Sydney DJ Duo Set Mo Talk Festivals, Wineries and Ibiza

Described by i-D magazine as “Australia’s most optimistic band… they love what they do and it shows,” Set Mo is an electronic music duo from Sydney. Bonding over a fondness for burgers, pho, sneakers and beer (not necessarily consumed simultaneously — and in the case of the kicks, certainly not taken orally), Nick Drabble and Stu Turner first came together as a DJ combo in 2012 and soon progressed into producing tunes. The guys share a love of Basement Jaxx, Booka Shade, Brian Eno, the Chemical Brothers, classic late-1980s house, old-school disco, Groove Armada, Jamie XX and Moby— influences that are as apparent in their music as hints of pepper, plum and blackcurrant are on the nose of a good pinot. Their best-known release to date is the blissed out, sunset-on-the-beach house beauty “White Dress” (featuring Deutsch Duke), which was big all over when it broke in 2014 and has been played a good 18 million times on Spotify since. But they’ve made numerous equally lovely tunes you’d be well advised to give an exploratory spin. Try “I Belong Here”, “Nightmares” or “Near” for a start. Goes great with a burger and a frosty beverage. (Side serve of Adidas is optional.) We caught up with the Sydney duo to talk music, festivals, Ibiza and we got some hot tips on a winery to check out in Tuscany. 
What’s your name and what do you do?
We’re Set Mo, an electronic music duo from Sydney, Australia.
What kind of music do you play? What best describes your sound?
The easiest way to describe our music is house, but it draws influences from everything from disco to ambient electronica.

What would you say is your biggest influence?
There are so many to list, it’s hard to pick favourites but I think the biggest influence for both of us would be Groove Armada
Where’s the best club you’ve ever played?
We’ve been fortunate enough to play a bunch of awesome clubs all over but our Stamina Sessions where we play for a minimum of 4 hours in a room we theme and decorate ourselves definitely stand out as some personal highlights! 
And the best festival?
Again, we’ve been super lucky playing a stack of amazing festivals over the past couple of years that it’s hard to pick just one. We’ve got pretty fond memories of this year’s Field Day though, it was very special bringing in the new year to a hometown crowd! 

Where’s the most unique festival you’ve been to and what was so special?
We played a festival called Your Paradise in Fiji that was pretty amazing. We had a bunch of friends there and the gorgeous scenery made it one we won’t forget anytime soon.
What was the most difficult festival you ever went to and was it worth it?
We went to Tomorrowland together in 2011 and thought it would be a good idea to camp there without taking any camping equipment. It made for a pretty interesting adventure collecting everything we needed for a good night’s rest haha. 

Where’s your hometown?
Sydney, Australia

What’s your favourite local bar/restaurant/bar/club? 
We’re both massive foodies so this is pretty much impossible to answer! The most recent one we went to together was LP’s Quality meats in Sydney before a show. Amazing BBQ and natural wines for days, we highly recommend.
Where’s your favourite clubbing destination?
We’ve done our fair share of clubbing over the years from all the great places that existed in Kings Cross, Sydney to London, Amsterdam and Berlin but the favourite has to be Ibiza. We spent 8 days there for the closing parties a few years ago with another friend of ours Cassian. We saw so many incredible and varied acts in so many different settings in such a short space of time. It was almost too much! 
Is there something you can’t travel without?
A toothbrush and a good attitude? Oh and our USBs and headphones, we kinda need them to DJ.
What travel destination would you recommend our readers add to their bucket list?
Tuscany in Italy is pretty incredible, and more specifically Montepulicano. We’ve both been separately and it’s a very special part of the world.There’s an amazing winery called Salcheto that does incredible wine if you’re into that.
Where was the most surprising place you discovered a big music influence?
On the trip to Ibiza we went to a Dynamic Records party where Solomon, H.O.S.H. and Adriatique were playing. It was supposed to be an open air day party but a big storm rolled in and was pushed to this private underground club with the best sound system we’ve ever heard. The three were playing b2b2b and we were very pleasantly surprised at how cheeky and fun H.O.S.H’s tunes were. He definitely won a couple of new diehard fans over that night.
Where can we see you play over the next few months?
We’ve just come off the back of about 3 months of touring around Australia, New Zealand and the US so we’re taking a little break to get back in the studio however we are playing a pretty special festival in Jindabyne called Snowtunes with a bunch of friends the last weekend of August.