The past year has produced some amazingly talented new names in Melbourne techno. Jocks like Cecille have started playing their way into the spotlight along with a whole new generation of DJs.

But leading the charge in the new breed of techno live acts has been The Technician, who murdered the Materialz room with their debut at Marco Bailey, and are next to be heard at Teriyaki.

Of course, The Technician is not a new entity. Lead man Linas has been making techno for eons, but it wasn’t until Wetmusik don Simon Digby heard a demo that things really took off.

“I gave Wetmusik a demo CD, at the time I was really reluctant because I thought I’m not ready to give anything out.’ Simon Digby got it, heard it, and I got the call the next day.

“That was a year and a half ago, and since then I’ve been seeing Simon Digby a fair bit, he’s been helping us out heaps, he’s been doing remixes of our tracks, giving us feedback and advice.”

As the story goes, Linas recorded ‘Illkilyah’ for Wet under his own name, and the track was played by Will E Tell at WET003, resulting in it appearing on the popular Wetmusik Mixup 003 CD.

From there the only way was up, and The Technician was born with the addition of Dave Hocking, a schoolmate of Linas. So where does he fit in?

“You could say that I’m under [Linas’] wing in the production sense, I’m more contributing loops towards it, and with the live performance I’m bringing the DJ aspect, the DJ style of mixing and effects and that kind of thing whereas Linas is triggering samples.”

And thus, with the addition of a ‘DJ’ type element, the live performance vision of The Technician comes one step closer to fruition: the boys don’t just want to play live, they want it to be as dynamic as fuck.

With the team complete and production rocking along, thoughts turned to taking the caper live. Linas says, “The gig at Materialz…it’s been a long time coming.”

Dave agrees: “[Simon] mentioned that it would be in the pipeline six months before it happened, and we just waited getting ready, refining stuff.

And with six months of preparation under their belt, The Technician were all set to lift the roof at Marco Bailey. The buildup, Linas says, was quiet. “Our name was on the flyer and noone really new much besides that.”

Although they rate their performance quite modestly, the crowd was damn impressed. Linas smiles, “It’s really encouraging. It makes it worthwhile, knowing that people can appreciate you spending eight hours every day in your room for the last four years in front of a computer.”

It’s certainly been a long and winding road for these two. When quizzed about what got them into this whole thing, Linas says, “Back in the day it all started with Pet Shop Boys and New Order. It was the first time I heard synths and thought, ‘Yeah that’s really cool.’”

Dave’s story is different. “For me it was Nine Inch Nails and that sort of thing, industrial synths. It’s early electronica, basically. It’s hearing electronic drums, it’s different.”

And then the fascination started in earnest. Linas says, “The first style of electronic music I started listening to was early drum’n’bass, and I guess that dark drum’n’bass feel, with the basslines and everything, sort of evolved into my techno sound, with a darker driving feel, with no cheese element. At all.”

Dave shakes his head, “Cheese is not cool.”

“Cheese is not cool!” laughs Linas. “Drum’n’bass is also dark and sinister, with short samples, tight and hard. I see techno is also, to a certain extent, can be like drum’n’bass with a four four kick. A few things slowed down, sped up, it moved to the techno sound. That’s how it evolved for me.”

So what’s buttering their muffins now? Linas’ answer is quick. “Swedish and UK techno as a whole. That influence that is driving every single person that is making techno at the moment that I know of.”

I venture that the European influence is because that’s what the techno sound of Melbourne is largely dominated by. Dave agrees, “That’s what we’re exposed to, that’s what we dig.”

And so the boys find themselves leading the next generation of Melbourne techno artists, all products of its unique dance culture. “The last generation, they’re hitting their late twenties, maybe slowing down,” says Linas. “When I see a Ben Cromack set, or a Dave Pham set, I feel a lot more energy than I feel from any of the older Melbourne DJs, they are pushing a much tougher sound.”

And whilst Dave is the first to venture “at every gig we’re going to learn heaps”, The Technician have a plan:

“We want a massive, harsh sound,” intones Linas. “We want to move towards something more the DJ Rush, the Speedy J, something absolutely stupid. I want the bass to drop and everyone to think that’s the bass drop. And then I want the bass to drop again and everyone to cream their daks. And then I want it to drop again and everyone to just drop dead on the dancefloor. In the end we want to play as hard and dark as we can make it. Not necessarily fast, just hard and dark, that is the key. Hard and dark loop based dance music.”

Dave says, “We try and have more and more control, more and more stuff that we can do in a live sense, try and have more equipment.”

Linas: “It’s really hard when you’re playing, to keep track of what bar you’re up to. In a production track stuff drops on 16s and 12s and 32s. but when you’re up there playing live, and there’s lights and noise and people and you’re looking around and you’re hyped up and you’re a bit nervous, you lose track...you’re like, ‘What bar am I up to?’ So we’re trying to learn more control. And hold the bass drums back for a few minutes.”

Dave smiles gleefully, “It pumps them up so much more. When you’re up there it feels like the track’s been built up forever, you lose all sense.”

At the moment, though, it’s the production side of things that is dominating The Technician’s time. Dave reveals, “Preparation is just talking, having ideas, maybe doing a couple of jam sessions. Yeah, it’s just production, all these new ideas, trying to get new sounds out, trying to get more of a live sound, more of a raw, harsh sound.”

Linas speaks of “a lot of interest” from Europe and reveals that he will be appearing on Marco Bailey’s Pornographic label with Simon Digby. The release is entitled ‘Fatal Exception.’ As for the other murmurs, he says, understandably, “I’ve gotta stay pretty vague about this.”

The future is equally bright in terms of live performances. Since Marco Bailey, The Technician have played at @mosphere, on SYN FM, and this Thursday will knock Billboard for six when they become the latest act to play at the hallowed techno institution, Teriyaki Anarki Saki.

Following that, Linas will play in tandem with Serotone – both live – at NRG5. A unique performance, to be sure!

They also plan to spend their “first $1500” on FinalScratch, and aim to be one of the first in Australia to have the revolutionary technology. Look out!

There have been a lot of bright new stars grabbing attention in the past year and The Technician is certainly one of them. Not only are they talented, but their talents have been recognised by and fostered within what they see as a very positive, healthy industry in Melbourne.

“Dudes work together and cool shit happens,” says Linas. “When you look at it in the techno sense, dudes work together. I reckon politics is just wanky, it’s something people enjoy talking about in forums cos,” the boys chorus in unison, “everyone thinks they’re a FUCKING EXPERT on the forums!”

“The forums are funny, they’re very much like that,” sighs Linas. “I can’t complain for a second. As far as I’m concerned there’s been no politics, there’s been no nothing.”

Don’t miss The Technician LIVE this Thursday July 4 at Teriyaki Anarki Saki. Thomas Schumacher and Simon Digby will be trying to keep up.

Catch Linas LIVE versus Serotone LIVE in a one-of-a-kind gig at NRG5 on Saturday July 27.