and I'm out every time. It's great. We try to keep it all natural."

9. They are on a perpetual mission to find the world's best burger.
"That's just life for us. When we say burger though, it's all about a straight up burger with cheese and bacon. Whenever we tour the promoter will suggest all these fancy places but we're always about where we can find the best burger. It's quite personal. But we really like burgers."

10. They made an amazing mix for Thump. Listen to it below..

For more about the talent featured in the 'Watch this Space' campaign, follow #DJsWatchThisSpace on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Next read our interview with Sophie Lowe here.


Photography Rene Vaile